First-Person Fiction

On the surface, The Remains of the Day is about a butler going on a drive to experience the country in a way he’s never done before and retrieve a potential housekeeper in the process. Stevens at first appears to be a stick in the mud, straight and narrow path, sophisticated, perfect butler. He seems to want nothing more than to achieve the status of “great butler” and he explains what he believes to be examples of such throughout his memoir. In fact, he tries to keep his feelings out of the story entirely and simply relate the information as he remembers it and give the lesson he’s learned at the end. He wants to leave an impression or a path for the younger generation of butlers to follow so that this new generation can strive to achieve greatness as he does himself.

However, as the story goes on, we see more of Steven’s personality (or lack thereof) based on his telling of the stories and how/what he chooses to interject when the story is finished. We learn that his father is a butler (but curiously, we don’t see his mother) and we come to understand that he wasn’t raised to be a citizen of England, but a butler. We don’t get the impression that he was allowed to have a childhood like other kids. We feel as though he was simply guided down the path of being a butler without considering if that was what he wanted to do or not. He wasn’t taught how to deal with his emotions or how to express them when the needs arise. He was taught how to maintain composure no matter the situation and that has stunted his growth and ability to comprehend not only his emotions but also the emotions of others. This factor plays a major factor in his relationship with Ms. Kenton.

Ms. Kenton is Stevens’ foil. In her own way, Ms. Kenton fully expresses herself and doesn’t stifle her emotions when she doesn’t have to. Of course, there are instances when she has to maintain composure from a professional standpoint, but when she and Stevens’ are alone, she allows herself to (politely) tell him exactly how she’s feeling. One could argue that she’s the one who makes Stevens consider his feelings in certain situations, and it’s not arguable that he is more likely to say how he’s really feeling in the moment (example, the Jewish maid incident). She is able to distinguish and separate her professional and personal attitudes because she doesn’t tie her entire personality to being a housemaid and Stevens’ can’t do that. He wasn’t raised that way. It’s why he doesn’t realize he loves her.

He also isn’t able to realize that as he’s telling these stories. To him, these stories are lessons to tell other young butlers in order to make them think about their lives as butlers. Not careers. Lives. Because he was raised as he was, Stevens’ doesn’t understand that most people don’t feel as though being a butler is all their is in life. He believes that once you’re a butler, you’re a butler until you die. That’s how his father was as that’s what’s shaped his entire life. Whenever he recalls a story of a butler and a maid marrying and retiring, he tells it like he’s offended that his life is being insulted by the suggestion that leaving is an option. This blind devotion is another issue in the story.

Stevens’ previous employer, Lord Darlington, was a Fascist. We hear it and see it in Steven’s stories (maid incident, his “dispelling” the various rumors that Darlington doesn’t hire Jewish people, the conversation with young Cardinal in the library), and yet Stevens is willing to overlook everything because his master “has always striven to aid better understanding between nations” (pg. 225). He refuses to understand the negatives his master is bringing forth and defends him without question or hesitation. Even when he’s recalling the maid incident, Stevens tells it (146-150), he tells it after minimizing it and then follows it up immediately by telling everyone that Lord Darlington did look into rehiring them after a year. Even though, it’s not told in a way that suggests he knows Darlington was wrong in the situation. He agrees that it was upsetting, but only because he was losing workers.

Stevens’ feelings are laced throughout the book and he refuses to acknowledge them, and when he feels like he’s becoming to familiar with his imagined audience, he corrects himself to formality and/or explains the situation as if everything in his life was strictly for the sake of running smooth operations. He tries to maintain a persona of a perfect butler and keeps everyone in his life at a distance. There is hope at the end, however, that he is going to make an effort in the future to develop social relationships. He reasons it’s a way to make his employer happy with him, but that fact this statement comes not too long after seeing Ms. Kenton living a happy life without him (or being a housemaid) suggests that he doesn’t want another Ms. Kenton situation to happen. He doesn’t want to leave things unsaid or mask his emotions with others and he wants a rich life with friends of his own. The change is subtle and easy to miss, but it’s impactful and might change the way one reads the book the second time.