Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains Of The Day

In a 2015 interview, Kazuo Ishiguro described a concept known as the “double cross metaphor,” used when an author implies a metaphor while truly intending the obvious topic to be the real importance of the novel. That is to say, the metaphor is a means of deception with the purpose of getting the reader to focus on the novel, therefore subconsciously intaking the intended deeper meaning (**cite). Though he did not overtly state that this is a strategy he employs, one can argue that his work is rich with these “double cross metaphors.” One example that stands out in particular is The Remains of the Day, a seemingly straightforward tale about a butler reminiscing upon his profession and the glory days of butlery as a whole. However, Ishiguro …show more content…
His praise of butlers can easily be analyzed as a thinly-veiled cover for his nationalistic pride due to the frequent correlation between the two. According to Stevens, the English countryside is so beautiful because of its “restraint” (29), much like his belief that restraint is what makes a great butler. He states, “It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, of its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it. In comparison, the sorts of sights offered in such places as Africa and America, though undoubtedly very exciting, would, I am sure, strike the objective viewer as inferior on account of their unseemly demonstrativeness” (Ishiguro 29). In comparing this “British restraint” with the rest of the world, Stevens demonstrates his view regarding the demeanor of other countries. While countries like America tend to rely on spectacle, England is beautiful because it is not trying to impress. This connects to butlers not flaunting their abilities, rather putting more weight in productivity. The Englishness of butlers is more than just an implied connection. Stevens explicitly states that, “It is sometimes said that butlers only truly exist in England. Other countries, whatever title is actually used, have only manservants. I tend to believe this is true. Continentals are unable to be butlers because they are as a breed incapable of the …show more content…
Stevens, without any hiding, specifically states that “you may think me merely biased if I say that my own father could in many ways be considered to rank with such men (great butlers), and that his career is the one I have always scrutinized for a definition of ‘dignity’” (Ishiguro 34). Throughout the section, he remarks upon many of his father’s achievements as a butler and the moments when he faced his equivalent of the tiger from his father’s story. Knowing the aforementioned tie between Britishness and proper butlery, it is reasonable to assume that Stevens feels that because he has the lineage of his father, there must be the same relation to his quality of skills. The idolization of great butlers can even be traced to his father, as Stevens states, “For when I look back over his career, I can see with hindsight that he must have striven throughout his years somehow to become that butler of his story. And in my view, at the peak of his career, my father achieved this ambition,” (Ishiguro 37). His father aspired to be the butler in the tiger story, much like Stevens aspires to be his father. Additionally, Stevens also absorbs some negative traits of his father. Throughout the novel, Stevens is lamenting about valuing his profession over the potential relationship he could have had with