EXCAVATION OF THINGS PAST: A HISTORICAL PROBE INTO KAZUO ISHIGURO’S THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

Abstract

The paper aims to explore the historical aspects of the novel The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel deals with six days motoring trip in the life of the protagonist Mr. Stevens, an English butler from Darlington Hall, England to Cornwall for business purposes in 1956. The study traces how the physical journey leads him to recognize his past issues through a mental journey of a loyal butler. This helps him to identify his true self. The remembrance of his personal history, loss, historical events, places, historical figures, and political situation in Europe shape his existence. The novel & historical background is First World War and Second World War, which play a major role in this novel. The paper explains the problem statements as how Kazuo Ishiguro mentions the intermixing of Steven’s personal and historical incidents in the novel. It analyses how strong emotion of suppression, suffering, regrets, and pain leads the protagonist to the emotionless condition in his life. The aim of the paper is to bring out the historical traces of the Nazi party, the Treaty of Versailles, the Hayes Society - an elite society of butlers in the 1920s and 1930s and the Suez Canal crisis in the novel. The paper also suggests ideas and the scope of further research.