Examine pages 100 to 115 of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel "The Remains of the day" in detail. Show by a close reading of key scenes within this how the novelist's language and form both reveals, and conceals, central issues of character, emotion, politics and m
...ness, a suppression of emotions which is distinctly 'inhuman'. As a result of this, Stevens reflects a mechanistic personality which has been programmed to think and react, regardless of his true feelings. This is illustrated on the night of his father's death by his failure to serve his father. It is in this scene that we observe that memory is a filter for Stevens. When describing the evening he fixates on the glittering occasion downstairs to distract him from his father's death . Most people's natural inclination would be to go upstairs and see their father and Ishiguro illustrates this point by allowing the cook to show more emotion. Clearly Stevens is suppressing his true emotions, as they are too painful to acknowledge. He has been brought up to put duty first and keep the traditional British ' stiff upper lip'. This has influenced his memory to be selective and only focus on the success of the evening and his important role within it. The reality of the terrible loss of his father is repressed. Stevens vividly recalls that the cook "reeked powerfully of fat and roast chicken" he therefore "turned away". Stevens uses this as a tactic to avoid feelings of guilt about her display of emotion and his lack of it. In doing this Stevens is using the 'smell' of the cook as an excuse to leave so that he does not have to acknowledge his father's death or face up to his emotions. A common trait of Stevens' character is that he uses excuses to qualify actions e.g. his new staff plan was a professional reason to visit Miss Kenton. It is in the deathbed scene where we see that Stevens only sees his father as a role & does not know who he is past the surface role of a butler... even when he leaves Darlington hall for the road trip. However we are given an idea that he is upset, as he is asked four times if he is "alright", and told that he looks like he is crying. He prefers to remain downstairs occupying a public role as a butler rather than a private role as a son upstairs so that his "mask" will remain. Nevertheless, at this point in the novel Stevens' mask appears to have slipped yet he tries to conceal this. We are told in the first chapter that "Continentals are incapable to be butlers because they are a breed incapable of the emotional restraint which only the English race are capable of." He uses this idea as an excuse to be emotionally hardened and manages to twist the evening events around in his memory so that the evening was not a sad occasion but a turning point in his career that he looks back on "with a large sense of triumph". For him he left his father in order to become "a great butler" and to gain "dignity", which is what (he says) his father would have wanted. Possibly this is what his father would have wanted on the surface, but faced with the reality of death and the repressed emotions of so many years perhaps he wanted to 'let down the barriers' just for his dying moments. Stevens, however, is too 'programmed' to sense this as in his mind detachment is linked with dignity and greatness with nationalism. His aloofness is something in which he takes pride. Stevens lacks the strength of character to control his life and foolishly believes that as an English butler he will change the course of history. His constructed "mask" is based on the English notion of dignity to avoid political and social responsibility. Behind the mask Stevens has enslaved himself to the English system of professionalism. By hiding behind this, he escapes responsibility. Professionalism keeps Stevens from reacting compassionately to his father's illness and death. However Stevens father also hid behind the same mask of professionalism and dignity, never showing e...