Chapter 36 unreliable narrator

"The news came from Mrs. Johnson, a friend of my aunt's. She said that my aunt passed away the day before yesterday." She paused, and then said, "The funeral is tomorrow. I wonder if there will be room tomorrow?" "It will all be arranged, Miss Canton." "Thank you, Mr. Stevens. Excuse me, but can I be alone for a while?" "Of course, Miss Canton." I quit.As soon as she came out, it suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't said a few words of comfort to her yet.I can fully imagine how much this news hit her.In fact, her aunt has always regarded her as her own daughter.I stopped in the hallway, wondering if I should go back, knock on the door, and say what I had to say.But after thinking about it, if she really went in, she might have been involved in her grief too easily.Indeed, Miss Canton, who was only a few steps from me, might have been weeping at that hour!Thinking of this, I had a strange feeling in my heart, so I had to stop in the corridor for a while.Ultimately, I figured it wouldn't be too late to wait for another opportunity to express my sympathy.So, he walked away.

Kazuo Ishiguro, The Last Days (1987) Unreliable narrators are, without exception, characters in the author's pen and an integral part of the novel.The unreliable, "omniscient" narrator is an oxymoron in itself, and can only be found in supernaturally experimental works.Even if the characters in the book are themselves narrators, it is impossible to be 100% unbelievable.If everything he or she says is obviously wrong, it can only mean that what is said is what we already know, that is, the novel is fiction after all.For a novel to hold its audience, even in an imaginary world, as in real life, there must be a criterion by which truth can be distinguished from falsehood, so that the novel can hold the reader's attention,

The purpose of using unreliable narrators is indeed to show the gap between appearance and reality in a somewhat humorous way, and to expose how humans distort or conceal the truth.The intent need not be conscious or mischievous.The narrator in Kazuo Ishiguro's novels is not a villain, but his life is based on not daring to face, or avoiding, the truth about himself and others.His account was a confession, full of unwarranted self-affirmations and special requests, and only at the end did he really know himself, when it was too late. The time of the story is 1956.The narrator is Stevens.Stevens is an elderly man who works as a housekeeper in a bungalow in England.This bungalow was once the residence of Sir Darlington and is now owned by a wealthy American.At the urging of his new boss, Stevens took a short vacation out west.His real motive was to contact Miss Canton.Miss Canton worked as housekeeper at Darlington House during its heyday during World War II, when Sir Darlington held informal gatherings of senior politicians here to discuss the crisis in Europe.Stevens hopes to persuade Miss Canton (Miss, as Stevens likes to call her, although she is married) to come back out and help with the crisis in the management of Darlington House.On the way, he reflected on the past.

Stevens writes and speaks with frightening precision, and his style is remarkably formal.In a word, butler style.Objectively speaking, this style has no literary value.It lacks wit, beauty and innovation.What works as a medium in this novel is largely a recognition of the style's flaws.Gradually, we learn that Sir Darlington is a clumsy amateur diplomat who believes in appeasement of Hitler, who supports fascism and opposes the Jews.Stevens never dared to admit it, and never revealed it to others, and his employer was discredited by a series of historical events that followed.Instead, he prides himself on serving his frail and aloof master with care and thoughtfulness.

The idea of ​​being a worthy servant also prevented him from seeing, and from responding to, the love Miss Canton was ready to offer him in working with him.However, in the process of his narration, his attitude towards her was gradually revealed, although this kind of memory was a bit vague and processed by him.So we find out that his real motive for getting Miss Canton out again is to redeem the past, which is totally impossible. Stevens repeatedly described himself as a nice guy, when in reality he was flawed and deceitful.After handing the letter to Miss Canton to report her aunt's death, he realized that no words of comfort had been addressed to her; and his hesitation at the door as to whether he should go back almost makes us forget that he No regrets.His apprehension and fear of intervening in her personal grief might suggest sensitivity; in fact, when he saw another "opportunity to express sympathy," he did not do so, but instead Well-meaningly criticize her for missupervising the two new maids.Thinking that Miss Canton might be crying in the room, he used the word "strange" to describe his feeling at this time, which can be said to be more vivid.It cannot but be a little surprising that Miss Canton was so calm when she received the news of her aunt's death that Stevens suspected that she might have been crying in the house.In fact, after skipping a few pages, he confesses that it was not a true reflection of his mood at the time:

I don't know exactly what made me stand in the hallway.Later, when I recollected these events elsewhere, I found that I could have said that it all happened just moments after Miss Canton received the bad news of her aunt. ... However, now, after thinking about it, I believe I am somewhat confused about it.This incident actually happened one night.Miss Canton's aunt had been dead for at least a few months then. In fact, one night, he coldly rejected her love.Although that love is a bit timid, it is absolutely clear.He's embarrassing her, which is the real reason she's crying behind the door.However, rather than linking it to this little-known relationship, Stevens linked it to an important meeting with Sir Darlington.Political loss of faith and emotional deprivation have been themes throughout Stevens' bleak life.

It is interesting to compare and contrast Ishiguro's novel with Vladimir Nabokov's "A Pale Flame".The latter is a successful work using an unreliable narrator.The novel, in a very different style, is itself a long poem by a fictional American poet named John Sand.This is followed by a detailed review of the poem by Schad's neighbor, the European émigré scholar Charlie Kimbert.The poem is an autobiographical work, and the central idea is the tragedy of the suicide of the poet's daughter.We know that the manuscript of Shard's poem was assassinated as soon as it reached Kimbert's hands.We soon find out that Kimbert is crazy, thinking he is an exiled king in some romantic land that closely resembles pre-revolutionary Russia.He convinced himself that Sand was writing a poem about his own life experience, that Sand's death was purely manslaughter, and that the assassin had come to assassinate Kimbert himself.His comments on poems revealed how eccentric he was about some facts.Part of the joy of reading this work is seeing the extent to which Kimbert is deluding himself, through the “reliable” account of Shard’s poem.Compared with The Last Days, "A Pale Flame" is clearly hilarious at the expense of an unreliable narrator, and the effect is not diminished by it.Kimbert's imaginary kingdom Zambla is cute, vivid and fascinating.Nabokov makes the characters as eloquent as he is, while at the same time imbuing them with the intense homesickness of his exile.In contrast, Kazuo Ishiguro's novel accepts the limitations of the narrator and can only tell the story.If he is reliable, the effect must be surprisingly dull.