The idealistic, political world in which Lord Darlington exists is counteracted with Stevens' encounter with an outspoken villager, Harry Smith, in a small English village in which he stops for a night. Stevens, the narrator, recounts his journey to a small village some twenty years after the events of the interwar period. Mistaken for a member of the nobility, Stevens finds himself the subject of a political discussion prompted by Harry Smith. Smith argues that political participation must play a role in the life of every person. Expounding on the theme of "dignity," a word Stevens had used to describe excellence in the performance of his job, Smith argues that the word could rightfully be used to explain the importance of a democratic system: "Dignity's something every man and woman in this country can strive for and get" (186). He argues that World War II was fought to preserve this dignity and democratic freedom. Stevens, encouraged by his experiences as a butler at a manor where he witnessed the wisest of political figures debating the "great issues" of the day, believes that Smith is incorrect to argue that ordinary people can successfully engage in politics. In fact, as his recollection of this encounter with Harry Smith progresses, it becomes clear that Stevens's views on this point have been greatly shaped by Lord Darlington, who claims "Democracy is something for a bygone era" (198). Others in the novel echo Darlington's opposition to democracy; the doctor of the village, a former Communist and now half-hearted socialist, later confides to Stevens that everyday citizens like Smith are incapable of directing a nation, especially in the complex modern age. Darlington played the role as facilitator of relations between Nazi foreign policy officials, including the German Ambassador to Great Britain, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and selected members of the British government and aristocracy. Although Darlington had been a member of the Foreign Office (Ishiguro 1989, 72) - a common employment for young upper class males in Great Britain and elsewhere - his role as mediator between the British and German governments during the 1930's was "unofficial." But in that role, he clearly displays the hallmarks of an idealist, that is, Darlington believed that World War I should have convinced the world that war is pointless. As he argues at one point: "I fought that war to preserve justice in this world. As far as I understood, I wasn't taking part in a vendetta against the German race" (73). His actions throughout the novel - seeking to bring together like-minded public and private individuals, conducting diplomacy geared toward the resolution of world conflict through greater understanding and interaction, and even his concern for the poor of the Weimar Republic - reflect the thinking predominant among idealists of the interwar period. Yet, at the same time, Darlington adopts attitudes that clearly do not reflect idealist sentiments. His dismissal of democracy (Ishiguro 1989, 198) and his work promoting "secret diplomacy" as opposed to Wilsonian "covenants openly arrived at" are two such examples. Darlington offers no discourse on what assumptions underlay his theory. The sources of his idealism appear to be threefold: a sense of noblesse oblige, his personal experience in the war, and his relationship with a German friend who dies as a consequence of the worsening economic conditions in Germany.
