Critical analysis essay over The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Course
Engels
Level
VWO / Gymnasium
Book
The Remains of the Day
A very comprehensive analysis essay at VWO level that expands the book The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and puts it in context by linking with the characters in the book, the writer and the society described. Includes reference list.
Literature Analysis Essay: The Remains of the Day
Thesis statement:
Steven’s moral compass is blinded by the dignity and professionalism that he wants to
preserve.
The Remains of the Day is a story about a butler in 1956. The reader only gets to know his
last name, Stevens. He takes a six-day road trip with the goal to visit his former colleague
Miss Kenton. Stevens works for an American man called Mr. Farraday, but Stevens has only
recently become employed by Farraday. He used to work for Lord Darlington, a man with a
controversial past as a Nazi sympathizer. We read through the perspective of Stevens, a big
part of the book is Stevens’ looking back at the times he had with Lord Darlington and
others, we view the story through his memories. But through these memories, we as readers
get to see a darker, more tainted past than Stevens admits. Stevens’ moral compass is
blinded by the dignity and professionalism that he wants to preserve.
Firstly, dignity plays a big part in the problematic character of Stevens. He is a good guy, but
he views greatness as one of the most important things. He believes that if you want to be a
great butler, you need to have dignity. This is what blinds him from people that might not
deserve his dignity, he stays in denial because that is how he believes that he does his job
best.
"How can one possibly be held to blame in any sense because, say, the passage of
time has shown that Lord Darlington's efforts were misguided, even foolish?
Throughout the years I served him, it was he and he alone who weighed up evidence
and judged it best to proceed in the way he did, while I simply confined myself, quite
properly, to affairs within my own professional realm. And as far as I am concerned, I
carried out my duties to the best of my abilities, indeed to a standard which many
may consider 'first-rate.' It is hardly my fault is his lordship's life and work have
turned out today to look, at best, a sad waste-and it is quite illogical that I should feel
any regret or shame on my own account."
(Page 84-85. Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989)
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