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  • Essay / Professionalism and English in The Remains of The Day

    In The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro illustrates English identity from the perspective of the butler of an important estate, Mr. Stevens of Darlington Hall. Ishiguro uses Mr. Stevens' narrative to establish English identity, thus allowing Mr. Stevens' conservative viewpoint to be a commentary on that identity as it relates to professionalism and integrity. Ishiguro's rendering of English identity values ​​service (but not necessarily professionalism) above all else, and other facets of humanity like pride and integrity are expected to yield to service; However, Stevens' conservative nature slightly exaggerates these aspects of English identity as the society around him gradually begins to liberalize its English, relaxing its privileging of professionalism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayMr. Stevens is both the protagonist and narrator of the text, and as narrator he communicates with the reader in a way that demonstrates Ishiguro's intention to establish his narrative as unreliable. Stevens's unreliability only applies to certain contexts, however, and in many other contexts the reader is led to trust his explanations. Generally speaking, one of the reasons Ishiguro does this is to allow the reader to view English identity as slightly different from that illustrated by Stevens. More to the point, the reader easily sees Stevens as an outmoded representation of English. One way in which Mr. Stevens' old-fashioned nature is made evident to the reader is through Stevens' many stories about his father who was also a butler; Stevens lives to resemble his father for whom the profession was life, almost in its entirety, and Stevens's strict adherence to his father's model and, perhaps, even greater conservatism strongly suggest that Stevens is indeed old-fashioned – shaped after a previous generation. Perhaps the most authoritative commentary on Stevens's conservatism usually comes from Miss Kenton who worked closely with Stevens at Darlington Hall for many years before the novel begins. Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton together recall an incident in which Lord Darlington dismissed two Jewish servants simply because they were Jewish, which greatly upset Miss Kenton at the time. Stevens was also disturbed by this, claiming in his account to be as disturbed as Miss Kenton, but he felt it was necessary for a butler not to question Lord Darlington's decision, even in private conversation with Miss Kenton; therefore, she assumed that Stevens agreed with the decision until a year later when they discussed it and Stevens informs Miss Kenton that Lord Darlington regretted firing the maids and requested It's up to Stevens to find them. Miss Kenton's reaction is not Lord Darlington's regret but that Stevens hid his true feelings about what happened. She said, "Why, Mr. Stevens, why, why, why do you always have to pretend?" (Ishiguro 154). His response confirms later in the novel that Stevens's old-fashioned view of his profession is not representative of English for everyone, even if it once was. For Mr Stevens, English identity allows itself to be defined and stationed by one's profession. Pride is irrelevant to where one belongs, and those who challenge their rank out of pride are deviant. Stevens does not vocally sympathize with Miss Kenton's reaction to.