The Remains of Mr. Stevens Identity

Kazuo Ishiguro in his literary work, “The Remains Of The Day”, implements a complex interplay between author and narrator. The interplay allows readers to gain perspective as to the true nature of, Mr. Stevens, the narrators identity. Mr. Stevens in various moments of the novel unconsciously disengages from his usual use of deception and tricky verbiage to reveal his identity as a sympathetic, tragic character that falls victim to his circumstances, which lost any personal identification because of a codependent relationship to his profession and more specifically to Lord Darlington.

Mr. Stevens is a victim of his circumstances. He develops a normal emotional detachment, which is a product of his culture. Much like his father, Stevens is master of disengaging from personal identification in exchange for an attachment to a master they deem wise and honorable. It is within man’s professionalism where man’s identity is rooted for Stevens. Steven’s father is the personification of the Hayes Society belief, “‘dignity in keeping with his position’…I believe one may begin to distinguish what it is that separates a ‘great’ butler from a merely complaisant one”(Ishiguro, 42). Stevens is a product of a generation that believed the great butlers were created in England for they identify themselves by their ability to emotionally detach from self-identity for the job.

Later, he mentions that for his generation and that of his father any decent gentleman will wear their professionalism as they wear a suit. His metaphor dictates that any man who doesn’t root himself in his duty is performing the equivalent of tearing of his suit and running around screaming. So rather, men of past generations realized,

Each of us harbored the desire to make ...

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...n he is in this fading, insular postwar England. Stevens trusted and gave all he could to Lord Darlington while at his service at Darlington Hall. In the end the reader is sympathetic to this English butler and his faulty illusions of the makings of identity. As Stevens concludes; it’s better to practice with a ‘renewed effort’ ceasing from looking back, because to stay in the past is to prevent adopting a more positive outlook.

The author utilizes the narrator to show a fleeting way of thought in personal identification. Identity rooted intuitively by the depth of mans professionalism was all Stevens knew. By being attached to a great household he was achieving a prerequisite to attaining greatness, in a generation of perfect English butlers.

Works Cited

Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the day. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, 1993. Print.