Spoiler Alert: This essay explores Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and may reveal key plot points and themes from the novel. Reader discretion is advised for those who wish to experience the story without prior knowledge.

Mr. Stevens is in many respects a tragic figure.

But his is an atypical kind of tragedy, subdued, stripped of unreasonable and tumultuous emotions, almost austere.

Mr. Stevens, the butler, is devoted to his profession and his employer.

Serving, to him, is more than a calling, it’s a foundational piece of his self-image, a raison d’être.

He is unwilling, maybe even unable, to look beyond the remit of his duties. Unwilling to go beyond the most basic exchange of pleasantries, unwilling to heed to the gentle calls of the heart and unwilling to meddle in such undignified pursuits, such as to question the character and motifs of his lordship.

The prose masterfully reflects the ethos of the profession.

While restrained and refined, there’s no room for meandering philosophical musings or superfluous displays of virtuosity.

“The Remains of the Day” is a calming novel, tinged with hints of nostalgia and melancholia, that quietly lulls you into contemplation.

At the onset, due to the encouragement of his new employer, an esteemed American gentleman, Mr. Stevens is convinced to take a few days of much deserved rest, after a life spent pacing the corridors of Darlington Hall.

The ensuing trip out West, during which Mr. Stevens has the opportunity to marvel at the beauty of the English countryside, unexpectedly provides the space to reminisce and reflect on the significance of life’s most salient moments.

This is how we learn about the daily affairs and important events at Darlington Hall, as well as the most significant people in Mr. Stevens’ life.

Lord Darlington, Mr. Stevens’ former employer, a somewhat mysterious gentleman, with questionable beliefs and attitudes towards Nazi Germany, whose quiet yet steady influence, away from the public eye, played a significant role in Great Britain’s foreign politics during the interwar period.

Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, whose sporadic emotional outings, while a cause for tension and concern, provide a touch of color and warmth in Mr. Stevens‘ otherwise unperturbed and monochromatic life.

Over the course of the novel we’re led to believe by Mr. Stevens, that unquestionable faith in one’s employer, loyalty, professionalism, restraint and composure are the pillars upon which butlers at the top of their class build their careers. Qualitites that set them apart and lend them dignity.

Miss Kenton does try in the earlier days, alas without success, to appeal to Mr. Stevens more emotional nature, to peer behind the thick curtains of composure, to soften his rigidity by teasing him with indirect romantic allusions to what else life might have in store for him, were he for one moment to take off the uniform and meet the man behind it.

Yet with every memory we witness doubts slowly seeping into Mr. Steven’s awareness, gradually endangering the foundations of his deeply held beliefs.

And while at first his life philosophy seemed an unshakable fortress, an intimate meeting with Miss Kenton at the end of the trip, after many years apart, blows away the last vestiges of obstinate faith, revealing a fragile house of cards.