The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro

Now naturally, like many of us, I have a reluctance to change too much of the old ways. But there is no virtue at all in clinging as some do to tradition merely for its own sake.

a fortnight

two weeks A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term fēowertīene niht, meaning "fourteen nights" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights).

The landlady, a woman of around forty or so, appears to regard me as a rather grand visitor on account of Mr Farraday’s Ford and the high quality of my suit.

‘what is a great butler?’

Yet it is my firm conviction that at the peak of his career at Loughborough House, my father was indeed the embodiment of ‘dignity’.

I have heard of various instances of a butler being displayed as a kind of performing monkey at a house party.

which guest should be allocated the butler as valet and who the footman.

A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valet A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footman A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler

‘dignity’ has to do crucially with a butler’s ability not to abandon the professional being he inhabits.

Continentals are unable to be butlers because they are as a breed incapable of the emotional restraint which only the English race are capable of.

‘Beyond that there’s nothing much you can say.’

Today some say: I got nothing.

‘Look here, Stevens, there’s no question of your father leaving us. You’re simply being asked to reconsider his duties.’

this did not prevent M. Dupont snapping his fingers at me every few hours to say: ‘Butler! I am in need of more bandages.’

Versailles treaty,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles The Treaty of Versailles[i] was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the war.

He had dropped down on to one knee and with head bowed seemed to be pushing at the trolley before him,

This sounds like a stroke.

‘I hope I’ve been a good father to you.’

what you mean by “professionalism.” It appears to mean getting one’s way by cheating and manipulating.

‘Butler, have you seen to my arrangements?’

M. DuPont never addresses Mr. Stevens by his name, only “Butler”. Seems rude but maybe that’s normal.

A ‘great’ butler can only be, surely, one who can point to his years of service and say that he has applied his talents to serving a great gentleman – and through the latter, to serving humanity.

‘It was Lord Darlington’s residence until his death three years ago,’ I informed him. ‘The house is now the residence of Mr John Farraday, an American gentleman.’

He had asked: ‘You mean you actually used to work for that Lord Darlington?’ and I had given an answer which could mean little other than that I had not.

I thought Mr. Stevens was being discreet and didn’t want to give away any information concerning Lord Darlington.

You really mustn’t let any more foolish ideas come between yourself and the happiness you deserve.’

Just shows you never know who you’re addressing when you start talking to a stranger.

What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took?

It is curious how people can build such warmth among themselves so swiftly.

I rather fancy it has more to do with this skill of bantering.

particularly if it is the case that in bantering lies the key to human warmth.