Abstract
Those three documents reveal how used to be the domestic life in wealthy British households between the two world wars. Indeed, the historical context is the first point we will see to understand the functioning of a life in service. Then, we will focus on the life conditions of the servants, and eventually on their relationship with their masters.
Extract
[...] The real life under the stairs All documents show the poor living conditions of servants in wealthy British households. In document Veronica Horwell talks about Margaret Powell as the prime witness of British servitude4. She mentions the "roughest chores"5and the fact that Powell had to marry in secret. She didn't have the chance to have an education and had to study at night school. In document Stevens talks about his late-night work duties. His work is beyond anything else and he does not seem to count his hours. His life is dedicated to Lord Darlington. [...]
[...] Whereas document B is more a description of the self-abnegation and loyalty from Stevens, the butler, to his master, even if it shows as well as the difficulty of the work and how aristocrats have very little regard for servants. In document the cultural identity factor is explored in the household hierarchy, in between upstairs and downstairs. In different ways, each document paints a portrait of domestic life that shows how old-fashioned and inhuman this life was, and this is probably why we are now fascinated by it, as it is for post-war generation reality that is hard to believe. [...]
[...] They were possessions" - they are somehow dehumanised by the upstairs folks, masters, they are objects. In document the main character, Stevens, shows the reader that more than a sense of inferiority, it is almost a duty. Stevens' response is repeated three times as though to heighten the idea he is just a servant, acting like a robot without any standpoints on any subjects, without being able to think by himself, a somehow lack of knowledge, an ignorance of what is going on in the world. [...]
[...] Le Monde Diplomatique-International Edition - Veronica Horwell (2013); The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989); Upstairs, Downstairs - BBC One (2010) - Compare and contrast Introduction: The first document is an article from Le Monde Diplomatique-International Edition1 newspaper. It was written by the journalist Veronica Horwell in 2013, on the question of servants and the fascination of people for books and tv series about it like Downton Abbey. To illustrate her point, she retraces the life of Margaret Powell, the author of Below Stairs, a short memoir of her life as a domestic, which inspired several tv series such as Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs. [...]
[...] In the article (document Veronica Horwell explains that after the first world war, Margaret Powell's story happened at this very same period of time as well, as she was sent by her family to the drudge 1922, at the age of 15. In the document the scene takes place around 1935, between the two world wars. Stevens works for Lord Darlington, who happened to be a pro-German stances and nurtures warm relations with some far-right wing British aristocrats, as it might be implied by some of the questions they ask to Stevens. [...]
