Kazuo Ishiguro's Novel, the Remains of the Term Paper

Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, The Remains of the Day, is the anecdote told about farmers and their emotions regarding the slaughtering of animals that they have reared since birth. Emotions, and the way that people deal with them, is one of the principle themes of Ishiguro's work. The crux of the aforementioned quotation is the fact that despite the sentiment that farmers become adjusted to killing their animals, in reality "that's just not true," and the son of a farmer "cried for days" (Ishiguro 169) following the killing of an animal with which he had become close. What this quotation actually suggests is that most people (particularly adults) become very good at hiding their emotions. However, as the crying of the young boy in this passage implies, they are merely hiding such emotions and still feel them strongly, and struggle to cope with them and contain them. There are a number of different passages in Ishiguro's novel that support this interpretation of the preceding quotation -- the most effective ones pertain to Stevens, the protagonist/narrator of this work, and his relationship with the men he works for.

Stevens' relationship with Lord Darlington, his longtime-master who had died fairly recently from the point of narration in which the novel begins, demonstrates his problems with attempting to contain, and not act on, emotions which he feels strongly about.Darlington was an Englishman who was on friendly terms with the Germans during World War I and prior to World War II. After Germany again rose to power in the Second World War, Darlington became extremely unpopular for his political views. Stevens is bothered by the contemporary regard for his employer since the former believes that he was a good man whose views fell out of political favor. Still, what truly bothers Stevens them most is the fact that he never questioned his master's opinions on the subject, which the subsequent quotation suggests. "It is hardly my fault is his lordship's life and work have….....