ENCW 212 Spring 2021
Posted in The Remains of the Day on Feb 25th, 2021
On the surface, The Remains of the Day is about a butler going on a drive to experience the country in a way he’s never done before and retrieve a potential housekeeper in the process. Stevens at first appears to be a stick in the mud, straight and narrow path, sophisticated, perfect butler. He seems to […]
Posted in Exercises on Feb 25th, 2021
Step 1: Use one of these images to present an internal monologue of what the character is thinking in the precise moment captured by this photograph. Choose another image and do the same thing: convey via internal monologue the character’s thoughts. Step 2: Choose one of these characters in which you present the same scene as part […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 25th, 2021
The Remains of the Day follows along in the life of Stevens, a butler who prides himself in having dignity. It is interesting how many variations of dignity Ishiguro managed to include within the story itself from different people of class. There were even disagreements between the butlers themselves on what it meant to have […]
Posted in The Remains of the Day on Feb 25th, 2021
This novel presents a very strong unreliable narrator, Stevens, as he mostly tells us about his past life through a series of flashbacks. In these flashbacks, Stevens tells us about his old life as a butler at Darlington Hall and his interactions with Miss Kenton, whom he is currently driving to visit while he recollects these stories.One […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 25th, 2021
This story follows the narrator, a butler by the name of Stevens, who travels to visit a friend while reflecting on his time working in Darlington Hall. He talks about and reflects on experiences within the hall, interactions with various people within it, as well as contemplating the idea of what makes a “great” butler. […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 25th, 2021
Throughout Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, The Remains of the Day, he uses the main character’s point of view to show how past events have affected him. The language Stevens’ uses, what he talks about, and most importantly, what he doesn’t talk about leads readers to understand his character more in-depth. In addition, everything Stevens experiences is told […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 25th, 2021
One of the most interesting aspects of the novel was that of the relationship between Stevens and his father. Not only are their stories strikingly similar, but so are their personalities and the revelations that they have later on in life. Stevens is unwilling to admit his own faults, but maybe “faults” is too tough […]
Posted in The Remains of the Day on Feb 24th, 2021
After being assured that Stevens, the narrator, was in fact in love with Miss Kenton, I now understand the book a little better. As I stated in my other post regarding the novel, I had thought he loved Miss Kenton, which would explain his obsession over her and why the memories he spoke about usually had her in them. […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 23rd, 2021
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is about a butler named Mr. Stevens who is taking a holiday from his place of residence/work known as Darlington Hall. During his journey, he has the intention of meeting up with a former housekeeper named Miss Kenton who left in 1936 though they still kept in contact […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 21st, 2021
The narrator of this story is in his 40’s looking back at his teenage years. I think he wrote this story because of his mother. At the end of the story, he says, “And how old was I then? Sixteen. Sixteen is young, but it can also be a grown man. I am forty-one years […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 18th, 2021
Stevens begins his story by describing a letter he received from Miss Kenton. From this letter, he makes an assumption that her marriage is failing or is at least not very good. However, I am not sure that this is what made Stevens write his story. I think his feelings for Mrs. Kenton and his […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 18th, 2021
On the very first page of the novel, we learn that the butler, Stevens, was taking a journey of some kind; implicitly that leads the readers to thinking that this story will either be about the trip itself or that it may be some kind of reflection that long trips alone bring about. (It’s both.) The […]
Posted in The Remains of the Day on Feb 17th, 2021
Where does one draw the line with professionalism? The Remains of the Day roused this question quite pointedly, presenting it as a consistent theme throughout the novel. The narrator and protagonist, Stevens, initially appears to maintain an emotional distance from everyone and everything except his work. So much so that it’s rather baffling to witness […]
Posted in The Remains of the Day on Feb 16th, 2021
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is based on a butler who is taking a week-long drive around England and his recollections of his life. He goes about the story mostly recalling various events that took place in his life; these memories involved his father, Lord Darlington, Mr. Farraday, Miss Kenton, and various […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 16th, 2021
The story begins by telling us about a troubled year when a 16-year-old boy’s life changed forever.His life is depicted as relatively stable. His father worked on for rail line while his mother passed through as a waitress in town. Everything seemed to function as a normalized familiar unit. The father is characterized as being […]
Posted in Richard Ford on Feb 15th, 2021
In his short story “Communist,” Richard Ford writes about Les, a 16-year-old boy who is hard to pin down as a character. He seems unsure and hesitant, but also doesn’t seem to question anything asked of him. This is intentional, of course, as Ford has written an excellent depiction of any 16-year-old, someone who is not […]
Posted in Richard Ford on Feb 15th, 2021
“Optimists” follows along behind Frank and his interactions with life after experiencing traumatic events. His father had killed Boyd right in front of him from anger and spite after having watched another man die. It is truly interesting to watch this story unfold because it seems to inhabit the meaning of being an optimist. Frank […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 15th, 2021
There were several parallels and similarities between Richard Ford’s two stories “Optimists” and “Communist”, though in varying forms. One such similarity was the connection between “lost” father figures in each of the narrators’ lives. In “Optimists”, the narrator loses his father as he goes to prison for killing a man, while in “Communist” the father had […]
Posted in Richard Ford on Feb 15th, 2021
The story “Optimists” is interesting because unlike many of the other narrators in this book, Frank seemed aware of the lasting effect the events of the story had on his life, citing it as “the year, in other words, when my life changed for all of us and forever.” (Ford 171). Frank acknowledges this before […]
Posted in Richard Ford on Feb 14th, 2021
The title of the story “Communist” refers to the boyfriend of the main character’s mother, Glen Baxter. Glen identifies as a Communist and had been to Vietnam. In the story when he and the main character, Les, go hiking to the lake where they are going to hunt geese, he mentions that there are people […]