The Self-Contradictory Narrative of Mr Stevens

The Self-Contradictory Narrative of Mr Stevens In Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day Kenny Johansson EN1C02 Literary Essay Department of Languages and Literatures University of Gothenburg June 2011 Supervisor: Ann Katrin Jonsson Examiner: Celia Aijmer-Rydsjö 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Mr Stevens 6 3. Miss Kenton 11 4. Lord Darlington 16 5. Conclusion 21 Works Cited 22 3 1. Introduction Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day is a tale about the English butler Mr Stevens, who during the prime of his life served Lord Darlington, a man labelled as a traitor to his country following the Second World War. Provided with his new employer’s Ford and a couple of days off from his work at Darlington Hall, Stevens starts a motoring trip around the English countryside. The purpose of the journey is to convince his previous co-worker Miss Kenton, and as shall be discussed in the course of this essay also the object of Stevens’ affections, to return to Darlington Hall. However, the places he visits and the people he encounters cause Stevens to begin to dwell on his past at Darlington Hall, which has been his only world for the largest part of his life. The story is told from a first person point of view, narrated by Stevens in the form of a diary in which he interweaves his recollections from the glory days of Darlington Hall in the 1920s and 1930s with his current thoughts and speculations on various encounters during his motoring trip in 1956. In the first part of the novel, Ishiguro portrays Stevens as the archetypal English butler: his language as narrator is refined and sophisticated, and the way in which he in the first pages describes and considers the current staff situation at Darlington Hall tells us about his dedication to his profession. He emphasizes his pride of having served such a gentleman as Lord Darlington, and, considering the influential individuals who visited Darlington Hall during its prime, he sees his employment there as a privilege. As a part of his narration, Stevens attempts to communicate, or initiate a dialogue with the reader, as exemplified in: “I think you will understand” (5), “But you will no doubt agree” (9), “you will no doubt appreciate” (14), “Perhaps you might be persuaded” (34), “For you must understand” (177). In doing so he attempts to gain a better understanding from the reader, hoping that the reader will share his view on the events he discusses. As Molly Westermann points out: “Often, the second person is used in the formula: “you” will 4 understand and empathize with “my” perspective”. The success of these attempts of gaining the reader’s empathy is, however, debatable and the purpose of this study is to discuss how Stevens’ own narration leads to quite the opposite. As I will argue in this essay, the further Stevens delves into his past, the more contradictions we see and the less we, as readers, are inclined to draw the same conclusions as are drawn by the protagonist. Stevens’ way of narrating his life as a butler has received much attention among literary critics. Deborah Guth claims in her article “Submerged Narratives in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day ” that there are two hidden narratives, the first “relating to Stevens’ public self as a butler and to the class he serves, the other to what we may call his unseen love affair with Miss Kenton” (126). However, since Stevens is the superior narrator in this novel, these narratives are, in my view, weaknesses in Stevens’ own narration. They are part of the reason why Stevens’ attempts to make the reader share his view unsuccessful. There are thus instances where Stevens, albeit unintentionally, reveals too much, consequently weakening and deconstructing the point he attempts to make. For instance, his defensive narration around Lord Darlington is contradicted by what he reveals about his previous employer and his political affairs. His attempt to declare that Lord Darlington’s label as a traitor to the country is unfair is ruined by his own narration. Stevens’ narrative of Miss Kenton works in a similar way, where his attempt to conceal his own emotions regarding their relation turns out to do the opposite. We gradually see his struggle between dignity and his own well-being. Most importantly, regarding Stevens’ self there is the question of, as Guth also argues, the difference between “definition and illustration” (126). Stevens’ definition of, most significantly, dignity and how he then proceeds to illustrate this is probably the most obvious example of why we, as readers, fail to have any empathy with the protagonist, Mr Stevens. 5 In what follows I have divided the argumentation into three parts where each part covers Stevens’ narration concerning the three major characters in the novel: Mr Stevens himself, Miss Kenton and Lord Darlington. 