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Teaching The Remains of the Day

The butler did it. We think.

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 95

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The Remains of the Day blurs parameters of helpfulness—you know, that morally dubious moment when the service of others becomes a disservice of yourself.

Wait, you don't know that moment? You've never had a large in-house staff catering to your every whim? Well, don't hold it against Kazuo Ishiguro—his book is still pretty fun to teach anyway.

In this novel, butler extraordinaire Mr. Stevens's job description involves forgoing all personal attachments and committing himself completely to his job and his beloved employer Lord Darlington. He super-enthusiastically embraces these rules until the arrival of a housekeeper arouses (tee hee) feelings he can barely acknowledge, even to himself.

Mr. Stevens even sacrifices his last moments with his dying father and the moral high ground of opposing Fascism and Anti-Semitism all in the name of being a good employee. Stevens' loyalty and devotion allow him to let things slide, and slide, and slide…Forget inspiration posters. Forget mantras. If you and your high school students need a crash course in empowerment, look no further than The Remains of the Day.

In this guide, you'll find

  • Stevens' take on the dos and don'ts of butlerhood and a look at what it means to be a servant.
  • a chance for your students to raise their voices and mediate a dispute between Miss Kenton and Darlington about the dismissal of two Jewish maids.
  • an opportunity to examine Stevens' relationshsip with Miss Kenton and predict what will happen between these two crazy kids.

This book will undoubtedly convince you and your high schoolers—in a deep, startling, and depressing way—that you need to look after number one. Oh, and it's also a beautiful, eloquent, Booker Prize-winning novel that our guide presents to you on a silver platter. What can we say? We've learned to butler (buttle?) from the best of 'em.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop’s teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching The Remains of the Day?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: Stevens has almost reunited with his one-time friend, former fellow employee, and love interest Miss Kenton. There's not long to go and he's busy trying to psyche himself up.

In this activity, the students, working alone, have to write out a set of predictions about what Stevens will ask and talk to Miss Kenton about, based on their reading of the story to date. This should take place at the beginning of the sixth chapter, before the meeting takes place.

Then, the students will write out a set of predictions about how they think Miss Kenton will respond to Stevens' questions and focus areas, once again based on textual analysis. Let's see how good they really are.

Materials Needed: A copy of the text and/or our Shmoop summary page for reference

Step 1: First, each student has to predict what Stevens will ask Miss Kenton and talk to her about. They've got to suggest five things and include:

  • What he's going to talk about/ask
  • Why he's going to ask this, based on their knowledge of Stevens and previous reading of the text
  • A quote to back it all up

Here's a quick example:

  • Stevens will indulge in some work chat, about the good old times at Darlington Hall.
  • He's presumably going to do this because well, it's his whole life.
  • Plus, he's already shown contentment at being friends with his work colleagues: "The atmosphere was dominated by a feeling of mutual respect… There existed in those days a true camaraderie in our profession, whatever the small differences in our approach."

They've got around 20 minutes to get this done.

Step 2: Now it's time to reveal whether the students think Stevens will be successful rekindling his relationship with Miss Kenton, or instead continue to enjoy quality alone time. The students have to write a set of five predictions, detailing how Miss K would respond to Stevens' convo (corresponding with the topics/questions they came up with above). Each prediction should be dealt with as follows:

  • How Miss K will respond
  • Why she'll respond this way, based on prior reading and their knowledge of the character
  • A quote from the text to back up their prediction

Here's a quick example:

  • Miss K won't be too happy about Stevens talking shop.
  • She's already shown annoyance when he's hidden his true feelings in the past and just focused on their work.
  • She even called Stevens out on this already: "Why, Mr. Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?"

Again, 20 minutes to get this all done.

Step 3: The students should then place their predictions in a class time capsule, which will only be opened when the class has finished reading the chapter (oh, the suspense). Only then will you open the capsule and have everyone read out their predictions, to see if they were on the money about Kenton and Stevens.

Step 4: At home, the students should write out a 250-word essay on whether Stevens and Miss Kenton will or won't remain in contact after their meeting in the sixth chapter. They should write informatively and refer specifically to events in the novel and include quotes to support their ideas.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: Stevens has almost reunited with his one-time friend, former fellow employee, and love interest Miss Kenton. There's not long to go and he's busy trying to psyche himself up.

Today you'll have to write out a set of predictions about what Stevens will ask and talk to Miss Kenton about, based on your reading of the story to date. This should take place at the beginning of the sixth chapter, before the meeting takes place.

Then you'll write out a set of predictions about how you think Miss Kenton will respond to Stevens' questions and focus areas, once again based on textual analysis. Let's see how good you really are.

Step 1: First, you have to predict what Stevens will ask Miss Kenton and talk to her about. You'll need to suggest five things and include:

  • What he's going to talk about/ask
  • Why he's going to ask this, based on their knowledge of Stevens and previous reading of the text
  • A quote to back it all up

Here's a quick example:

  • Stevens will indulge in some work chat, about the good old times at Darlington Hall.
  • He's presumably going to do this because well, it's his whole life.
  • Plus, he's already shown contentment at being friends with his work colleagues: "The atmosphere was dominated by a feeling of mutual respect… There existed in those days a true camaraderie in our profession, whatever the small differences in our approach."

You've got around 20 minutes to get this done.

Step 2: Now it's time to reveal whether you and your classmates think Stevens will be successful in rekindling his relationship with Miss Kenton, or instead continue to enjoy quality alone time. You'll write a set of five predictions, detailing how Miss K would respond to Stevens' convo (corresponding with the topics/questions they came up with above). Each prediction should be dealt with as follows:

  • How Miss K will respond
  • Why she'll respond this way, based on prior reading and their knowledge of the character
  • A quote from the text to back up their prediction

Here's a quick example:

  • Miss K won't be too happy about Stevens talking shop.
  • She's already shown annoyance when he's hidden his true feelings in the past and just focused on their work.
  • She even called Stevens out on this already: "Why, Mr. Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?"

Again, 20 minutes to get this all done.

Step 3: You'll then place all your predictions in a class time capsule, which will only be opened when you've finished reading the chapter (oh, the suspense). Everyone will read out their predictions, to see if they were on the money about Kenton and Stevens.

Step 4: At home, to round it out, you'll write out a 250-word essay on whether Stevens and Miss Kenton will or won't remain in contact after their meeting in the sixth chapter. You should write informatively and refer specifically to events in the novel and include quotes to support your no doubt brilliant ideas.