The Remains of the Day follows along in the life of Stevens, a butler who prides himself in having dignity. It is interesting how many variations of dignity Ishiguro managed to include within the story itself from different people of class. There were even disagreements between the butlers themselves on what it meant to have the dignity necessary to work as a butler within an esteemed household. Th
e majority of the discussions between characters and the topic of dignity seem to offer Stevens something new every time, a chance to see his acquaintances views and possibly change his, but this sadly does not happen. Stevens views dignity in the light of ones proper role. “that I did not appear in anything less than my full and proper role” (169). He often explains it as if one would remove their clothing in public. The proper role is the clothing one must wear at all times to be of utmost professionalism until they are alone. When Stevens describes his definition of dignity as “rather hard thing to explain in a few words sir, but I suspect it comes down to not removing one’s clothes in public” (10), he is alluding to the need of being proper to have an ounce of dignity.
This is where Stevens is takes things to the extreme, and it is only just at the end of this story when he realizes that he never was his own human being. His drive to be, in a sense, the perfect butler for both Lord Darlington and Mr. Farraday, has left him much with an avoidance of voicing his opinions in fear of not being proper. This is very apparent with his relationship with Lord Darlington. Stevens overlooks the details that make Lord Darlington a rather uncouth person because he had decided years ago to give his full devoted service to an employer in which he believed in. So much so, that Stevens fires two Jewish housekeepers, or explains the birds and the bees to Darlington’s own godson. Both very different situations but both show the scope of distressing and confusing things Darlington took place in. It is not to say that Stevens was in the wrong. Darlington had many occasions in which good did take place, but it makes me think, was that good only for his own benefits? One will never be able to really know.
Ishiguro did an outstanding job in writing this book. There is something interesting in reading the life of a butler behind closed doors. His relationships, his thoughts, his goals, all wrapped up into one place. To me, the word “dignity” was a driving factor throughout this story. It was easy to link back everything Stevens did in his determination to have dignity, but the real truth is, he already had it. When I think of the word dignity, I think of it as having self-respect and being deserving of respect from others. Stevens is a very interesting character to have spent the 245 pages getting to know.