604 Ishiguro, Kazuo
the readers are informed that the purpose of his
motor trip is partly business: He wants to recruit
Miss Kenton as he had made several mistakes and
claimed he was short-staffed. As the novel pro-
gresses, the readers discover his aim is to see, or
even to woo, Miss Kenton. His mistakes were made
because he was getting old. On the trip, he meets
with several naïve country people who mistake him
for an aristocrat. He does not correct them. He even
denies that he worked for Lord Darlington. During
the trip, he reminisces about his 35 years of working
for Lord Darlington. He firmly believes that the
management of the household would have immense
repercussions on the secret conferences Lord Dar-
lington held. He compared his preparations the
way “a general might prepare for a battle.” In one
of these preparations before an important confer-
ence, he continuously checked on and tried to find
fault with Miss Kenton’s work because he had a row
with her previously. At this particular conference,
he eavesdropped on a conversation: “I paused for a
second to listen at the door . . it is common practice
amongst many professionals. That is to say, there is
no subterfuge in such an action, and I for one had
no intention of overhearing.”
Whether the readers should trust Stevens’s
explanation or not is an impossible matter to decide
since he prevaricates. What Ishiguro does in the
novel is refuse to moralize: Even though Stevens
lied, the readers sympathize with him; and even
though Stevens, William, and Lord Darlington
abided by a set of moral rules, they ended up badly.
Aaron Ho
reGret in The Remains of the Day
Although only one character explicitly expresses
regret, most of them wish they could have done
things differently. The novel starts with Mr. Ste-
vens, the head butler of Darlington Hall, who goes
on a six-day motor trip along the West Country in
- His aim is to recruit Miss Kenton, a former
head housekeeper for Darlington Hall. Through-
out the six days, he reminisces about his life from
before to after World War II, culminating in a tear-
ful confession: “[Lord Darlington] 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 even claim that . . . I can’t even
say I made my own mistakes.” Since Stevens is a
guarded narrator, this confession is especially poi-
gnant in expressing his regret: He rues his personal
and working life. For instance, when Miss Kenton
told Stevens of her marriage proposal, he did not
stop her, even though he loved her, because of his
work ethic. He refused to leave his butler duties to
resolve his emotional entanglement because Lord
Darlington was holding a conference of paramount
consequences. In this conference, Lord Darlington
was committing a grave mistake. He was being
used by the Nazis to bring the British prime min-
ister and German ambassador together for talks to
advance German war plans. Stevens put such great
unquestioning trust in Lord Darlington that he
did nothing (within his limited powers) to warn
his employer. In the end, he regrets his decisions
over his love life and career. He goes on the trip
to recruit Miss Kenton because he thinks her mar-
riage is over. He lies, denying that he ever worked
for Lord Darlington. However, Miss Kenton is only
having a tiff with her husband and his lies about his
work are exposed. What is most unfortunate about
Stevens’s life is that he does not learn from his mis-
takes. At the end of the novel, Stevens decides that
he ought to have a positive attitude and make best
use of the remains of the day. Ironically, he returns
to his new employer, Mr. Farraday, determined to
please him.
Stevens learned his work ethic from his father,
William Stevens, who was also a butler. Like
Stevens, his father sacrificed his personal life for
his work. William was cool and unaffectionate to
Stevens. They seldom talked to each other. On Wil-
liam’s deathbed, he said to Stevens, “I hope I’ve been
a good father to you. I suppose I haven’t.” Stevens
did not comfort or even reply to his father directly.
By circumventing the issue entirely, Stevens tacitly
agreed with his father.
The sense of regret isn’t restricted to the Ste-
venses. Miss Kenton, too, regretted. The relation-
ship between Stevens and Miss Kenton was like
a tug-of-war: Although both parties clearly had
feelings for each other, neither wanted to be the first
to admit to them. In an attempt to evoke a reaction
from Stevens, Miss Kenton started to go on regular