Remains of the Day

The Best of England within These Walls

The "wall" imagery helps to make a particular point early on in The Remains of the Day. Stevens is up against a wall in a literal and in a figurative way: he is dusting the books (more of which his new employer the American Mr. Farraday has come to give him). Books themselves are symbols of memory that are caught between two walls, or covers. That Stevens should be dusting them just as he is about to embark on a journey down "memory lane" is indicative of the overall mood of the novel: it is a thoughtful look backward, a sad yet thankful recounting of life limited by the bounds of duty. As a butler, an office of servitude, Stevens has "seen" more than his fair share of "great" persons. But there is one person in particular whom he...
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