The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is based on a butler who is taking a week-long drive around England and his recollections of his life. He goes about the story mostly recalling various events that took place in his life; these memories involved his father, Lord Darlington, Mr. Farraday, Miss Kenton, and various other people. He seems to take the story in parts, meaning certain days hold certain memories he speaks about, even looking back on that day as opposed to the entire book looking back distinctively over the entire trip and memories–which explains why the book is divided in days and areas/ locations from what he talks about. He makes it a point to evaluate himself and regard himself as this brilliant or great butler while also trying to be humble and not say that he is, as he goes about thinking of all the mistakes he’s made or ways he seemed better than others. I think what causes him to tell the story is the unusual change of pace he has–leaving the estate in who knows how long to go on this trip he hadn’t been entirely sure about under the man who now owns the estate (Mr. Farraday). The narrator, I believe, is thinking of the events and memories he relays, but because of his use regarding “you” in some places, as in on page 136 he says, “And then again, you will hear these same persons talking as though Lord Darlington did something unusual in receiving hospitality from the Nazis on the several trips he made to Germany during those years,” makes me think that perhaps he is writing or actually speaking to someone or imagining himself even as his own audience as he thinks about all these events. Depending on some memories, they can be from various time lengths, months or even years past, while in some instances perspective can be as recent as that day–as when he stayed in some places, like during his stay with the Taylor family. I believe, other than his memories, he is looking back at the day he’s experienced daily–while often recalling old memories and events.
The narrator believes the story is about his trip to retrieve Miss Kenton and bring her back to the estate for her to return to her job once more. He is very mistaken–for the longest time I had thought this had been a very key component in the story, Miss Kenton, that is to say I thought he had been in love with her and that is primarily why he was so focused on retrieving her–not that her marriage appeared, to him, to be failing horribly. In the end, we realize that he no longer feels the same as he once had toward the previous house owner, Lord Darlington, and that maybe he had been mislead all along because of his nature–a butler under the man and nothing more, forever seeing to Lord Darlington. Personally, I still feel he has mistaken the relationship he had with Miss Kenton. I think he had been, at least, faintly in love with her–but that may also be from the love triangle stories we read recently for class. He seemed entirely driven to be under or with whoever owns the estate, as with Lord Darlington, and seemed reluctant to regard anything opposing them which leads to misunderstanding others and even himself as we learn in the end.
One of the most interesting parts of this novel was that I don’t think that Stevens believed that he has his own story. He almost always was talking about other people, from who he observed, the people he worked for, his father, and Miss Kenton. I think that because he held his own professionalism in such a high regard that he warped things in his mind to thinking that if he had a life outside of his job that he was being irresponsible. I don’t think that you were mistaking Stevens being at least somewhat in love with Miss Kenton, the reluctance to let her go even after all the years that have passed since their last meeting, and how he reacted to learning about her proposal all led me to believe that he just suppressed his feelings for the sake of being a professional.