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Allusions
Prologue: July 1956
Explanation and Analysis—Foot the Bill:
In the Prologue, when Stevens considers the logistics of driving through England to see Miss Kenton, the reader gets an excellent example of two distinct dialects of the English language. The first is Stevens's narrative voice, which is not only upper-class British in dialect but also precise and formal in tone. The second is Mr. Farraday's American English, which Stevens subtly draws attention to by encasing it in quotation marks when he repeats it.
There were, in any case, various aspects to the matter I felt I needed to clarify to myself before proceeding further. There was, for instance, the question of cost. For even taking into account my employer’s generous offer to ‘foot the bill for the gas’, the costs of such a trip might still come to a surprising amount considering such matters as accommodation, meals, and any small snacks I might partake of on my way.
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Day One: Evening
Explanation and Analysis—Best View in England:
When Stevens stretches his legs in Day One: Evening, he explores the countryside a little. He runs into a stranger who, with a distinctive British dialect, encourages him to take a footpath up to an outlook:
Unlock with LitCharts A+You got to have a good pair of legs and a good pair of lungs to go up there. Me, I haven’t got neither, so I stay down here. But if I was in better shape, I’d be sitting up there. There’s a nice little spot up there, a bench and everything. And you won’t get a better view anywhere in the whole of England.
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Day Three: Evening
Explanation and Analysis—My Own Small Way:
In Day Three: Evening, Stevens speaks with the Taylor family and the villagers they invited to meet him, including Harry Smith, a local political organizer. Ishiguro writes Harry Smith's dialogue with lower class British dialect and colloquialisms:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It’s only at a local level, and I never meet anyone half as grand as the likes you associate with, sir, but in my own small way I believe I’m doing my part. The way I see it, England’s a democracy, and we in this village have suffered as much as anyone fighting to keep it that way. […] Some fine young lads from this village gave their lives to give us that privilege, and the way I see it, each one of us here now owes it to them to play our part.
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