3.3 Gouth's Submerged Narratives - Key Points

Question 0

What does the exposition of Dignity show?

Answer 0

A perverse self-violation - father’s achievement in “suffer[ing] intimate proximity for four days with a man he detested

Question 1

What are the two hidden narratives in Remains?

Answer 1

The first is greatness, the second, the unseen love affair

Question 2

How can the pathos of human fragility be seen as wasted on Stevens?

Answer 2

Through the narrative of his father’s death - which adds a newly callous edge to Stevens.

Question 3

What does Harry Smith do to Stevens’ thoughts?

Answer 3

In claiming dignity should have a human substance, beyond ceremonial forms, he causes the inadvertent self-exposure in Stevens’ own narrative

Question 4

What does the reverence of Darlington lead to in Gouth’s eyes?

Answer 4

Darlington Hall is defined as a sacred place from which all derives and to which all reverts through the image of the wheel - all these point to a vision of a class system as a vestigial religious order in which humbling oneself makes one worthy of grace.

Question 5

What does narrative become?

Answer 5

A surgical tool of re-inflection, with subterfuge and subversion.