HOW IS DIGNITY REFLECTED ON CHARECTERS IN THE REMAINS OF THE DAY

In 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro (1954) published his novel The remains of the Day. Although it was
published in 1989, the book is set in 1956 and recounts events from the 20s and 30s. The novel
narrate the journey of Stevens, the butler of Darlington Hall. Ishiguro was the winner of the
Booker Prize in 1989 for The remains of the Day and the Nobel Prize in 2017. In this essay, I will
argue that Mr. Stevens’ and Mr. Harry’s understanding of dignity differ according to the circles
and environments they have been raised up in by paying attention to the play and analysing
some of its fragments.

According to Stevens, dignity “has to do crucially with a butler’s ability not to abandon the
professional being he inhabits” (42). He understands it as the main condition for becoming what
he calls “a great butler”. In other words, in order to be a great butler, you must have emotional
restraint, you have to act as a butler all the time, never show your feelings.

Mr Harry Smith, on the other hand, explains

Dignity isn’t just something gentlemen have. Dignity’s something every man and woman
in this country can strive for and get. [···] That’s what we fought Hitler for, after all. If
Hitler had had things his way, we’d just be slaves now [···] there’s no dignity to be had
in being a slave [···] We won the right to be free citizens. [···] no matter who you are, no
matter if you’re rich or poor, you’re born free, you’re born so you can express your
opinion freely, and vote in your member of parliament or vote him out. That’s what
dignity’s really about. (195, 196)

Mr Harry Smith appears in a scene when Stevens is forced to spend the night in a small village.
In this moment the voice of the working class is shown, represented by Mr Harry Smith.

The moral force of Harry Smith's claim for "universal" dignity is based upon the sacrifices
made by the working class in the name of defending the nation. Men and women who
never experienced the privileges of the estate life were called upon to defend England
against Hitler's armies. To claim subsequently some share in the privilege enjoyed by
men like Lord Darlington asserts that service represents the original spirit of ethos more
than the material trappings of its representative space, the estate. By accepting the call
to fight against Hitler, Smith declares, the working class defends a dignity that they were
never offered (John J. Su, 2002)

In a way, they both relate the word “dignity” to their own life: Stevens as a butler and Mr. Harry
Smith as a working-class member involved in politics. The first believes that it is a condition to
be a great butler, while the later sees it as the freedom of citizens, a right that they have won
with effort.

Stevens has not seen world, he has always lived locked up in Darlington Hall and his
understanding of dignity is based on this poor life, meaning the lack of experiences in the outside
world, and exchanging of opinions with different and varied people. In fact, when he adventures
to do this journey, he admits “I have travelled very little, restricted as I am by my responsibilities
in the house” (23). He also has “The feeling swept over me that I had truly left Darlington Hall
behind, and I must confess that I did feel a slight sense of alarm” (24). He’s linked to that house
and does not receive any stimulus besides the ones in it.
Stevens’ main reference in life is his father, who served also as a butler. He uses some of his
father experiences as a butler as examples to make sure the reader understands what dignity is.
“Stevens admires his father as someone who “not only manifests, but comes close to the
personification itself” of dignity (42).” (Zuzana Fonioková, 2006).

Stevens has this idea of being a great butler above all, his happiness depends on his master.

As far as I am concerned, Miss Kenton, my vocation will not be fulfilled until I have done
all I can to see his lordship through the great tasks he has set himself. The day his
lordship’s work is complete, the day he is able to res on his laurels, content in the
knowledge that he has done all anyone could ever reasonably ask of him, only on that
day, Miss Kenton, will I be able to call myself, as you put it, a well-contented man.”(182)

He obeys orders, he does what he has to do without ever showing any feelings or thoughts. A
clear example is when Lord Darlington, Stevens’s employer, who sympathizes with the Nazis,
asks Stevens to fire all the staff of Jewish origin. He deep down disapproves that “my every
instinct opposed the idea of their dismissal” (148)

But the question is how those driven by the desire to always behave like a “great” butler
should react under such circumstances. [···] the only possible attitude is complete
obedience, entailing an immediate execution of any given order which can be neither
questioned nor discussed. Indeed, this is the option that Stevens takes: “Nevertheless,
my duty in this instance was quite clear, and as I saw it, there was nothing to be gained
at all in irresponsibly displaying such personal doubts” (148) (Michel Terestchenko,
2007)

He does not approve it, but he does it “with dignity”. Mr. Harry Smith, on the other hand, does
not acquiesce in. He wouldn’t see that an act of dignity, quite the opposite though. Smith is in
favour of shearing opinions, as he says to Stevens “excuse me, sir, but as I said before, we don’t
stand on ceremony here when it comes to expressing opinions” (195).

To sum up, in The Remains of the Day we can see two different perspectives of the meaning of
the word “dignity”, defended by the characters Stevens and Mr Harry Smith. Their opinions
differ because of the social context they have risen. Their personal experiences have given each
of them their own understanding of the word.

REFERENCES:

Terestchenko, M. “Servility and Destructiveness in Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day”.
Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas, Volume 5, Number 1, January 2007: pp. 77-89

Fonioková, Z. “The Butler’s Suspicious Dignity: Unreliable Narration in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The
Remains of the Day”. STUDIA MINORA FACULTATIS PHILOSOPHICAE UNIVERSITATIS BRUNENSIS,
S 12, 2006: pp. 1-12

Su, J. “Refiguring National Character: The Remains of the British Estate Novel”. MFS Modern
Fiction Studies, Volume 48, Number 3, Fall 2002: pp. 552-580