6 2. Mr Stevens There are two words which signify Stevens both as character and as narrator: dignity and loyalty . During the story, Stevens repeatedly brings up his thoughts on his definition of dignity. It is first presented as Stevens recalls two stories, one of which his father was “fond of repeating over the years” (36), about an English butler in India who handled a situation, where a tiger was found in the dining room, without flinching. The second concerns his own father’s way of handling two men’s unpleasant remarks about his employer without showing “one hint of discomfort or anger” but with “an expression balanced perfectly between personal dignity and readiness to oblige” (39). In contrast to these anecdotes, Stevens’ account of the moment in which he claims to have reached his own peak of dignity depicts anything but the personification of the notion. His perception of dignity is strikingly different to that displayed by the butler in India and, perhaps more significantly, his father. Instead, he demonstrates his incapacity to express his emotions and the absurd, obsessive mentality of providing good service, despite the extenuating circumstances of the evening in question. The occasion, a night in 1923 when Stevens’ father is lying on his deathbed, is also the same night as the significant international conference is taking place at Darlington Hall, with participants from all over Europe and the United States. Determined, or perhaps unable, to let the ill state of his father affect his work, Stevens acts in an almost robot-like manner upon receiving updates from other staff members about his father’s current condition. His replies and statements when confronted with his father’s state are telling: “I only have a moment. The gentlemen are liable to retire to the smoking room at any moment” (108); “This is most distressing. Nevertheless, I must now return downstairs” (108); “I’m very busy just now, Miss Kenton. In a little while perhaps” (111).These statements demonstrate Stevens’ determination to avoid losing control. 7 Having returned downstairs to the smoking room, Stevens expresses the satisfaction he gets by his role as the perfect butler by declaring that “The footmen looked relieved to see me, and I immediately signalled them to get to their positions” (109). Ironically, the person most likely to be relieved is probably Stevens himself: he is able to avoid dealing with the rush of emotions felt when someone close is struggling in their last hours. However, Stevens’ attempt to conceal his grief, both to the reader and to the people he serves port, is exposed by the young Mr Cardinal: “I say, Stevens, are you sure you’re all right there? . Not feeling unwell, are you?” (109) and Lord Darlington: “Stevens, are you all right? . You look as though you’re crying” (109-110). It is presented as if Stevens’ narrative in this scene unintentionally reveals his grief and the tears in his eyes, as Cynthia F. Wong observes: “[E]ven though the narrative is constructed through Stevens’s eyes, the reader sees the protagonist’s grief only indirectly, in the words and actions of others” (497). Ultimately, when his father has passed away, and Stevens’ receives the doctor’s condolences, he immediately attends to another professional matter and requests the doctor to before his departure attend to the French gentleman Dupont’s sore feet downstairs. Essentially, Stevens ignores both the doctor’s condolences and his father’s recent death in his narration, only to keep up his facade of dignity to the reader. Summarising the night, Stevens states that he “display[ed], in the face of everything, at least in some modest degree a ‘dignity’ worthy of someone like Mr Marshall – or come to that, my father” and even though he admits the evening had its “sad associations” he feels, upon recalling it, “a large sense of triumph” (115). This statement, together with the way he handled the evening, provides a clear example of the difference between definition and illustration, as dignity becomes indignity: “Ultimately, dignity is the capacity to accept indignity without flinching, to serve drinks with a smile as one’s father lies dying, to see one’s idol exposed and one’s world collapse without batting an eyelid” (Guth 130). 8 Along with his thoughts on dignity Stevens also regards the question “what is a ‘great’ butler” (119) important. His expressed disturbance with the snobbery of the Hayes Society, an exclusive society of butlers with challenging member criteria, leads him into discussing the differences between his and the previous generation of the profession. He asserts that one apparent contrast lies in their choice of household to serve in. Whereas his father’s generation were more concerned with their employers’ title, Stevens claims that: “we tended to concern ourselves much more with the moral status of an employer .

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