To Have or to Have Not:�Political and Historical Allusions in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day

408110261 Jimmy Huang

Outline

1. Introduction

• Basic Information about The Remains of the Day
• Motivations
• Thesis Statement
• Research Questions

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2. Literature Review

& Methodology

3. Textual Analysis

4. Conclusion

1. Introduction

The Remains of the Day

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Better Reading, www.betterreading.com.au/book/the-remains-of-the-day/.

• Setting: 1956, when the Suez Canal Crisis happened

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• Stevens traveling to Weymouth visiting Miss Kenton

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• His recollection of past memory uncovers Lord Darlington’s Dismissal of two Jewish housemaids and the unofficial conferences for German ambassadors that results in the World War II and makes him a disgraced aristocrat.

Kazuo Ishiguro

Emara

“I’ve not attempted to reproduce in a historically accurate way, some past period” (Vorda and Herzinger qtd. in Emara 9).

“In Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, fictional narrative and history are closely connected” (Emara 9).

Motivations

Historical and Political Allusions in The Remains of the Day

Understated Narration:

The truth is concealed through Stevens narration.

Thesis Statement:�

In The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro uses characters, plot and dialogue to allude to the prevalence of Fascism in England during the interwar period, to the decline of Britain’s imperial power, and to the political disengagement of the British during World War II.

Research Questions

1. Why The Remains of the Day should be examined from a political or historical perspective?
2. How does Kazuo Ishiguro use plot, characters, and dialogue to refer to the political ideology of Fascism in The Remains of the Day?
3. How does Kazuo Ishiguro use plot, characters, and dialogue to suggest the decline of British imperial power in The Remains of the Day?
4. How does Kazuo Ishiguro use plot, characters, and dialogue to refer the political disengagement of ordinary people in England in The Remains of the Day?

2. Literature Review�& Methodology

“Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day: A Historiographical Approach” �by Maha Abdel Moneim Emara

2. Emara provides the literary elements’ analysis related to the political allusions to anti-Semitism: the animosity towards Jewish people.

1. Emara argues that The Remains of the Day is highly related to the history of England.

“The End of (Anthony) Eden: Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Midcentury Anglo-American Tensions”� by John P. McCombe

• McCombe avers that Ishiguro alludes to the downturn of the Britain's imperial power.

• The literary elements in the novel, such as the setting of 1956 when the Suez Canal Crisis occurred, symbolizes the disintegration of the Britain’s imperial power.

“Inside Job: Professionalism and Postimperial Communities in The Remains of the Day” �by Ryan S. Trimm

• •Stevens’s personal events and employment in Darlington Hall parallels the fall of the United Kingdom.

• Trimm argues how Ishiguro uses literary elements to refer to the downfall of the British imperial power

Understanding Kazuo Ishiguro by Brian W. Shaffer

• Shaffer avers that Ishiguro alludes to the political disengagement of normal people before War World II through Stevens.

• Shaffer provides the analysis of literary elements symbolizing the political repression of Stevens.

Methodology

1. Allusions to Fascism

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• Anti-Semitism
• McPhee’s and Brustein and King’s articles

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2. Literature Reviews

• Literary Elements Symbolizing the Decline of England
• Examples: The Setting of 1956, The change of New residency
• McCombe’s & Trimm’s articles

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3. Political Disengagement

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• Stevens’s Outfits as a Symbol of his political disengagement

3. Textual Analysis

Historical Allusions to Fascist Doctrine:�The Anti-Semitism

• In 1932, Lord Darlington summons and command Stevens that “We cannot have Jews on the staff here at Darlington Hall…It’s for the good of this house, Stevens. In the interests of the guests we have staying here” (Ishiguro 155).

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McPhee

Brustein and King

The dismissal is “Anti-Semitic and morally repugnant” to the two Jewish maids 197).

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Anti-Semitism reached its peak “in the early 1920s and mid-to-late 1930s” (37).

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Historical Allusion: � The Fall of British Imperial Power

• The novel begins in 1956, when the Suez Canal crisis occurred, referring to the fall of England.

Historical Allusion: � The Fall of British Imperial Power

• The failure of the England’s attempt to regain the authority of the Suze Canal is a moment the Empire reached its end of authority (McCombe 79).

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• The president of Egypt abruptly nationalized the authority of the Suez canal. England attempted to regain the authority but failed.

Historical Allusion: � The Fall of British Imperial Power

• The change of Darlington Hall’s Residency, where “the very fulcrum of great affairs” are held, is the symbol of the decline of the British Imperial Power (Ishiguro 139).

Historical Allusion: � The Fall of British Imperial Power

• The change of new residency reveals “a corresponding reorientation of Darlington Hall from imperial hub to…a wealthy American” (Trimm 139).

Darlington Hall is portrayed “as the hub, which “symbolizes the greatness of England” (Tamaya 50).

Historical Allusion: � Political Disengagement of Normal People

• Stevens’s choices of his outfits symbolizing the political disengagement of normal people

Emara

Shaffer

Stevens represents normal people close to the core of power (9).

Stevens’s possession of suits is a metaphor symbolizing his political repression(65).

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4. Conclusion

Thesis Statement:�

In The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro uses characters, plot and dialogue to allude to the prevalence of Fascism in England during the interwar period, to the decline of Britain’s imperial power, and to the political disengagement of the British during World War II.

Arguments:

• Historical Allusion to the Prevalence of Fascist Doctrines
• Historical Allusion to the Decline of Britain’s Imperial Power
• Historical Allusion to the Political Disengagement of Normal People before War World II

Works Cited�

Brustein, William I., and Ryan D. King. “Anti-Semitism in Europe before the Holocaust.” International Political Science Review, vol. 25, no. 1, Jan. 2004, pp. 35-53. Accessed 3 Apr. 2022.

Emara, Maha Abdel Moneim. “Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day: A Historiographical Approach.” English Language and Literature Studies, vol. 5, no. 4, 2015, pp. 8-20. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. Faber and Faber, 2010.

McCombe, John P. “The End of (Anthony) Eden: Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and Midcentury Anglo-American Tensions.” Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 48, no. 1, Duke University Press, Spring 2002, pp. 77-99.

McPhee, Graham. “Escape from Responsibility: Ideology and Storytelling in Arendt’s The Origin of Totalitarianism and Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day.” College Literature, vol. 38, no. 1, Winter 2011, pp. 176-201. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

Works Cited�

Parker, Adam. Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day: A Reader’s Guide. The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2001.

Paxton, Robert O. “The Five Stages of Fascism.” The Journal of Modern History, vol. 70, no. 1, Mar. 1998, pp. 1-23. Accessed 4 Apr. 2022.

Shaffer, Brian W. Understanding Kazuo Ishiguro. University of South Carolina, 1998.

Tamaya, Meera. “Ishiguro’s ‘Remains of the Day’: The Empire Strikes Back.” Modern Language Studies, vol. 22, no. 2, Spring 1992, pp. 45-56.

Trimm, Ryan S. “Inside Job: Professionalism and Postimperial Communities in The Remains of the Day.” Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 16, no. 2, 2002, pp. 135-161. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

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