The Discourse of Power in Kazou Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day

Abstract

This study aims to examine power relations in The Remains of the Day (1989) by the Noble laureate Kazuo Ishiguro (1954 -- ). The study draws on T. A. van Dijk theory of Discourse and Power to show how the declining power of the British Empire relates to the emerging American one in the years preceding WWII. Selected encounters between characters of each camp, the English and the American, are analyzed to show how discourse is manipulated to assert domination. The reason for choosing van Dijk's theory is that it focuses on the ways discourse structures enact, confirm, legitimate, reproduce, or challenge relations of power abuse and dominance in society (Dijk, 2001, p. 353). The theory of van Dijk, which handles these diverse issues of how power works, is believed to serve the objective of the present study.