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Similes
Prologue: July 1956
Explanation and Analysis—A Roll in the Hay:
In the Prologue, as an example of his new employer's love of banter, Stevens mentions a time when he asked Mr. Farraday whether a visitor's wife would be coming along with him. Farraday responds with a quippy reply, complete with idioms. Rather than having the intended humorous effect, the joke ironically leaves Stevens embarrassed and flustered.
‘God help us if she does come,’ Mr Farraday replied. ‘Maybe you could keep her off our hands, Stevens. Maybe you could take her out to one of those stables around Mr Morgan’s farm. Keep her entertained in all that hay. She may be just your type.’
For a moment or two, I had not an idea what my employer was saying. Then I realized he was making some sort of joke and endeavoured to smile appropriately, though I suspect some residue of my bewilderment, not to say shock, remained detectable in my expression.
Obviously, Farraday is hoping the visitor's wife won't come, and he idiomatically asks Stevens to "keep her off our hands," or occupy her so she won't be around the rest of the visitors. Farraday then plays off another common English-language idiom, "a roll in the hay," which means the act of having sex. Farraday links this idiom to the literal hay in the nearby stables and suggests Stevens distract the wife by seducing her.
Farraday is not being serious (although his disdain for the visitor's wife seems genuine), but it takes Stevens a moment to pick up on the joke. Even when he does, he's shocked. Rather than making Stevens friendlier or bringing out a more casual nature in him, as Farraday might've intended, the joke has come closer to offending the butler. The situational irony lies in this discrepancy between the intended response (and how the reader might expect a reasonable person to react to a clear joke) and Stevens's actual response.
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.
Farraday uses an idiom—"foot the bill"—to express his willingness to pay for fuel for Stevens's trip. Possibly, this expression came about because English speakers referred to the bottom of a page as a "foot" (think of footnotes), and after adding all the charges on a bill, the sum goes at the bottom—the foot. The person adding up the charges was probably also the person getting ready to pay. Additionally, Farraday refers to the car's fuel as "gas," an Americanism, whereas Stevens and the other Britons in the novel refer to it as "petrol."
Farraday's casual, American English is contrasted against Stevens's formal, upper-class British English. Stevens's manner of speaking is almost incongruently formal considering he's discussing a road trip and the snacks he might buy for it. Some situational irony is generated here between what Stevens is talking about and the fastidious way he speaks of it. Stevens's particular manner of speaking will often seem ironic during the novel given the events he discusses.
Related Themes:
Day Three: Morning
Explanation and Analysis—Twice a Week or More:
In Day Three: Morning, Stevens explains one of his attempts to learn to banter, as he's realized his new American employer expects of him. His explanation of his technique is highly ironic.
One programme I listen to is called Twice a Week or More, which is in fact broadcast three times each week, and basically comprises two persons making humorous comments on a variety of topics raised by readers’ letters. I have been studying this programme because the witticisms performed on it are always in the best of taste and, to my mind, of a tone not at all out of keeping with the sort of bantering Mr Farraday might expect on my part.
Twice a Week or More seems to be a faux-allusion. In other words, the radio program doesn't seem to have ever been real, but it does sound like a reasonably plausible British radio program from the 1950s. The situational irony comes from Stevens's odd aim in listening to the program. Unlike most people tuning in to a humorous talk show, Stevens is not there to laugh, but to learn a new skill for the sake of his job. Instead of liking it for the personalities or the content, Stevens likes it because "the witticisms [...] are always in the best of taste," which means what he learns from the show won't be inappropriate to repeat to his employer. Like much of the situational irony Stevens is involved with during the course of the novel, this is meant to be humorous to the reader.
Related Themes:
