The Remains of the Day - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

The novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author, Kazuo Ishiguro entitled The Remains of the Day is a story of a man, Steven, who gives a narration of his life and his experiences. It depicts both his social life and how his professional life has affected his social life and later leading to regret. Steven is a butler, who has worked for Darlington hall all his career life and narrated his life like a diary. Majorly, the novel reveals Steven's professional life and his relationship with his former workmate, Miss Kenton. During the prime of his life, Steven served at Lord Darlington. At the time of narration, he is provided with a couple of days off from his work and Ford, in which he decides to take a trip around the English countryside, majorly to meet Miss Kenton, whom she has received a letter from suggesting her failing marriage. His pursuit is, therefore, to try and convince her to come back and continue working at Darlington, but as revealed later in the novel, he also had some romantic feelings towards her. It is through the journey that Steven reflects through the tragic events that have marked his life. In his retrospection, he reveals a life full of regret and how his fate has been shaped not by his own choices, but by his commitment to his profession and his philosophies on dignity.

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Stevens's final reflection is borne from his experiences from the rest of the novel. In his trip, he remembers how his father fell ill and passed on while he attended a conference. He thinks of the conference that was held in March 1923, in which he received the news that his father was ill. He later realized in a banquet of the conference that his father had lost his life, despite the periodical update about his father at the conference. Secondly, Steven's life is marked by regret as he learns that the feelings he had towards Miss Kenton were mutual. In her final confessions when Steven visits, she admits that her life would have turned out differently had Steven married her ("Artifice and Absorption : The Modesty of The Remains of the Day" 20). Although he feels hurt and angry, he does not show it directly to Miss Kenton. His formality cuts him from intimacy, and he leaves the woman whom he would have had a fulfilling marriage with.

As Steven states, in a man's life, there is very little left for the choices people make in demining their life. In his reflections, Steven seems to surrender to fate after he realizes that all the choices he has made in his life has done nothing good but make his life a series of mistakes (Ishiguro 240). He shows that our life is predetermined and determined by other people, especially the employers, who almost dictate the direction our life is likely to take.

Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive attitude and try the best of what remains of my day... The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen in the hub of this world who employ our services. Surely, it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is, in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment. (244)

One of the incidences that show that Stevens fate was beyond what he could change and that those who employed his services indeed had all to say, was through the loss of his father. Lord Darlington was a Nazi sympathizer, a politician who supported the Germans based on the thought that the treaty of Versailles was harsh on the German side. It is these feelings of empathy towards the German that prompts Lord Darlington to organize for an international conference, in which he makes Steven attend. During the conference, Steven's father gets ill, and after some days he loses his life (Joshua 10). Notably, this reflection of the international conference that he attended shows that the choice to be at the conference and leave his father to die out of illness was nothing but a matter of fate. He maintains an outward and an inward sense of dignity by having the full dedication to Lord Darlington. He actually preserves his dignity at the expense of emotions and thus losing a sense of humanity. The loss of his last moments with his father thus is not a choice he made, but a commitment he had to fulfill in obedience to his duty.

Steven's loses his judgment of who Lord Darlington really is due to his commitment and loyalty to him, failing even to realize his flaws. He thinks that a great butler is fully committed to his work, and much more his boss. However, he argues in his reflection, that Lord Darlington had indeed had a chance to choose his own path, which he would not say was the case for him.

Lord Darlington wasn't a bad man. He wasn't a bad man at all. And at least he had the privilege of being able to say at the end of his life that he had made his own mistakes... He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship's wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted that I was doing something worthwhile. I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really -one has to ask oneself- what dignity is there in that? (243)

In this reflection, Steven shows how he has lost his control to his own fate, that his blinded trust on his boss's wisdom made him not just commit mistakes that were not his own, but also lose the slightest sense of dignity.

Steven strong sense of formality makes him lose who would have been the most fulfilling partner of his life. In fact, he becomes so formal that he loses his sense of intimacy. Even when he undertakes the six-day trip to visit Miss Kenton, one of his main agendas is to persuade her return and continue working at Darlington Hall. In one of the incidences he recalls in his reflection, he remembers of a time when Miss Kenton found him reading a romantic novel, but holds that the intentions were pure to improve his English language command. Further, he recalls many incidences when he would meet up with Miss Kenton for cocoa just to discuss household matters. The relationship does not become truly personal as Steven holds the conversations with utmost formality. In the relationship, Steven seems to have no self, no personality by avoiding displaying even the slightest sense of emotion ("Disclosure and 'Unconcealment':" 55). He later realizes towards the end of the novel, due to his strong sense of duty and pursuit to become a great butler has indeed sacrificed his humanity which results to nothing more than regret.

Steven's strong sense of dignity and full commitment to his work and his boss leads him to have strong arguments with Miss Kenton. In day three of his trip, he reflects on the moment when he was prompted to fire Jewish members of the house staff by Lord Darlington, although he strongly holds that Darlington was an anti-Semitic. Further, Steven tries all through the story to define dignity in which he makes a series of choices that lead to a thwarted life. In his pursuit of a great butler, Steven thinks that full dedication to duty is what exactly defines one as a great butler. As a result, he develops a skewed life in which his relationship with even his father is constrained. He remembers of how one day his father, Steven Sr. fell while serving a tea tray. Lord Darlington calls Steven aside to recommend that he reduces the workload that his father has.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Remains of the Day is a story of a thwarted life, characterized by a series of mistakes and followed by regret. In the six-day trip set by Steven, he makes reflections of the life he has led, the mistakes he has made and the lose he has incurred. After close examinations of all these incidences, he realizes that he was not in control of his own destiny and that his fate rested on the hands of Lord Darlington, his employer. It is his blind trust of his employer's wisdom that made him develop a strong belief on what is dignity, failing even to develop emotional intimacy with Miss Kenton. The story illustrates the story of a man who has lost control of his own destiny, who admires even to makes mistakes he would call his own.

Works Cited

"Artifice and Absorption : The Modesty of The Remains of the Day." Kazuo Ishiguro : Contemporary Critical Perspectives,

"Disclosure and 'Unconcealment':." Kazuo Ishiguro, pp. 52-65.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day. Faber & Faber, 2009.

Joshua, Essaka. A Study Guide to "The Remains of the Day". First and Best in Education, 2004.