You ever finish a book and just sit there? Staring at the wall. Feeling like your chest is hollowed out but in a way that’s weirdly beautiful. That is basically the experience of reading The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro wrote back in 1989. It’s a book about a butler. Sounds thrilling, right? But honestly, it’s one of the most devastating psychological thrillers ever written, even though the only "action" involves a slow drive through the English countryside and some silver polishing.
Stevens is our guy. He’s the head butler at Darlington Hall, and he is obsessed—like, medically obsessed—with the idea of "dignity." To Stevens, being a great butler means never dropping the mask. He doesn't just work; he is the job. Even when his father is literally dying in an upstairs room, Stevens is downstairs worrying about whether the wine is being served at the correct temperature for a bunch of high-stakes politicians. It’s brutal. It’s also a masterclass in how we lie to ourselves to survive our own choices.
Why Stevens is the King of Unreliable Narrators
If you're looking for a narrator who tells it like it is, look elsewhere. Stevens is the definition of unreliable. But he isn't lying to us because he’s a villain; he’s lying to himself because the truth is too much to carry.
When you read The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro crafts a voice that is stiff, formal, and almost painfully polite. You have to read between the lines. When he talks about Lord Darlington, his former employer, he describes him as a "great man" who was just misunderstood. The reality? Darlington was a Nazi sympathizer who used his influence to try and broker peace with Germany before World War II. Stevens knows this, but he can't admit it because if Darlington was a fool or a traitor, then Stevens’ entire life of service was a waste.
He does the same thing with Miss Kenton, the housekeeper. Their "romance" is one of the most famous non-romances in literature. It’s all subtext. It's a heated argument about a vase or a disagreement over staff that is actually a scream of "Please love me." Ishiguro is a genius at showing how people use professional boundaries as a shield against intimacy. Stevens hides behind his livery because he’s terrified of what happens if he takes it off.
The Myth of Professionalism
We’ve all been there. Maybe not to the extent of a 1930s butler, but we’ve all used work to avoid our personal lives. Stevens takes this to the extreme. He believes that a butler’s duty is to provide a "canvas" upon which great men can paint the history of the world.
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But what happens when the canvas is clean and the painter is a disaster?
The book is set in 1956, but it flashes back to the 1920s and 30s. This dual timeline is crucial. In '56, the British Empire is fading. The great houses are being sold to Americans—in this case, Mr. Farraday. The world has moved on, and Stevens is a relic. He’s driving a car he doesn't quite understand through a country that has changed, trying to find Miss Kenton (now Mrs. Benn) to see if they can fix what was broken twenty years ago.
The Tragedy of "Dignity"
What is dignity, anyway? Stevens thinks it’s about being "inhabited" by one’s role. He tells this story about a butler in India who found a tiger under the dining table and shot it without disturbing the guests. To Stevens, that is the peak of human achievement. It’s hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
The tragedy of The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro presents is that Stevens sacrifices everything—his father, his chance at love, his own political agency—on the altar of this rigid, hollow dignity. He chooses to be a tool rather than a human being. And by the time he realizes that the "great man" he served was actually a pawn for the Nazis, it’s too late. The "remains of his day" are all that’s left.
A Masterclass in Subtlety
Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for a reason. His prose is so clean you could perform surgery with it. There are no flowery metaphors here. Everything is flat and functional, mirroring Stevens’ own mind.
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- The way he describes the landscape.
- The repetitive mentions of "polishing silver."
- The way he avoids using the word "love."
Every time he says he is "puzzled" by something Miss Kenton did, you know he’s actually heartbroken. When he describes a long-ago evening where they drank cocoa together, he treats it like a professional meeting. It’s painful to watch. You want to reach into the pages and shake him. You want to tell him to stop being a butler for five seconds and just be a man.
The Political vs. The Personal
A lot of people forget that this is a deeply political book. It’s about the "Great British" myth. It deconstructs the idea of the noble aristocracy and the loyal servant. By showing us the 1930s through the eyes of a butler who refuses to judge his masters, Ishiguro shows us how easy it is for "good people" to facilitate evil.
Stevens isn't a Nazi. He’s just a man who followed orders. He’s a man who thought that by doing his job perfectly, he was absolved of the need to think for himself. That’s a terrifyingly modern concept. We see it in corporate culture all the time—the idea that as long as you hit your KPIs, the actual impact of your company on the world doesn't matter.
How the 1993 Movie Changed the Perception
The movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson is incredible. It’s one of those rare cases where the film actually does justice to the book. Hopkins plays Stevens with this terrifying stillness. You can see the emotions trapped behind his eyes, rattling like birds in a cage.
But the book goes deeper into the internal monologue. In the book, you are trapped inside Stevens' head. You feel his rationalizations. You feel his desperation to believe his life meant something. The movie is a romance; the book is a ghost story. Stevens is the ghost haunting his own life.
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Key Themes to Remember
- Regret: The slow realization that the path taken was the wrong one.
- Class: The invisible walls that keep people apart even when they live in the same house.
- Memory: How we edit our past to make it bearable.
- Loyalty: When does loyalty become a vice?
The Ending (No Spoilers, But Brace Yourself)
The ending isn't a big explosion. It’s a pier in Weymouth. It’s the colored lights coming on at twilight. It’s a conversation about "the evening" being the best part of the day.
It’s quietly devastating because Stevens finally admits, in the smallest way possible, that he gave his life to a cause that wasn't worthy of him. He realizes he can't go back. He can only try to be a better butler for his new American employer. He decides to practice his "bantering." He’s still trying to be a tool. He’s still trying to fit into a role, even when the play is over.
Actionable Takeaways from Ishiguro’s Masterpiece
Reading The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro wrote isn't just an academic exercise. It actually offers some pretty sharp life lessons if you’re willing to look at yourself in the mirror.
- Audit your "Dignity": Are you suppressing your true self for a job or a role that wouldn't miss you if you were gone tomorrow? Stevens’ tragedy is his lack of a "self" outside of service. Don't let your LinkedIn profile be your personality.
- Speak the words: If there is something you need to say to someone, say it. The "silver polishing" of your life—the busy work—will always be there. The people won't. Miss Kenton waited years for Stevens to say something real. He never did.
- Question your "Great Men": Whether it’s a boss, a political leader, or a mentor, don't outsource your morality to them. You are responsible for the work you do and who you do it for.
- Acknowledge the evening: If you feel like you've wasted time, remember the "remains of the day." You can’t fix the past, but you can change how you spend the evening. Even Stevens tries to learn how to joke at the end. It’s a small, pathetic start, but it’s a start.
If you haven't read it, go get a copy. If you have, read it again now that you’re older. It hits differently when you have your own "remains" to look back on. This isn't just a book about a butler; it’s a book about the terrifying ease with which we can miss our own lives.
Stop polishing the silver and look out the window. The sun is setting, and you don't want to realize you missed the view because you were too busy worrying about the smudge on a fork.
Next Steps for Readers
To truly appreciate the nuance of Ishiguro’s work, compare this novel with his later book, Never Let Me Go. Both deal with characters who accept a horrific fate because they believe it’s their "duty." You might also want to look into the historical context of the 1936 Appeasement policy in Britain, which provides the backbone for Lord Darlington’s downfall. Understanding the actual political stakes makes Stevens’ blind loyalty feel even more tragic. Finally, watch the 1993 film adaptation to see how silence can be more expressive than dialogue.