Individual Passion versus Professional Duties in The Remains of the Day Dignity and an image of the great butler are important for Stevens to sustain himself at Darlington Hall right in the decline of the British class system. Lord Darlington in Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day is an embodiment of dignity and Englishness with their cultural implications of honor and decency. Stevens emulates and idolizes Lord Darlington as the perfect gentleman. But he seems to focus so much on being a perfect butler that he fails to see the outside world and ignores any passions which may distract his professional duties. In the end he faces the reality that is his life and sees it for its waste. The essay will first discuss the roots of his blind worship …show more content…
In a rigid system of class and colonization, Stevens believes in the master-slave hegemony. Stevens puts “his own interests, indeed his whole existence, in the hands of Lord Darlington”(Guttmann 1991). With Lord Darlington’s the upper-class superiority, his duty is solely “to provide good service” (152) and he will "not to meddle in the great affairs of nation” (153). By devoting his “attention to providing the best possible service to those great gentlemen in whose hands the destiny of civilization truly lies” (153). Stevens believes that great gentlemen like Lord Darlington will the right decision because of their social standing. He never thought the Lord Darlington is also blinded by his own vision. Lord Darlington is oblivious to the reality of Nazism, and chooses to go along with some of it …show more content…
Stevens refuses to allow it to distract him from his post as butler at Lord Darlington’s side. As Ryan Trimm said, “Professionalism is the obvious accomplice in Stevens’s ethnically and emotionally frustrated life: a single-minded devotion to duty has abetted his failure to achieve a rapprochement with his father, partner, and friends”(154). Be becoming ