Assignment #1: Dignity and Remains of the Day

The topic I chose (from the list presented) was: "Compare and contrast Stevens's evolving definition of dignity with that of the people of Moscombe and then explain the significance of these similarities and differences to Stevens's interstitial status and his attempt to resolve that status."

Remains of the Day is of course the highly acclaimed novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, which was made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, but I've been told the movie is not much like the book.  It's a good book.

Grade: A
Comments: "As usual, this essay reflects high quality work.  Your argumentation and organization are both clear and your quotational support is apt." (excerpt)

Dignity and Interstitiality

Stevens, the circumspect butler of Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, is a man caught between two worlds: the present of the 1950's, when both he and his beloved England are struggling to find their places in a transformed culture, and the past of the interwar years, when a nation's gentlemen found honor in directing the course of world affairs and a simple butler could achieve greatness. Stevens's goal, that greatness, chiefly means maintaining one's dignity through emotional restraint even under personal crises; by inhabiting one's role completely; and by bestowing one's talent, hard work, and loyalty on a worthy employer. However, as the times have changed, the definition of dignity--and thus Stevens's goals--is in dispute. The people of the village of Moscombe, whom Stevens encounters during his travels, believe that dignity means expressing one's opinion freely and in not being a slave to anyone else. If these views are true, or at least true now, it's possible that Stevens has wasted his entire life.

For Stevens, the core of dignity lies in emotional restraint and in an ability "to inhabit [one's] professional role" (42) completely. His personal ideal of greatness is his father, Stevens Sr.; his work as a butler did not bring him national fame, but his son believes he embodies dignity just as well as anyone more well-known. As an example, Stevens Jr. tells the story of his father's meeting with the general who, during a war years earlier, was responsible for a "particularly infamous manoeuvre" (40) which resulted in many troops dying "quite needlessly" (40)--including Stevens Sr.'s elder son, Leonard. Having retired from the military, the General had been invited to the home of Stevens Sr.'s employer, Mr. Silvers, who "hoped to lay the foundations of a lucrative business transaction" (41) with him. Although Stevens Sr. felt nothing but the "utmost loathing" (41) for this man, he refused Mr. Silvers's offer of a few days' vacation during the General's visit; to accept would have been a complete abandonment of his "professional being for the private one" (42), the mark of "[l]esser butlers" (42). Instead Stevens Sr. repressed his personal feelings about the General in order to attend to his duty, making sure that "service would be provided to the usual standards" (41) at his employer's house--even if this meant volunteering to be the General's valet. Despite the painful personal trials, "so professionally did [Stevens Sr.] carry out his duties" (42) that the General complimented his talents profusely and "left an unusually large tip in appreciation" (42). Had Stevens Sr. departed for a few days, or even instructed the footman to be the General's valet, he would not have been inhabiting his professional role completely; instead he would have been allowing "external events, however surprising, alarming or vexing" (43), to influence the performance of his duties. His emotional restraint before the General allowed him to serve his employer, Mr. Silvers, in the best manner he could, and Stevens Jr. keeps this in mind as his model of dignity whenever he encounters trying circumstances.

The people of Moscombe and, by extension, the outside world in general, have a very different view of dignity these days, however. Harry Smith, the local political activist of the small village, feels that a person with dignity takes advantage of his right to "'express [his] opinion freely'" (186); he does not allow others to make important decisions for him or to dictate how his life should be run. This is a concept that both Stevens and England struggle with, having just recently emerged from a world in which Great Britain was the dominant power of the time; Stevens in particular fondly remembers when the wealthy houses of the country were at the center of politics, "their mighty decisions emanating out to all else, rich and poor, who revolved around them" (115). Although once Lord Darlington might have expressed the sentiment that "'[d]emocracy is something for a bygone era'" (198), now the people of Moscombe take pride in the fact that they can "'vote in [a] member of parliament or vote him out'" (186), and they see this as an essential part of being English. Great Britain is no longer the mighty nation she once was, either, especially considering the event taking place during the present tense of the book, the Suez Crisis of July 1956. One hundred years earlier England was sufficiently powerful to sweep into Egypt and cut a canal--killing 120,000 Egyptian workers in the process; now that the Canal's lease is up and they have returned it to Egypt, they can only watch helplessly as that government unexpectedly nationalizes the Canal's company, diverting fortunes from Great Britain. In an earlier time, Egypt would not have dared to oppose England this way. In this climate, Stevens's view that there is "a real limit to how much ordinary people can learn and know" (194) is fast becoming a minority.

