The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage Int'l, 245 pages
Few authors have the capacity to wretch The Word in its utmost potency. Some have attempted to wield their stories with careful review, however, there is somewhat a feeling of inadequacy, a feeling felt by the readers, leaving them at a loss and wanting for more. Form and substance are quitely disregard nowadays. Kazuo Ishiguro's book The Remains of the Day has the supple potency that by reading each passage in it makes one sigh. Not a simple sigh, though. It's a sigh that both troubles and comforts you. Such paradox is eminent in all of man's experiences. However, Ishiguro's book of experience, in the magnitudal essence, captures the troubled heart and a comforts the soul. Winner of the 1989 Booker Prize that was consequently made into a movie, the book tells the "dazzling" as well as "bitter" story of an English butler, William Stevens, who took a few days off to tour certain parts of England. It was his first time to take sometime off after so many years of service at Darlington Hall. He wouldn't have taken the stride if not for the prodding of his new employer, Mr. Farraday.The story could have been told in another manner, like in the third person's point of view, but Ishiguro made Stevens tell and re-tell his experiences in such trip and the multitude of his experiences at Darlington Hall.But Stevens' account of his trip and past obligations as a butler is told in a calculated kind of prose that is reminiscent of the Victorian era. Ishiguro's prose style, however, is a jazzy Victorian type but nevertheless touches a classic appeal.If other readers have remarked that the book is boring, it is perhaps, an undaunted view. Ishiguro has mustered technical details and set his prose in careful strategy that the characters breathe life, a life proper of the pre-war and post-war years.The story begins in the year 1956 with the conversation between Stevens and Mr. Farraday, an American, who has bought the famous Darlington Hall after the former owner, Lord Darlington, passed away some two years ago. Stevens, an obedient, well-mannered, and well-accounted butler who has served the place for three decades, was requested or much so directed by Mr. Farraday to take a view of England, stating that: "You're always locked up in these big houses helping out; how do you ever get to see around this beautiful country of yours?'Stevens, of course, refused at first but somehow was persuaded to do so.Stevens was in a reserved manner even when his new employer jeers on certain subjects owing to his unfamiliarity to such manner. He noted that Mr. Farraday "enjoys a conversation of a light-hearted, humorous sort" who is used to bantering but "a no sense an unkind person" and an "affectionate sport." He continues to marvel that it maybe that in America it is quite entertaining to banter.Stevens used to have a staff of 17 but was reduced to five after the death of the former tenants.In the succeeding chapters were the accounts of the travels of Stevens, in six days, around several sites in England, where he also evaluated his performance and his interactions with his former master and the different personalities who frequent Darlington Hall. He also contemplated on the conflict he had with a former maidservant named Miss Kenton, who got married and left Darlington Hall.The high point in the novel concerns about Stevens' father who also served Darlington Hall, but not as prestigious a post as his son holds. Stevens narrates the bitter "decline of abilities" of his father and the marked incongruency to simple tasks and tried to confront the elder Stevens to hold lesser obligations in the house, which, of course, the latter objected.The most crucial and cruel part of the father-son story was tested at a conference of 1923 where very important persons visited Darlington Hall. His father has become ill and needed immediate attention. Upon seeing his father's situation he was so bothered but he has a work to do that such attachments were left in the corner of one district. His father suffered a stroke and died in the same night of the conference. Stevens, upon hearing the information from Miss Kenton, was saddened but had to carry on his task, addressing the maid to "please don't think of me unduly improper in not ascending to see my father in his deceased condition just as this moment. You see, I know my father would have wished me to carry on just now."If other readers viewed Stevens as heartless, they were flat wrong.Such thoughts emanate from the very heart of Stevens' being and he goes on with his service at Darlington Hall believing that life must go on and he must serve as a "true gentleman."The remaining chapters recounts the different figures whose presence at Darlington Hall gave color to it such as George Bernard Shaw and the situations that gave relevance to the people living in it and to Stevens' perception of life.In the last chapter and the last day of his "vacation" he contemplated on his fate and the diminishing essence of his trade to the present society. He has had a conversation with a former footman who has long retired and drew wisdom from it all. Stevens contemplated on this, "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?" He philosophized: "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... 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 passage 'remains of the day' could be taken in another form. Here is an butler who years are waning but then carries out his duty with pride. It is by far a wonderful book, flawless and contemplating. Ishiguro's style is reminiscent of that of Charles Dickens and E.M. Forster. His language achieves the kind of justice suited to the occasion and matters that touches one man's search for accountability and honor.
(Published in Sun.Star Bacolod Aug. 02, 2004 Lifestyle Section)
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