A Great Butler: The Unreliable Narrator in Kazuo Ishiguro's the Remains of the Day

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Würzburg, language: English, abstract: In Kazuo Ishiguro´s The Remains of the Day the first person narrator Stevens, a butler on the verge of retirement, undertakes a journey to meet - for what is likely the last time in their lives - his former coworker and love interest Miss Kenton. At the same time, he tries to come to terms with his past by reexamining his memories of his life at Darlington Hall, the choices he made and the values he had. Throughout his account it becomes increasingly obvious that Stevens´s narration cannot be trusted completely. His comments on, and interpretation of, past events in his life and his portrayal of himself and others in his tale expose him as an unreliable narrator. However, his attempts to deceive himself and others are possibly the most interesting and telltale aspect of the narrative. After all, "the use of an unreliable narrator draws attention to a character´s psychology." Paradoxically, the narrator reveals most about himself and his life when he is trying to obscure the truth.