Stevens's belief in the superiority of gentlemen and their right to influence politics is essential to another part of his definition of dignity, which requires that a great butler reserve his talent, hard work, and loyalty for a worthy employer. The term "worthy" has many interpretations, depending on whom is asked; for example, the Hayes Society "did not regard the houses of businessmen or the 'newly rich'" (32) as worthy of a great butler. Stevens disagrees with this and believes that his generation, as a whole, concerns itself "much more with the moral status of an employer" (114) and that it is the goal of every great butler to serve an employer who is "furthering the progress of humanity" (114). In serving Lord Darlington Stevens feels he has "'been given a part to play, however small, on the world's stage'" (188), with his efficiency and propriety as butler contributing to the overall mood of the various political conferences Darlington hosts during the interwar years. One such meeting begins badly when the prominent British politician arrives in a bad mood; however, during a tour of the house, he is so impressed with the high quality and cleanliness of the silver that he is moved "'into quite a different frame of mind altogether'" (135), according to Lord Darlington himself. Stevens therefore concludes that his superior supervision of the silver polishing has "made a small, but significant contribution towards the easing of relations" (136) between representatives from England and Germany.

However, the people of Moscombe believe that any master, however worthy, is an affront to a person's dignity. Being born free is "'one of the privileges of being born English'" (186), according to them, and "'there's no dignity to be had in being a slave'" (186). Although Stevens is not literally a slave to his employer, he has throughout his life subverted his own personal opinions and desires in order to follow his employer's instructions completely. At one point Lord Darlington develops a streak of anti-Semitism and tells Stevens that they "'cannot have Jews on the staff here at Darlington Hall'" (146), obliging him to fire two of the housemaids. Despite the fact that Stevens's "every instinct oppose[s] the idea of their dismissal" (148), he feels it is nevertheless his duty to fulfill Lord Darlington's request without even voicing his reservations to others on the staff. When Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, objects, Stevens reminds her that there "'are many things [servants] are simply not in a position to understand'" (149) about the world and that Lord Darlington "'is somewhat better placed to judge what is for the best'" (149). As employees, their "'professional duty is not to [their] own foibles and sentiments, but to the wishes of [their] employer'" (149). Stevens conveys Lord Darlington's command with such emotional restraint, such dignity, that about a year later when Darlington decides the maids' dismissal was "'wrong'" (151), Miss Kenton is shocked to discover that Stevens was as upset by the incident as she was. "'Why...do you always have to pretend?'" she demands of him, suggesting that what he calls professional dignity may not have been appropriate at that moment. In the course of serving his master, Stevens allowed the two maids to be discriminated against in a way that he himself realized was wrong, yet he gave no sign that he had any problems with the request at all. However voluntary his actions, Stevens would still have been considered by the people of Moscombe to be a slave to his employer, and therefore a person without dignity.

By the end of the novel, after several days of traveling the countryside and reliving the past, Stevens's convictions about dignity and thus his role in the world seem to be faltering. At one point he comments that at least Lord Darlington, however harshly history may have judged his influence over politics, "'had the privilege of being able to say...that he made his own mistakes'" (243). Stevens worries that he himself never did anything important, that he merely "'trusted [he] was doing something worthwhile'" (243) by working so hard for Lord Darlington. Stevens looks back over his own life and compares it to the standards of dignity set by the people of Moscombe and the modern world, and he sees a terrifying yet inescapable conclusion--that all the standards he has held throughout his life, all the goals he has aspired to, are pointless. For a moment, Stevens faces the possibility that his life has been squandered and that there is little left to salvage since he "'gave [Lord Darlington] the very best [he] had to give'" (242). But this lasts only for a moment. Pulling back from what would be a monumental shift in his universe, Stevens decides that he needs to take the advice of the former butler he was just speaking with and "cease looking back so much...[he] should adopt a more positive outlook" (244) on life and try to enjoy the time he has left. Despite all the thinking he has done recently and all the changes in society he has witnessed during his trip, he determines that "for the likes of [servants], there is little choice other than to leave [their] fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world" (244). Denying the Moscombe definition of dignity and thus the alterations that have taken place in the world which have made the hub of great gentlemen obsolete and undesirable, Stevens insists that he is content with having tried "to make [his] small contribution count for something true and worthy" (244), even if he might have.

Stevens prefers to remember a time when felt that Great Britain was truly great, when gentlemen influenced the world with honor and nobility. All the moments of pride in his life are wrapped up in his outmoded ideas, in his definition of dignity as a matter of emotional restraint, the constant inhabiting of one's professional role, and loyalty to a worthy master. The world has changed and the dominant view is that of the people of Moscombe--that dignity is to be found in standing on one's own feet and expressing one's own opinions--but instead of continuing to ponder his definition of dignity and what it says about him, Stevens merely revises it somewhat and reasserts its veracity; if he thinks no more about the alternate, conflicting version from Moscombe, he won't have to think about the possibility that he's been wrong all his life and he won't have to force himself to change. When Stevens says his plan is to "try to make the best of what remains of [his] day" (244), he means he will avoid thinking about anything which upsets him, burrowing back into his idealized past instead of facing the present.