Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro's Remains of the Day gives an eloquent treatment of the issue of how a stoic English butler's unemotional reaction to the emotional world around him is damaging and painful, and how he resolves to make the best of the "remains of the day";the remainder of his life. Ishiguro explores some of the differences between the old English Victorian culture;that of the stiff upper lip, no show of emotion, and repression of personal opinion; and the no-holds-barred American culture of free expression of opinion and emotion. The American culture's spread into England is hastened with the two world wars, and it ends Stevens' old way of work, if not the job itself. Although Remains of the Day concentrates on a particular culture, and an obsolescent one at that, Ishiguro makes many insightful observations on human behavior in general. I will explore a few of these observations here, and attempt to show that Ishiguro's work possesses meaning far beyond an examination of one emotionally-repressed servant.
Ishiguro illustrates Stevens, and all of the old English butlers, as characters who basically amount to machines, unable to think for themselves. They see loyalty to the master as the only thing that matters in the world. Every time Stevens ends his lines with “sir,'; he is repressing his true identity. Ishiguro makes the reader wonder how on earth a person could get to be like this, for the sole reward of having the best silver in the house or the best-starched suits.
The old service culture of butlers in England was destined to change dramatically after the two world wars; by the time Stevens decides to change his lifestyle the old ways are already gone forever.
Stevens even relates the subdued nature of English scenery to the proper way of dignified behavior, in his observation that the English countryside is more dignified than the showy American landscape, in its “lack of obvious drama or spectacle'; (28).
Obviously, most regular people in England did not act like the butlers. The behavior of the old butlers represents stereotypes which persist today in our conception of the people of England. After all, “butlers only…exist in England'; (43). Indeed, Farraday judges the worth of Stevens, and Darlington Hall, according to stereotypical ideals of genuine Englishness. In a moment of panic, Farraday dem...
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...ing purely like a machine, and at least Stevens had good intentions behind his repetitive “Yes,
sirs.';
On his motoring trip, Stevens meets a man named Harry Smith, who argues his own definition of “dignity';: “there’s no dignity in being a slave…no matter if you’re rich or poor, you’re born free and
you’re born so that you can express your opinion freely…that’s what dignity’s really about'; (186). Stevens, naturally, merely said, “Of course, you’re quite correct.'; Even in this frank atmosphere he
could not spill his thoughts candidly.
Stevens is a very affecting character whose battles with his emotions are far from unique, either to himself or to his culture. Most people, even Americans, sometimes find it difficult to say honestly what they feel, even when it is in their own best interests to do so. Occasionally they cannot even recognize what they feel, let alone put it into words. They are, then, like Stevens: perhaps full of feelings, but not recognizing quite what they are, or how to reveal them if they ever do seize their identity. Remains of the Day is a novel that anyone concerned about the difficulty of communicating openly and honestly should find rewarding.
Tony Palmer, the author of “Break of Day”, tells a story that takes place in and out of war. The story follows a man named Murray Barrett who lives in the times of ww2. He ends up finding himself in the middle of it, down at Port Moresby. During the midst of war, Murray ends up coming across an injured Sid Archer, a childhood enemy and the man who stole Will’s (Murray’s older brother) childhood lover. Murray helps Sid instead of abandoning him, despite their childhood drama. In this book, Palmer really focuses on the themes of family, death, and bravery. He presents to us how complicated families can get, how people deal with death differently from others, and how there are many forms of bravery.
Conclusion: In all, racial oppression and identification is a concurrent theme in Butler’s works that have been discussed. Butler’s examinations involving the sense of pride and passion towards uniqueness and individualism are evident in many different perspectives. In Butler’s works, the passion the main characters have towards themselves in an alien world teach the reader important values and lessons against negativity and racial discrimination.
In traditional European society, gentlemen didn?t work, only common people did. ?The liberality for which gentlemen were known connoted freedom ? freedom from material want?and freedom from having ...
A. “The Place of a Servant in the Scale.” Nineteenth-Century Literature. Vol. 63, No. 2 -. 1 (June 2008), pp.
"Life as a Slave." Life as a Slave. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. .
Norton Anthology states that “Smith was much more representative of black people subjected to North American slavery than Equiano.” In his narrative, he greatly details the violence he endured during his time as a slave, the escape attempt and rebellions. On the account of attaining his freedom, Venture Smith maintains the laconic and bitter remarks. He declares the following regarding his
Waxler, Robert P. The Mixed Heritage of the Chief: Revisiting the Problem of Manhood in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. N.p.: Wiley-Blackwell, n.d. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
...details the transformation of a slave to a man. The institution of slavery defined a slave as less than human, and in order to perpetuate that impression, slaveholders forbade slaves the luxury of self definition. Therefore, when Douglass finally rejects the notions about his identity forced on him by slavery, and embraces an identity of his own creation, he has completed his journey from slave to man. He no longer defines himself in terms of the institution of slavery, but by his own thoughts regarding what his identity is. Through the metamorphosis of his identity as “an animal” to an author who fights for the abolitionist movement, Douglass presents his narrative not simply as a search for freedom, but also a search for himself.
“There’s never been equality for me, nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.” Hughes quickly puts himself as the one being oppressed. His reader quickly discover that he is portraying himse...
butler to do something simple he himself can do and by having excessive things like food.
This edition of the Chivalry is a result of a reissue of the original edition and is photographically reduced by one-fifth. Though not a fault of Keen’s literary style, this reduction does make reading text much more difficult to accomplish, no matter one’s age. This reduction also sometimes makes the many black and white illustrations, a helpful addition of Keen’s, blurred and reduces their effectiveness in aiding the reader. Overall, however, Chivalry excellently communicates Keen’s belief of the practical importance of chivalric ideals and institutions and results in an enduring work with the “last word” on chivalry.
Otis Wheeler describes how the surge in sentimental dramas was a direct reaction to the coarse comedies of the Restoration wherein man was depicted as ridiculous and nonsensical. In contrast “the drama of sensibility” was a display of the infinite promise of man. In this way the beginnings of the Cult of Sensibility is inextricably linked to the birth of Romanticism, yet where Romanticism preferred the superfluous and exaggerated the Cult of Sensibility preferred the delicate, softer emotions that would bring people together in harmony. As such it is fair to say that although these two styles were borne of a similar distaste for the neoclassical, they developed into very different types of drama. Romanticism created antagonistic protagonists, such as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
Kelly, John. ENGLISH 2308E: American Literature Notes. London, ON: University of Western. Fall 2014. Lecture Notes.
The movie “The Butler” is directed and produced by Lee Daniel’s and written by Danny Strong, it is based upon a true story between the years 1920 – 2008 (2013). The story takes you through a time of the civil and human rights movement (including Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers), the Vietnam war and ending with the election of the first black president of the United States of America, an era of the great black oppression, segregation and the fight for equal rights and opportunity and sometimes your life. The movie surrounds a conflict of determination between a father and son that also represents a generational change of the old and young. The main character is the butler named Cecil Gaines (father), which is determined to live a dignified and purposeful life while supporting his family and keeping them safe. The son, Louis Gaines is determined to bring change to a nation’s consciousness and lift the 200 years of oppression laid upon the black people of America and end white privilege that prohibited equal rights and opportunities. Louis was labeled a criminal and was
The Speaker in ‘My Last Duchess’ is conversing with the servant of a count whose daughter he is proposing to marry. He treats t...