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Essay / Introducing Stevens in The Remains of The Day
Stevens believes that to be a great butler, one must maintain one's professional facade at all times in order to remain dignified (or at least, the ability to maintain a professional facade regardless of a person's situation is Stevens' definition of dignity). This makes him obsessed with his physical appearance and causes him to suppress his feelings. However, as the novel progresses, Stevens' suppression of his feelings has caused him emotional distress as he is unable to be with the woman he loves. Additionally, it is established early on in the novel that Stevens is an unreliable narrator, which leads us, as readers, to better understand Stevens' true desire in life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Stevens' obsession with being a great butler is evident in the way he attempts to maintain his professional facade in order to remain dignified and is evidenced through Ishiguro's use of diction and metaphors . Stevens states that he is "in possession of a number of magnificent costumes." The word "splendid" shows us that Stevens is trying to emphasize the fact that he has extremely high quality and very impressive costumes. The fact that Stevens tries to impress the reader with the quality of his costumes shows us that he places too much importance on his outward appearance and that in association with his well-dressed appearance, the reader would believe that it is professional nature. So this shows that Stevens tries to be well dressed at all times in order to maintain his professional facade. Furthermore, the fact that he “does not own suitable traveling clothes” shows that his whole life revolves around his profession. In this case, travel clothes are a symbol of relaxation, because one normally goes on vacation to relax. The fact that Stevens has no traveling clothes proves that he is not going on vacation to relax and that he spends his days taking care of his master. The word "not" is an absolute term and is used to further reinforce the fact that Stevens constantly puts on a professional facade and can never really separate himself from it because his whole life revolves around the role of butler. In Stevens' eyes, this essentially brings him closer to becoming a great butler, as he believes that a great butler is one who is not only devoted but loyal to his master. In his attempt to become a great butler, Stevens suppresses his own internal emotions even though it causes him emotional distress. He believes that even if a suit is “clearly too small” for him, it is “ideal in terms of tone”. On a superficial level, it's obvious that Stevens is obsessed with his appearance. Although he could have put on a more comfortable suit, he instead chooses to wear a tight one that causes him physical discomfort, because he believes that being well dressed is essential to showing professionalism. However, on a metaphorical level, the tight suit represents Stevens' suppression of his inner feelings. Ishiguro's use of visual imagery is particularly effective here, as a tight suit conveys an image of restriction and constraint, in the sense that the body is repressed in tight clothing. The idea of restriction and constraint is effective in showing us how Stevens suppresses his internal feelings, much like how the body feels restricted in tight clothing. Therefore, the physical discomfort one feels from wearing tight clothing is representative of the emotional discomfort Stevens feels from repressing his feelings. It is also crucial to note that, just like the wayof which Stevens plans to wear this tight suit in order to appear more professional, his suppression of his inner feelings also aims to portray his professionalism. Therefore, Stevens' desire to be a great butler caused him to suppress his inner feelings and distrust his appearance in order to maintain his professional facade. Stevens' suppression of his internal emotions and the emotional distress it caused him in the long term is highlighted through his own contradictions as well as through Ishiguro's use of diction. Given Stevens's ambition to always address others correctly and appropriately, it is somewhat contradictory of him to refer to "Miss Kenton" by her maiden name instead of her married name, Mrs. Benn. For example, in one of his memories, he states his distress when Miss Kenton addresses her father by his first name, William, instead of Mr. Stevens. He felt it was “inappropriate for someone your age” to address his father in this way. Ishiguro's use of diction is extremely effective here, as the word "inappropriate" suggests that Stevens views Miss Kenton's behavior as very unprofessional. Therefore, this highlights Stevens' obsession with addressing people properly, which can largely be attributed to the fact that he wants to remain professional at all times. The fact that he abandons his professional façade and addresses Miss Kenton by her maiden name already hints to the reader that Miss Kenton plays a special role in Stevens' life. Stevens refers to Miss Kenton by her maiden name in order to avoid the constant reminder of her marriage in his narration, which Mrs. Benn's name would have provoked. Therefore, this shows us that Stevens is not willing to accept the fact that Miss Kenton is already married because it means he would be unable to