Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Creative Writing The Remains of the Day The Remains of the Day “Past Regrets...Wishful Tomorrows” “...For a great many people, the evening is the most enjoyable part of the day. Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day. After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.” The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is a compelling tale of the model English butler who believes that he has served humanity by devoting his life to the service of a “great” man, Lord Darlington. It is that quest for Dignity and self-rule that entails him to challenge his own faith in the man that he served and the meaning of his own insular life. This tale (journey) is captured by the profound control of the language, which include the use of irony, allegory, and questions, all, clearly portrayed in the passage. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens (butler) begins a solitary motor trip through which he embarks on a harrowing journey through his own memory. It is on this journey, a motif which is used as a deceptive structural device, that Stevens begins to first question his Lord’s greatness and the meaning of his service. The farther Stevens travels from Darlington Hall, it seems, the closer he comes to fully understanding his life, then sets in the regrets. Upon arriving to the conclusion of Stevens’ journey, literal as well as meaningful, does one encounter the passage by Ishiguro, which ties up the all the loose ends and completes Mr. Stevens life chapter labeled “Past Regrets.” In the passage Mr. Stevens claims that there is little choice other than to leave our fate in the hands of great gentlemen at the hub of the world. It is this blind loyalty with which Stevens gratifies his employer and unables himself to look closely at what his employer really thinks or does (symptoms of “dignity”). His doctrine states: “It is, in practice, simply not possible to adopt such a critical attitude towards an employer and at the same time provide good service. It is not simply that one is unlikely to be able to meet the many demands of service at the higher levels while one’s attentions are being diverted by such matters; more fundamentally, a butler who is forever attempting to formulate his own ‘strong opinions’ on his employer’s affairs is bound to lack one quality essential in all good professionals: namely, loyalty.” But the loyalty doctrine denies Stevens his own thoughts on, for instance, Darlington’s letting-go of the Jewish maids, or whether or not the “great” guests he has the honor or serving in his capacity as a “great” butler are really so great after all. Stevens’ detachment ultimately is chilling, for the distance that he believes is a necessary aspect of dignity, instead distances him even from the fact that this attitude of detachment is not great, but unhealthy. This sets a butler’s dignity above human dignity, he realizes at the end, and human dignity must always come first: “Lord Darlington wasn’t bad man...And at least he had the privilege of being able to say at the end of his life that he made his own mistakes...He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot claim that...I can’t even say I made my own mistakes. Really one has to ask oneself what dignity is there in that?” The great irony is that Stevens’ realization of these pitfalls. He should have made his own decisions and followed his own thoughts at least then he could have accepted his own mistakes but rather he can’t even do that. Because it is this loyalty that denies him own opinions on what, he sees by the end of the book, were very scary, Nazi-sympathetic, views of his employer. Stevens has to admit to himself, that Darlington had been a political pawn of fascism and the Nazis. Misguided no doubt, but hardly the “great man” that Stevens had deceived himself into believing he served. And as for trying to make small contribution count for something true and worthy, Stevens fails. He admits that his own dedicated and deeply considered “professionalism” has had no real part to play on the stage of world history but rather spent his entire life serving and admiring a man who made many political mistakes and was actually a shameful person. The source of Stevens’s pride is also, after all, potentially the source of his shame, which is very sad in itself. Trying to justify in his mind Stevens concludes that the sacrifices made in life to pursue aspirations should in itself arouse feelings of pride and contentment. “The great butlers are great by virtue of their ability to inhabit their professional role and inhabit it to the utmost; they will not be shaken by external events, however surprising, alarming or vexing. They wear their professionalism as a decent gentleman will wear his suit.” The professionalism as a butler required Stevens to remain close to the hub of the wheel (the elite, decision making body), but not to step out of the role. But this professionalism had brought nothing more than disappointment to Stevens. He finally steps out of his role and asks himself what dignity is there in that? He breaks free of such bonds and rejects his constant justification of living not as a human being, but as solely a butler. He thus understands that crime was not in his action however but in his inaction. Neither did he involved himself in preventing or even worrying about the crimes that were being committed by the so-called “great” men. Showing the mastery of the language Ishiguro develops interesting, revealing, and highly developed conclusion (the passage). The use of literary techniques had also played a key role in the effectiveness of the passage and its presentation. By presenting an allegory about the evening being the most enjoyable part of the day Ishiguro is perhaps providing a message or a lesson. Mr. Stevens as a matter of fact should give up dwelling on what happened in the past and should move on and enjoy the latter years of his life. Ishiguro also relates to the elite class as being the hub of the world. Without a hub there would be no wheel hence without the elite there is no world. A statement, which Stevens recognizes to be totally false. There are also questions/messages embedded in the passage. Stevens himself posses there is no reason in crying over spilled milk and blaming ourselves for unaccomplished wishes, and worrying about how one could have changed the course of their life. These messages directly reflect the mood of Stevens as he looked back upon his service and life. One should move on look forward to evening and make best of what remains of the day. The tone of the passage seems to be more of optimism as it acknowledges the beginning of a new chapter with the coming of the evening. A lesson to be learned is that do not get caught up in formalities, one should always follow and pursue his/her desire, and opinion. Forget your past and live for tomorrow. Bibliography: Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of The Day. New York: Vintage Books, 1988. Word Count: 1381
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