The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro

slovenliness

rota’

he is not one of those gentlemen prone to that most irritating of traits in an employer – inconsistency.

bantering

fracas,

frogmarched

mirth

thickets.

insinuation

august

spire.

it is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart. What is pertinent is the calmness of that beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, of its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it.

conspicuous

folly

The Hayes Society claimed to admit butlers of ‘only the very first rank’.

hewn

what is ‘dignity’ comprised?

Mr Graham would always take the view that this ‘dignity’ was something like a woman’s beauty and it was thus pointless to attempt to analyse it.

my main objection to Mr Graham’s analogy was the implication that this ‘dignity’ was something one possessed or did not by a fluke of nature; and if one did not self-evidently have it, to strive after it would be as futile as an ugly woman trying to make herself beautiful.

Those ‘great’ butlers like Mr Marshall who have it, I am sure, acquired it over many years of self-training and the careful absorbing of experience. In my view, then, it was rather defeatist from a vocational standpoint to adopt a stance like Mr Graham’s.

my father lacked various attributes one may normally expect in a great butler. But those same absent attributes, I would argue, are every time those of a superficial and decorative order, attributes that are attractive, no doubt, as icing on the cake, but are not pertaining to what is really essential.

newt-mating

The obsessions with eloquence and general knowledge would appear to be ones that emerged with our generation,

when lesser men trying to emulate his greatness mistook the superficial for the essence.

we must be careful not to attempt to deny the responsibility which ultimately lies with ourselves,

My father, as I say, came of a generation mercifully free of such confusions of our professional values.

I try, then, to describe to you what I believe made my father thus distinguished, I may in this way convey my idea of what ‘dignity’ is.

One afternoon, Mr Charles to his shame and regret had allowed himself to become inebriated in the company of two fellow guests

the music hall act, Murphy, Saltman and Brigid the Cat,

equanimity was not, however, allowed to last.

‘Are we not going on with the journey?’ My father did not reply, but continued to stand there silently, neither demanding disembarkation nor offering any clue as to his desires or intentions.

The silence seemed to go on interminably, before either Mr Smith or Mr Jones found it in him to mutter: ‘I suppose we were talking a little out of turn there. It won’t happen again.’

sullied

floutings

while he was most grateful that his feelings had been taken into account, Mr Silvers could be assured that service would be provided to the usual standards.

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

ruffians

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.

Continentals – and by and large the Celts, as you will no doubt agree – are as a rule unable to control themselves in moments of strong emotion, and are thus unable to maintain a professional demeanour other than in the least challenging of situations.

We English have an important advantage over foreigners in this respect and it is for this reason that when you think of a great butler, he is bound, almost by definition, to be an Englishman.

He is going against his original point that dignity and being a good butler could be learned. Now he thinks you have to be an English person or have the qualities of an English men.

we have a duty not to be so defeatist in this matter. It is surely a professional responsibility for all of us to think deeply about these things so that each of us may better strive towards attaining ‘dignity’ for ourselves.

downs

churlish

blight

galling

stoop

starkness

craggy,

Nellie

sombrely.