Time is a very Curious Thing
The Remains of the Day, 1989. James Stevens has devoted his life to Lord Darlington as an aristocrat’s best friend — his butler. After three decades of loyal service, Darlington Hall is now owned by a tasteless American. The estate, now a shadow of its former self, is in desperate need of staff for its upkeep. Upon receiving a letter from an old colleague, Stevens sets out on a motoring trip to meet the former head housemaid, convinced that her sentimental letter includes subtext for a desire to return to service. On his journey, he reminisces about his master and the events of great importance that occurred within the walls of the Darlington Hall, ultimately questioning whether or not his master was as “great” as he had rememered.
After a year or two of begin-stop-forget-star-over, I have finally managed to complete Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. I had been meaning to read it ever since I watched the Merchant-Ivory production in middle school (which, coincidentally, was the same day I watched the other M-I film coupling Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson – Howard’s End — as well). First impressions? Absolutely lovely. A huge admirer of pre-World Wars (yes, both of them) pieces, I found myself quite enthralled in the setting. But I suppose more so than just being a period piece was the muted behavior of the characters and their helplessness.
As he is our narrator, Stevens is the most revealing character in Remains. In the flashbacks and his description of his greatest employer, Lord Darlington, we readers do recognize the former possessing a professional fondness for the latter, but when inquired about his former employ in the book’s present time, he has denied at least thrice of ever having been more associated with the man other than operating within his old estate (Ishiguro 120). And though Stevens has addressed this issue directly once, emphatic that he was not ashamed of his connection to Darlington, the author cleverly insinuates otherwise. But who can blame Stevens? To be associated with a Nazi sympathizer (and one who later uses his position to politically influence trans-continental policies no less) is as damning as denying the Holocaust ever occurred. Or being chums with Bill O’Reilly. Whichever, whatever.
His behavior may be going against self-preservation and the ‘dignity’ he so passionately illustrates to his audience time and time again. He even once concludes that, yes, he had reached the level of a dignified manservant. And so in the end he is absolute, after an entire book, that Lord Darlington was indeed a kind soul, though a little misguided. His former master had the most pure of intentions (well, I thought so too actually), he was just too easily influenced. But as impressionable as he may be, I still find it hard to excuse his Antisemitism.
Apart from Darlington was Stevens’ other most precious relationship — the constrained one he shared with Miss Kenton, err, Mrs. Ben. I was most disappointed in Stevens in regards to his lack of emotional maturity. It was one thing to show a lack of care towards his dying father because of his duty as butler, but when one must read instance after instance of his failure to act… well, it just seems like he’s a tease! The stifled emotion between Stevens and Kenton were …not heart-wrenching per se, but they were incredibly infuriating. Perhaps I was too emotionally invested, but I could not help but feel anger towards his ambivalence and lack of reciprocation to, well, anything. When Kenton tries, in vain, to illicit a reaction — any sort of response — from Stevens in regards to her proposal of marriage, the fact that all Stevens can say is
“I will do my best to secure a replacement at the earliest opportunity, Miss Kenton. Now if you will excuse me, I must return upstairs” (Ishiguro 216)
I felt it was a cop-out; complete cowardice on his part. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t aware of of her emotions, even regarding at one point that their relationship had reached an “inappropiate footing” (Ishiguro 160). His regret eventually manifests in the idea that Mrs. Benn’s letter was laden with the desire to return to Darlington Hall. It turns out however that her marriage is not doomed as Stevens had hoped (yet does not admit to himself), and that she and her husband — their relationship indeed tenuous at times (on her part) — are happily awaiting the birth of their first grandchild. At the very end, Kenton explicitly voices that she often wonders what could have been, in effect, explicitly stating that she did loved Stevens (“Why??”, asks the Universe). (And please refrain from debasing my opinions solely on the fact that I am of the female gender; we are not all so controlled by our passions and romantics!)
And no, Stevens is not asexual. Though the way he presents himself may appear so, he does know about the birds and bees. Ishiguro made sure to make this apparent as a subplot in one flashback where Stevens is tasked with explaining what men and women due to the god son of his employer. Very subtle, but very smart!
It makes me sad that all Stevens has in his life is ephemeral. No family (even his father, as professional as he was as a butler, found time to start a family). No real love. Even his small fame as a distinguished butler will be forgotten as British class structure re-works itself into a better form of employment. All that remains is regret and his delusional reasoning that his impact on the world was through his fine servitude of greater men who used their greater power to influence the greater world (the idea of structure and agency and how, demonstrated with his limited agency as a member in his confined structure of lower working class).
I can only assume that ‘remains of the day’ refers to Stevens coming to terms with his life and his situation. Lord Darlington is now dead. Kenton has moved on. He is no longer young, and he certainly is not the butler he once was. There are many regrets, but he must now focus the remainder of his days looking forward and serving his new employer, Mr. Farraday.
On another note, Ishiguro has always enthralled my sister and I. He is able to so vividly describe and characterize post-War Britain and the realm of “below stairs” service despite 1) never having actually lived in that era and 2) being a Japanese immigrant. A naturalized British citizen he may be, but his Anglo-awareness I find always interesting.
