Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954. As his family shifted to Britain in 1969, he had his education in Kent and in East Anglia. His two novels won Winifred Holtby prize and the third one ‘The Remains of the day’ won Booker Prize in 1989 and was filmed, acted by Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson and won many awards. Ishiguro, as a writer more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened. Similarly ‘The Remains of the day’ is characterized by nostalgia as Stevens the hero of the novel, looks back to what he regards as England’s golden age. Hero recollects his memories in fragments that happened in between the First World War and the Second World War. Apart from this ‘emotional restraint’, a traditional trait that is said to be one of the characteristics of English has a big role to play in this novel.
James Stevens is a
butler at Darlington Hall which was earlier owned by Lord Darlington Hill and
now by John Farraday, an American. Stevens entered Darlington in 1920s. Then Lord Darlington used to continue his
status as a hereditary English nobleman as his ancestors. But in 1956, his new employer, Farraday, who
is less formal than Darlington was and who cares the well-being of his
employees, asks Stevens to take the car and go for a trip, which Stevens has
never done before. There he decides to
visit Miss. Kenton the ex-house keeper of Darlington Hall. Recently Stevens has got a letter from Miss
Kenton with her nostalgic expressions.
Mr. Farraday has asked Stevens to hire new staffs too. So, he believes
that his visit of Miss Kenton will make her return to work in Darlington
Hall. But, Miss Kenton was not blindly
loyal to Lord Darlington as Stevens. She
never supported Lord Darlington’s act of anti-Semitism. That was why when two Jewish housemaids were
dismissed by him she became extremely upset.
Actually, she tried to convey her romantic feelings towards him, but his
professional façade didn’t allow him to accept it. It even didn’t allow him to be a loving son
to his father, who had worked for sometime in Darlington Hall as an
under-butler. When his father died, he
cried without seeming to realize that he was doing so. To that extent his professional life
influenced his personal life. He
embraced whole heartedly his role of butler as his true authentic self.
Mr. Farraday makes Stevens
to take a trip to see his own country’s beautiful landscapes. This physical
journey through the English country side equivalent to the emotional journey he
takes as he reminisces. Mr. Farraday
attempts to banter with Stevens. But to
Stevens bantering is something new and uncomfortable in between an employee and
employer. But it is a shift from the old
world to the new world. However,
Stevens, during his trip, observes people bantering on the pier at way mouth in
the evening. As, it can create warmth
between people, he resolves to become better at banter at the end. Moreover, his personal history was interwoven
with his employer Darlington’s pro-Nazi politics and actions. Though he was proud to work for Darlington,
later he regrets for his blind loyalty to Lord Darlington. However, Stevens
acknowledges that he was not in a position then to question his employer’s
views.
After the World War II,
the social order changed. Many wealthy
land owners in England like Lord Darlington were forced to sell estates. Actually, apart from Mr. Farraday, Mr. Smith,
whom Stevens meets on his travel, makes him to be aware of the social
change. In Dorset, when Stevens needs
his car’s radiator to be checked, a Valet helped him. During the conversation when Stevens is asked
whether he has worked for Lord Darlington, Stevens evades that question and
says that he is working for Mr. Farraday.
On his stay in Salisbury, in a guest house, he visit the Cathedral that
was recommended in the book ‘The wonder of England’ that he has read
earlier. Then he visits Taunton and
Little Compton in Cornwall. On his way
he thinks about “Lesser butlers’, who will abandon their professions on
provocation. But the great butlers like
him will never be affected by external events, however surprising, alarming or
vexing.
On his meeting Miss
Kenton at Clevedon they share their memories of Darlington Hall. Stevens asks whether she is happy in her
married life. She says that though she
had not been happy earlier then, she is.
Moreover, she wonders what her life would have been with Stevens if she
had married him and it would have been better she means. These words break Steven’s
heart. Moreover, Stevens realizes that
on her marrying Mr. Benn, Miss Kenton becomes attached to the institution of
marriage rather than the domestic system where she once worked. Here he recollects the words of a retired
butler on his way who has advised him not to spend so much time thinking about
the past, but to look forward and enjoy himself. Even Miss Kenton says “It is
of no use to dwell on what might have been”.
So, he decides to sharpen his little used skills at bantering and become
a loyal butler to Mr. Farraday. Thus,
through this novel Ishiguro helps us to see how people come to terms with the
inevitabilities when they happen to face truth about themselves. Moreover, through the old butler, Ishiguro
makes the reader to think about his country, its politics, its history and its
culture. That actually makes this novel
a different one.
No comments:
Post a Comment