truly profess his love to her and could potentially feel alone for the rest of his life . So, since Stevens was unable to declare his love to Miss Kenton due to his obsession with maintaining a professional image, he desires a second chance to express his love to her. Additionally, Stevens' love towards Miss Kenton is further evidenced by Ishiguro's use of diction. "Soon after" Miss Kenton's departure, Stevens "would often look through Volume III of Mrs. Symons's work" in order to "get some idea of the kind of place Miss Kenton had gone to live out her married life." The word "soon" shows that Stevens' feelings for Miss Kenton are so strong that even though she is only gone for a brief period of time, he is already beginning to miss her. This highlights the extent of Stevens' love towards Miss Kenton due to his need to always have an element of her, whether in person or in memory, present in his life. Additionally, the fact that he "often" flips through these encyclopedias highlights how often Stevens seeks to remember Miss Kenton and highlights that Stevens has this constant need to have Miss Kenton in his life, emphasizing his feelings of 'affection. towards her. Additionally, since Stevens is trying to get "a sense of what kind of place Miss Kenton had gone to live out her married life," we can see that Stevens is projecting his own love for Miss Kenton onto his marriage. He tries to imagine what Miss Kenton's married life is like, while imagining what it would feel like to be married to Miss Kenton and how they might have lived the rest of their lives together. He's basically trying to feel some sense of joy through his imagination as he wonders what it would be like to be married to his love. Since Stevens lost the opportunity to profess his lovetowards Miss Kenton before she leaves, his imagination substitutes for what could have been. This highlights Stevens' desire to be with Miss Kenton and therefore highlights his love towards her. Therefore, Stevens' suppression of his internal emotions has caused him emotional distress as he is unable to be with the woman he loves. Additionally, Ishiguro establishes Stevens as an unreliable narrator so that readers can evaluate Stevens' view of events critically and more importantly. , to understand Stevens' true desires in life. Through Stevens' use of prolepsy, it is evident that he wants the reader to perceive him favorably. When Stevens says "I hope you don't think me too vain," he is anticipating that the reader would view his obsession with his appearance as vanity and, therefore, he wishes to prevent the reader from associating this negative trait with him -even. Therefore, this shows us that Stevens is defensive about his actions which may be perceived negatively by others and diminishes his reliability as a narrator. Additionally, Stevens often contradicts himself throughout the passage. Here Stevens says that one must be "dressed in a manner worthy of his position" as he might be "compelled to reveal" that he was from Darlington Hall. Ishiguro's use of diction is particularly effective here as the word "dignified" shows that Stevens feels that he must be well dressed to justify the fact that he worked in such a genteel household. The fact that Stevens feels that he must be dressed in a certain way to justify his profession shows that he considers working for Lord Darlington a privilege due to the latter's high social status. Additionally, the phrase "Lord Darlington himself" shows that Stevens has great respect for his master and considers him an extremely important person. This is because Stevens did not expect a man of Lord Darlington's social status to pass on his expensive suits to his employee (a butler) and was therefore happy that a man of such importance had given him donated some of his property. The word "himself" is used to emphasize Stevens' pride in the fact that his master, someone he was meant to serve, would even consider passing his possessions on to him. Therefore, since Stevens is proud to own some of his master's suits, even if it is an old suit, it is obvious that he respects Lord Darlington and cherishes every kind gesture his master shows him. To some extent, Stevens would be proud to work in such a distinguished house. However, although Steven says he is proud to work for such a distinguished house, he refuses to admit that he worked for Lord Darlington. For example, Stevens denies working for Lord Darlington, stating: "Oh no, I am employed by Mr. John Farraday, the American gentleman who bought the house from the Darlington family. » The interjection "oh no" shows us that Stevens was alarmed or worried about being associated with Lord Darlington. This vehement denial stands in stark contrast to Stevens' previous loyalty and respect for Lord Darlington and therefore highlights Stevens' contradictory behavior. Stevens denies working for Lord Darlington as he attempts to prevent a conversation from taking place that would most certainly lead to the person judging Lord Darlington for his morally questionable anti-Semitic actions. Indeed, if Stevens accepted that serving Lord Darlington was the opposite of "serving humanity", he would have to admit that his entire life was wasted serving the wrong man. Furthermore, by refusing to admit that Lord Darlington was an immoral man and avoiding conversations that would portray Lord Darlington as immoral, he could,.