Remains+of+The+Day


 * Title:** The Remains of the Day
 * Author: **Kazuo Ishiguro
 * Date of Publication: **1988
 * Literary Period: **Modern
 * Genre: **English aristocracy, pre-war


 * Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting. **

This book takes place in England. Stevens travels through England to go visit a former friend, lover, fellow employee. As he is traveling forward in the journey, he travels through the past in his thoughts and converses with the people…and all of the information being told is from the past. This shows his inability to move on in his life and let go of the past. Although the book is a journey going to new places, in his mind Steven refuses to move on with his life, his thoughts, and his story, and is actually stuck in the past, in Darlington Hall. He never actually gets out.


 * Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas) **
 * Stevens' constant strive for dignity, loyalty, and greatness result in his isolation from branching out of the world of butlery he is born. Ishiguro explores both a man's inability to accept the way events happen in a life and his attempts to justify his actions in accordance.
 * True dignity involves making one's own mistakes, rather than the blind acceptance of another's opinions. Compliance and lack of conscious choice, in Stevens' case, takes away all traces of his individualism.
 * Actions and choices and a lack thereof will affect how a life is spent, but once all is said and done, the only act left is to enjoy what's left. I can't put it more eloquently than the ex-butler on the bench: "The evening's the best part of the day."
 * Ishiguro parallels Stevens' struggles to cope with his past and how his life has turned out with the rise of the British empire, and it's inability to accept the new power's of the world and move on. Great Britain, like Stevens, has been around for a while, and done it's time - the novel looks at both the old butler and the old country's slow descent into the night.
 * Progress can only be achieved by changing with the world. Old countries fall; new countries arise. With it, come new customs, new ideas, new inventions, innovation. Stevens' provides an example of how the people who don't change transform into this worthless artifact.


 * Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here. **
 * S tevens accepts MR Farraday’s offer to take a trip and take a break off of work. He goes on a road trip across England to visit an old friend, Miss. Kenton, hoping that she may come back and work for Darlington Hall because the staff is much smaller now that Americans took over.
 * On Day One of his journey, Stevens' drives and drives, expectantly getting out of the car to hike up a hill with a beautiful view. Cool. He elaborates on the greatness of the English countryside and relates that to the greatness of a butler. He goes on for pages about dignity, loyalty, and greatness, telling the tiger-in-the-kitchen story, and his father's stern-driving-the-drunk-employers story.
 * On the morning of Day Two, Stevens' revisits Miss Kenton's letters, and, subsequently, her time at Darlington Hall. She arrives and the two butt heads immediately (she's a firecracker, that one), but he fondly remembers the times they have discussing his father's state of health and his ability to work, one day looking out the window to see him searching the ground for something he lost.
 * Then he goes on a tangent about this really important political conference in 1923 he has the privilege of butlering. He recounts his father's illness during these tense political meetings between the significant social figures of the major world powers. As his father's health deteriorates, so does the amity among nations. Father Stevens' dies. Stevens' copes by continuing with his duties, because a great butler keeps his cool in situations like that.
 * Stevens' has to get gas in the present day, and as he gets gas, confers with the attendant, discussing his profession. However, Stevens' denies ever working for Lord Darlington (is he ashamed?). Stevens' also mentions that he believes a butler's greatness also (as well as loyalty and dignity) depends on the greatness (dignity) of his employer.
 * Stevens' thinks back to the importance of silver and his contributions to the political happenings of the time of his silver polishing days.
 * He then thinks back to the anti-Semitism conjectures about Lord Darlington and gives the back story on all of that. Lord Darlington was hanging out with a couple of blackshirts, being a good host and all, and eventually they rubbed off on him. Since all Lord Darlington wants is peace between nations - but more importantly, rest among his guests - he tells Stevens' to fire the two Jewish maids on hand. Stevens' complies. Miss Kenton gets mad and threatens to leave herself.
 * Then Stevens' starts thinking about Miss Kenton, and how nice their chats by the firesid were. I guess there aren't that close though, or Stevens' really does have the emotional capacity of a well-polished spoon, because when her aunt dies, he really sucks at consoling her.
 * Back in the present day, Stevens' has nice conversations with the people of the inn he stays at. He hears some differing opinions on politics. One man believes that it is //every// Englishman's right and duty to be involved in the politics of the country and what goes on.
 * And whabam! Stevens' meets Miss Kenton in a hotel. They have nice chats. Lots of beating around the bush by Stevens, but Miss Kenton cuts to the chase. They catch up, and eventually the big question gets popped - does she love her husband? Of course. Much to Stevens' dismay. They say their goodbyes, perhaps the last they'll ever say to one another. It's quite a somber departure.
 * Then Stevens sits on a bench and reflects on his journey. Like, his actual journey. And he talks to a fellow butler (well, ex-butler) and they chit-chat about life, and Stevens realizes his blindness of following Lord Darlington. Quite upsetting. But this ex-butler-Jesus-archetype character quells his worries and gives the sage advice to stop looking in the past and enjoy the remains of the day.

> “I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really - one has to ask oneself - what dignity is there in that?” > “After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?” > “What do you think dignity's all about?' > > The directness of the inquiry did, I admit, take me rather by surprise. 'It's rather a hard thing to explain in a few words, sir,' I said. 'But I suspect it comes down to not removing one's clothing in public.” > “He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lorship's wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really - one has to ask oneself - what dignity is there in that?”
 * Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE. **
 * “What is the point of worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one's life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.”

