The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1989

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapter 5

Chapters 6-7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Journey

The Remains of the Day is structured along Stephen’s journey to meet Miss Kenton. The journey functions as a metaphor for Stevens’s introspection. The journey is a symbolic reminder of his discomfort with the modern world and represents the retrospective interrogation of his past. For example, the further he gets from Darlington Hall, the less comfortable and familiar he feels. This unfamiliarity forces him into his past, taking him out of his comfortable surroundings and exposing him to a new world he does not understand. The symbolic qualities of the journey are emphasized as it progresses: Stevens travels further and further from his comfort zone, exposing himself to increasingly uncomfortable situations. He even travels across Britain in a symbolic fashion, driving from the rich heartland of the English home counties toward the southernmost regions in the west country, leaving behind the rigid class structures of his past and traveling to a place where his accent and his clothes mark him out as one of the upper classes to whom he has dedicated his life’s service. In a physical, mental, geographical, and social sense, Stevens’s journey takes him from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

The journey is a social experience for Stevens. At Darlington Hall, he is in command of most things. He oversees the presentation of the house, and he welcomes each guest in the expected manner. On his journey, Stevens has no such level of control. When his car breaks down, he must rely on a kind stranger to help him. When he becomes lost, he relies on a couple to take him in for the night. On these occasions, he is metaphorically forced to relinquish the careful control he has spent a lifetime refining. Stevens’s lack of control over these social circumstances makes him awkward and fumbling. His attempts at humor are poor, and he is often misunderstood. The people of one village assume that he is an aristocrat, and by the time he realizes their error, Stevens lacks the social skills needed to correct them. These interactions test Stevens’s ideology. His ideas of dignity are as old and sheltered as he has been, trapped in Darlington Hall for decades and not tested against any outside force. Stevens’s journey is a symbolic test of his ideas, forcing him to realize that they do not necessarily function in a modern world. For all his talents as a butler and the careful consideration he has put into his conception of dignity, he struggles in a world that views Lord Darlington as a fascist and in which people believe Stevens—who religiously respects his lowly status in society—could be a lord.

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At the end of the journey, Stevens’s meeting with Miss Kenton is not the end. Instead, the meeting is recalled as a memory. The importance of the journey is the journey itself, rather than the destination, because the journey symbolizes Stevens’s reflection and growth. The journey’s end is not the meeting with Miss Kenton; the true end is his decision to return to Darlington Hall and rededicate his life to Mr. Farraday. This resolution shows that Stevens has thought about his past and made decisions about his future. The metaphorical journey, therefore, has only just begun. By dedicating himself to a new employer, Stevens is symbolically traveling back along the same road that brought him to this place. In all likelihood, Stevens will make the same mistakes again as he is simply retracing his steps.

Banter

At the beginning of The Remains of the Day, Stevens struggles to adjust to his life under a new employer. Lord Darlington is long gone, and the estate has been purchased by an American businessman named Mr. Farraday. Lord Darlington and Mr. Farraday are very different employers, and, as Stevens tries to explain the difference between them, he turns to banter. To Mr. Farraday, lighthearted jokes are commonplace. He makes informal comments and banters with Stevens, but the butler has no idea how to respond. Lord Darlington never made such comments. Stevens is out of place in a new, banter-filled world. His old, stuffy stoicism is no match for Farraday’s lighthearted worldview. This banter and, in particular, Stevens’s baffled reaction to the banter symbolizes the changing ways at Darlington Hall.

Though Stevens is completely out of touch with Farraday’s ideas about banter, he does try to please his employer. As he describes throughout the novel, he believes that service is a means by which he can achieve a dignified status. If his employer wants to banter with his employees, Stevens believes that he must do so. Stevens studies humor. He listens to radio broadcasts and thinks long and hard about potential jokes. Despite his best efforts, he fails to make anyone laugh. Neither Farraday nor the people Stevens meets on his journey react with genuine humor to his comments, prompting Stevens to dig deeper into an anxious reflection on his inability to banter with others. His attempts at banter symbolize his commitment to his own ideas. Stevens does not just say that service is important; he genuinely believes this and works hard to improve his capacity to provide a great service to Farraday. Stevens fails to banter well, but his attempts are a symbolic demonstration of his sincerity.

