"Dignity in the remains of the day" by Zazui Ishiguro, 1989

Résumé du document

The Remains of the Day' was written in 1989 by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Japanese author living in England. This novel is a narrative, whose main character is Mr Stevens, an English butler, who is retrospectively telling the story of his life, both in the past and present tense, for his narrative goes back and forth in time, between the past and the moment he is writing. He is at the end of his life and career, and this narrative constitutes an analysis of what he has done throughout his life as a butler. His main questions concern dignity and greatness, which are the essential qualities in his job. I will demonstrate in this essay, how the importance he gave to these two notions led him to self effacement. The first idea I will study is Stevens's dignity as a butler, then I will deal with the notion of dignity as a human quality, and finally, I will show Stevens as an English character created by a Japanese author.

Extraits

[...] Though he will only admit it at the end of the novel, he feels that Lord Darlington may have been mistaken in what he did. To admit this would be to admit that he himself was also mistaken, as he lived to serve Lord Darlington and considered him as a virtuous person. As it is difficult for Stevens to admit that he made an error, it is very unlikely that he should admit that Lord Darlington may have been wrong. [...]

[...] It is only in those moments when he feels "unprofessional" that he seems most human. His obsession for dignity is undoubtedly what led him to miss the point of his life, and this will obviously never change, because at the end of the novel, we learn that his new obsession is to please his new employer with the art of “bantering”. And it is of course out of dignity that he will carry on living this life. [...]

[...] “Dignity in the remains of the by Zazui Ishiguro Introduction The Remains of the Day has been written in 1989 by Kazuo Ishiguro, a Japanese author living in England. This novel is a first person narrative, whose main character is Mr Stevens, an English butler, who is retrospectively telling the story of his life both in the past and present tense, for his narrative goes back and forth in time, between the past and the moment he is writing. He is at the end of his life and carrier, and this narrative constitutes an analysis of what he has done throughout his life as a butler. [...]

[...] This frustration has been the cause of her outburst when Stevens persisted in talking about work duties, and she told him she was tired. She was actually tired of waiting for Stevens to realise that he loved her, because she already knew that she loved him, and she was frustrated by his incessant formality, probably linked with “dignity”. But Stevens did not understand any of this and only suggested that if the meetings made Miss Kenton tired, perhaps they should stop these meetings. [...]

[...] Therefore dignity is, in this sort of situation, a brake for demonstrative family effusions. As dignity is also about faithfulness to one's employer, it can be interesting to analyse Stevens's views on Lord Darlington and his “sympathy” for Germany. Lord Darlington had personal sympathy for Germany because of his friendship with Herr Bremann, whose suicide he felt responsible for. According to him, his friend's suicide was directly linked with the strict policy applied to Germany by the Allied England was part of. [...]