The opening prologue gives much evidence of what kind of character our butler is. Stevens' is quiet, awkward, submissive. The novel opens with Mr. Farraday's casual, but belabored insistence that Stevens' take a few days off. He works entirely too hard. Stevens' won't even hear of it. And he doesn't constantly refuse in one of those chuckle-chuckle-oh-no-I-couldn't-possibly kind of ways. No, he's just really awkward. But from just those few exchanges between butler and employer, we can file Stevens as a socially uncomfortable workaholic. Kind of a Gregor Samsa of sorts. Also in this scene, we see Stevens' quiet obsession with Miss Kenton, a former employee of Darlington Hall that keeps the occasional (and by occasional, I mean like...every couple of years - like Christmas card occasional) contact via letters. Stevens mentions her with a slight bounce in tone, indication that he looooooooves her (seriously, you can just tell with these kind of things), but he won't even admit it to himself. So Stevens' is a lonely, stiff, workaholic, who missed his one true love. Sad. Then, in the prologue, Stevens also assesses his inability to casually banter, something his new American employer enjoys. His lack of social wit is slightly amusing to Mr. Farraday, although Stevens' would never speak ill of his authentic English butler. The prescence of the new American employer also indicates that America is rising as a world power over England. And that's the prologue. Boom.
 * Describe the significance of the opening scene. **

Here, Stevens sits on a bench at a pier, smiling to himself. He has a pleasant conversation with an ex-butler, much to Stevens' delight (hard to find these kind of guys anymore to converse with). Here, as he sits on this bench, watching the beautiful night lights come on, with this random man, we see a shift in Stevens' character. He's honest with himself (as honest as he'll ever be, that is). He remarks that maybe he shouldn't have spent his entire life blindly submissive to his employer...after all, how much dignity lies in a man who "can't even say I made my own mistakes." This is quite a revelation for a man who has spent his whole life with very little original opinion, and who has striven for greatness since he became a butler. The tiny comment, however insignificant or obvious to an American or commoner, is a leap for Stevens. He spends the whole book justifying his reasons for his decisions only to remark at the end that there is little justification in them. So what is there to do? Pick up your stuff and move on! And Stevens' way to lift up his elbows and carry on, his means of impressing his new American employer and keeping up with the times, is through bantering. And however sad a way to end a book as that is, it's all Stevens', as an airtight, realistic character can give us. He can't change overnight. But damn it, if he can, he'll keep practicing his banter! It ends the book on a sort of tragic, but quietly hopeful tone.
 * Describe the significance of the closing scene. **

Ishiguro is a master of subtlety, leaving very little in the dialogue to be analyzed, while the landscape and pastoral passages reveal more about the characters than anything else. Particularly the descriptions of the English countryside ("lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart", "sense of restraint" correlate much to Stevens' as a character. Equally as significant, the landscape passage on page 24, that describes "trees and thick foliage" that blinds Stevens' from the "steep drop to my left", followed by his "slight sense of alarm". This nature is parallel to his inability and reluctance to pursue this journey, of analyzing his past, of meeting Miss Kenton, of progressing with the world: "I was perhaps not on the correct road at all, but speeding off in totally the wrong direction into a wilderness" . Ishiguro's use of imagery as a symbol of a character's journey continues to the very end, when Stevens' begins to fall apart. He describes a shelter by the train station that bears striking resemblance to both Stevens' outward facade and his inward crumbling: "looked very sturdy. . .Inside, the paint was peeling everywhere". Ishiguro's style is subtle and quietly honest. Little hand gestures and a lack of conversation (what //isn't// being said) reveal the most about his themes and big picture moments.
 * Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text. **


 * List importance characters and their significance. **
 * **Stevens:** a lonely, stiff, workaholic old chap. In a nutshell. He represents us, people, and our inability to sometimes accept the things we've done (or haven't), and our habits in justifying our actions in the past in order to cope with the present. This also applies to England as a falling world power of the time period - unable to accept that a new age is on the horizon. Quite simply, he spends the whole novel wishy-washing around the past, gloating about his job and his strives for dignity. By the end of the novel the sad realizations hit him, and he feels his own heart break. Stevens' represents one possible solution to dealing with the past - denial and a resolution to do better in the future. He doesn't drastically change as a character, but there is a quiet, subtle overtone of hope as he resolves not to dwell on the past anymore and to better himself for the changing present and future.
 * **Mrs. Kenton:** she represents both possibility and regret to our dear Stevens. She is a living example of Stevens' denial (he never even calls her by her married name, rather, sticks to Miss Kenton). However, as much as she is a symbol of regret and possibility and the past for him, she herself has regrets. When she is asked to be married, she loves Stevens. But she is stubborn and wants him to say it back, constantly hinting to him her true feelings. Any high school girl knows that hinting at anything to a guy is utterly futile. But knowing Stevens' character type, he wouldn't have been enough for her had they ended up together. He would devote more to his job than his love. Sure, she marries the better guy and learns to love him and accepts the fate she chooses. She represents another solution to dealing with regrets - she accepts them and moves on.
 * **Lord Darlington:** ahhhh, a well-meant man, just a little confused up in the noggin. He is a man who tries to do the best for his falling country (even though he doesn't actually have any political stance in the matters...just money), but he just makes the wrong decisions. Stevens' never views him in a bad light, and, whether that's him as an unreliable narrator or not, I like to think that L.D. is a righteous dude who, like Stevens' with the past, can't accept the uncertainty of the future and does his best to cope.