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After meeting Miss Kenton and experiencing his journey, Stevens comes to a decision. He decides to make a change in his life, and banter becomes the symbolic demonstration of this change. Rather than completely abandon his principles, Stevens decides that he will commit to serving Farraday to the best of his ability. He wishes to be a new man and a more modern man. The key to achieving this is understanding banter. Stevens may not be able to undo the mistakes of his past, but he can achieve the idea of dignity through service that he has desired for his whole life. Stevens reasons that if Mr. Farraday wants a butler who can banter, then his life’s goal should be to provide exactly that. Stevens’s desire to become good at banter shows a willingness to change and loosen his more rigid approach to formality. However, the decision is also symbolic of how little Stevens is willing to change. He may be willing to banter, but banter is still something thrust upon him by a new employer. Stevens is not becoming who he wants to be. Rather, he is becoming who he believes Farraday wants him to be. Stevens wishes to be good at banter not because he wants to be a funny person but because he wants to please his employer. Stevens decides to continue living on other people’s terms, and the commitment to banter is a symbolic illustration of his commitment to passive subservience.

Darlington Hall

Darlington Hall symbolizes a certain idea of England. The country estate is a large, expensive building that has been in one family for many generations. The hall embodies the wealth and privilege of the British upper class, who are waited on hand and foot by an army of servants as they spend their days reading, thinking, and occasionally meddling in foreign affairs. Darlington Hall is described from Stevens’s perspective, and to Stevens, the building embodies everything good and right about his employer and the British class system in general. Stevens sees the house as a symbol and invests it with respect, awe, and appreciation of a certain sense of greatness. The symbolism of Darlington Hall gives Stevens the sense that he is working for a greater purpose. By ensuring that the house is well run, Stevens believes he is symbolically contributing to the furtherment of humankind. The house may represent rich, powerful, and privileged people, but—from Stevens’s perspective—this is the natural order of the world and something to respect.

During Stevens’s tenure, however, Darlington Hall takes on a darker meaning. The building is the site for a conference and then a series of increasingly secretive meetings. Lord Darlington is attempting to bridge a diplomatic gap between the British government and their fascist equivalent in Germany. In these moments, Darlington Hall symbolizes the transition between the old and the new worlds. At the conference, the American Lewis addresses the guests and criticizes them for their naivety. He claims that they cannot cling to their old ways, in which aristocrats decide the shape of the world in smoke-filled drawing rooms. He is proven correct, and Lord Darlington is manipulated, embarrassed, and publicly shamed for his actions. Lord Darlington falls into ill health, and then the house is sold, taking with it the old world and the ways of the past.

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To further this symbolic transition from one age into the next, Darlington Hall is purchased by an American. Mr. Farraday operates in a very different way than Lord Darlington. With far fewer needs, the house operates with a skeleton staff, held together by Stevens’s grit and determination more than anything. Farraday purchases Darlington Hall because he understands its symbolism. As he explains to Stevens, he bought the property and continues to employ Stevens because both represent a certain idea of Englishness that he appreciates. This is why he is so annoyed when his friend dismisses any part of Darlington Hall as fake or inauthentic. He understands the symbolism of Darlington Hall, and he wishes to use his wealth and resources to take advantage of that symbolism, turning himself into something like a traditional British aristocrat. Farraday uses the symbolism of Darlington Hall to play a role and construct an identity, but, in doing so, Stevens seems to feel that he is only furthering the suggestion that the house (and Stevens himself) belong to the past. Lord Darlington never had to play the role of an English aristocrat because that is exactly what he was. In the new world, however, such a role no longer exists. It is only replicated through symbols and gestures, such as the ownership of Darlington Hall. Stevens’s world is gone, and all that remains is the vague parody of rich Americans.