Perspectiva feminină asupra oscilației între Orient și Occident
The Feminine Perspective upon the Oscillation between East and West

Summary/Abstract: Kazuo Ishiguro’s characters from his debut novel A pale view of hills and the ones from Salman Rushdie’s anthology of short stories, East, West, form a world in which we can discover a feminine perspective on exile. Characters such as Rehana or Mary from East, West, and Etsuko, Keiko, Sachiko, and Nikki, from A pale view of hills are captives in a process in which they have to redefine their identity, which becomes uncertain from the moment they leave their homeland behind. Neither of them manages to settle in the new space, because they preserve the hope to return to Japan or India. The feminine characters in East, West, and A pale view of hills are portrayed as human beings who have an already established role in the patriarchal society they live in. Etsuko is the embodiment of the maternal side that constantly oscillates between Keiko, her Japanese daughter, who becomes the nostalgic binder of the memories which are associated with the period they spent in Nagasaki, and Nikki, her British daughter, who becomes the human symbol of the territory in which her mother lives after she emigrated from Japan. Rehana is a young girl who is searching for the balance and safety that only a marriage with a British man could offer, and Mary is a woman who chooses to move to England, for the benefit of her family, even though her heart and soul remain in India. Each of them makes sacrifices because the rules and traditions need to be respected, and this is the reason why they become invisible figures who are trapped in a space where they feel that they do not belong.

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