Pippa chose the book. Open this file to read her summary
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theremainsoftheday_-_pippa.pdf |
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Jottings from our discussion – not very accurate. Feel free to add comments.
Steven’s journey to Cornwall frames the novel as he reminisces about his relationship with Miss Kenton (Mrs Benn) when he was butler to Lord Darlington at Darlington Hall in the 1930's, and she was the housekeeper. The background to the main narrative deals with the attempt by Lord Darlington to reconcile the UK with Germany as it is being transformed by Hitler. Stevens is blinkered to what is going on in the wider world and has no opinion on the “great affairs of state”. He is also blinkered to Miss Kenton the woman. When they finally meet at the end of the novel, Miss Kenton reveals she often thinks of the better life she might have had with Stevens. At that moment his blinkers fall away. Has his whole life and hers been a waste? “Indeed – why should I not admit it? -at that moment my heart was breaking”. But he quickly recovers and says it’s too late to turn back the clock. However, despite the efforts of Mr Cardinal to open his eyes to Lord Darlington naïve meddling in foreign affairs, Stevens maintains his loyalty. “I’m sorry sir, but I have to say that I have every trust in his Lordship’s good judgment.”
The author did an amazing job getting totally into the mind of a servant. But Steven’s complete subservience made the book hard going. He drove me mad, I just wanted to shake him; you feel sorry for him while at the same time wanting to hit him. But glad I stuck with it as it’s incredibly well-written.
Stevens is approaching the end of his life – the remains of his day. The book was annoying at times but humour crept in, particularly the business of telling Mr Cardinal “the facts of life”. The death of the Father was sad as it hardly seemed to touch him – the needs of the guests taking precedence over any grief.
Stevens was essentially a happy and contented man. He made his Father proud. Miss Kenton’s is the tragic story of the book, not Stevens’. Nevertheless, she could look forward to being a grandmother and had come to love her husband – second best to what might have been. Lord Darlington’s ideas smacked of arrogance – landed gentry – right to rule etc. “Remains of The Day” spoke of the end of Stevens’ day, as he retreated into the solitude of his Butler’s Pantry and read romantic novels. Really liked the way it was written in Steven’s voice, with his particularly stilted English way of speaking. Loved the feel of the book and lapped it up.
Remarkable how the author controlled the tone of Stevens’ voice and sustained it through the whole book. There were lots of interesting themes. Darlington may have been naïve, but he was entirely honourable. He was strongly affected by the slaughter of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles was far too harsh, despite warnings from Maynard Keynes who predicted that stiff reparations would lead to economic collapse in Germany and lay the foundations for another war. A very interesting novel and very well written.
My take on the book
Stevens is like a member of a religious cult. He is fanatically committed to an ideal, that of being the perfect Butler, and has surrendered his life to it. He is like a man who has entered a monastery and taken vows of chastity and obedience. Not only does he wear the outward uniform of a butler but conforms inwardly, suppressing his own desires and emotions until they scarcely exist.
“The great butlers are great by virtue of their ability to inhabit their professional role and inhabit it to the utmost.”
The superior beings who own Darlington Hall, whether Lord Darlington or Mr Farraday are his gods - men of a vastly superior kind who rule the world and discuss the great affairs of state, far above the likes of lowly Stevens. Their words and actions are not to be questioned. Stevens’ subservience to these gods is akin to worship but carried out of course with great dignity.
When Mr Farraday, engages Stevens in “light, conversation of a humorous sort”, Stevens is all at sea. He has never met this before and is unable to respond. There’s no question of him despising his new boss for uncouth Americanisms because Mr Farraday is a gentleman, so Steven’s sets himself the task of learning to banter. Kazou Ishiguro devotes several pages to this early in the novel and returns to the same issue right at the end as though he wants to emphasise the impossibility of Stevens’ ever deviating from the path he has chosen.
Miss Kenton arrives on the scene and tries to chip away at the carapace in which Stevens lives his life. She brings him flowers; she tries to engage him in conversation; she teases and provokes him but nothing works.
This relationship is the main plot line and Miss Kenton develops an affection for Stevens despite being constantly frustrated by his lack of normal emotion. To her, he is living a wasted life of pretence:
“Why, Mr Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?”
She tells him she is to be married but even this does not provoke him into any display of regret at losing her, and she weeps behind a closed door. Ishiguro makes Stevens such a constricted, repressed character, never deviating from the tramlines of the ideal butler, that the “breaking heart” moment near the end doesn’t really work for me. I wanted more evidence of that heart earlier on.
At the end of the book, as Stevens sits on a bench watching the remains of the day fade over the channel at Weymouth, he is joined by an old man and confesses:
“I gave my best to Lord Darlington. I gave him the very best I had to give, and now - well - I find I do not have a great deal more left to give. ……. Goodness knows, I've tried and tried, but it's no use I've given what I had to give. I gave it all to Lord Darlington.”
The old man tells him:
“Don't keep looking back all the time, you're bound to get depressed, we’ve all got to put our feet up at some point…... The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it. That's how I look at it. Ask anybody they'll all tell you the evenings the best part of the day.”
