Power and Resistance in The Remains of the Day

Abstract

This paper examines the theme of power and resistance in Ishiguro’s novel The Remains of the Day by applying Marxian class theory to analyse how individuals like Stevens, the novel’s protagonist who is a butler, are manipulated and exploited in a class society and how social institutions like the Hayes Society help to mentally dominate the working class. Under the constant power in the class system, most individuals have been deprived of the ability to think, judge and act, just like Stevens who turns himself into a working machine and falls victim to self-alienation. On the other hand, characters who resist the power and keep their judgment and morality have also been presented in the novel, with the representative being Miss Kenton, through the depiction of whom the author of the novel shows his faith in the inner power of human beings.