Steven’s journey to Cornwall frames the novel as he reminisces about his relationship with Miss Kenton (Mrs Benn) when he was butler to Lord Darlington at Darlington Hall in the 1930's, and she was the housekeeper. The background to the main narrative deals with the attempt by Lord Darlington to reconcile the UK with Germany as it is being transformed by Hitler. Stevens is blinkered to what is going on in the wider world and has no opinion on the “great affairs of state”. He is also blinkered to Miss Kenton the woman. When they finally meet at the end of the novel, Miss Kenton reveals she often thinks of the better life she might have had with Stevens. At that moment his blinkers fall away. Has his whole life and hers been a waste? “Indeed – why should I not admit it? -at that moment my heart was breaking”. But he quickly recovers and says it’s too late to turn back the clock. However, despite the efforts of Mr Cardinal to open his eyes to Lord Darlington naïve meddling in foreign affairs, Stevens maintains his loyalty. “I’m sorry sir, but I have to say that I have every trust in his Lordship’s good judgment.”
The author did an amazing job getting totally into the mind of a servant. But Steven’s complete subservience made the book hard going. He drove me mad, I just wanted to shake him; you feel sorry for him while at the same time wanting to hit him. But glad I stuck with it as it’s incredibly well-written.
Stevens is approaching the end of his life – the remains of his day. The book was annoying at times but humour crept in, particularly the business of telling Mr Cardinal “the facts of life”. The death of the Father was sad as it hardly seemed to touch him – the needs of the guests taking precedence over any grief.
Stevens was essentially a happy and contented man. He made his Father proud. Miss Kenton’s is the tragic story of the book, not Stevens’. Nevertheless, she could look forward to being a grandmother and had come to love her husband – second best to what might have been. Lord Darlington’s ideas smacked of arrogance – landed gentry – right to rule etc. “Remains of The Day” spoke of the end of Stevens’ day, as he retreated into the solitude of his Butler’s Pantry and read romantic novels. Really liked the way it was written in Steven’s voice, with his particularly stilted English way of speaking. Loved the feel of the book and lapped it up.
Remarkable how the author controlled the tone of Stevens’ voice and sustained it through the whole book. There were lots of interesting themes. Darlington may have been naïve, but he was entirely honourable. He was strongly affected by the slaughter of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles was far too harsh, despite warnings from Maynard Keynes who predicted that stiff reparations would lead to economic collapse in Germany and lay the foundations for another war. A very interesting novel and very well written.
My take on the book
Stevens is like a member of a religious cult. He is fanatically committed to an ideal, that of being the perfect Butler, and has surrendered his life to it. He is like a man who has entered a monastery and taken vows of chastity and obedience. Not only does he wear the outward uniform of a butler but conforms inwardly, suppressing his own desires and emotions until they scarcely exist.
“The great butlers are great by virtue of their ability to inhabit their professional role and inhabit it to the utmost.”
The superior beings who own Darlington Hall, whether Lord Darlington or Mr Farraday are his gods - men of a vastly superior kind who rule the world and discuss the great affairs of state, far above the likes of lowly Stevens. Their words and actions are not to be questioned. Stevens’ subservience to these gods is akin to worship but carried out of course with great dignity.
When Mr Farraday, engages Stevens in “light, conversation of a humorous sort”, Stevens is all at sea. He has never met this before and is unable to respond. There’s no question of him despising his new boss for uncouth Americanisms because Mr Farraday is a gentleman, so Steven’s sets himself the task of learning to banter. Kazou Ishiguro devotes several pages to this early in the novel and returns to the same issue right at the end as though he wants to emphasise the impossibility of Stevens’ ever deviating from the path he has chosen.
Miss Kenton arrives on the scene and tries to chip away at the carapace in which Stevens lives his life. She brings him flowers; she tries to engage him in conversation; she teases and provokes him but nothing works.
This relationship is the main plot line and Miss Kenton develops an affection for Stevens despite being constantly frustrated by his lack of normal emotion. To her, he is living a wasted life of pretence:
“Why, Mr Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?”
She tells him she is to be married but even this does not provoke him into any display of regret at losing her, and she weeps behind a closed door. Ishiguro makes Stevens such a constricted, repressed character, never deviating from the tramlines of the ideal butler, that the “breaking heart” moment near the end doesn’t really work for me. I wanted more evidence of that heart earlier on.
At the end of the book, as Stevens sits on a bench watching the remains of the day fade over the channel at Weymouth, he is joined by an old man and confesses:
“I gave my best to Lord Darlington. I gave him the very best I had to give, and now - well - I find I do not have a great deal more left to give. ……. Goodness knows, I've tried and tried, but it's no use I've given what I had to give. I gave it all to Lord Darlington.”
The old man tells him:
“Don't keep looking back all the time, you're bound to get depressed, we’ve all got to put our feet up at some point…... The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it. That's how I look at it. Ask anybody they'll all tell you the evenings the best part of the day.”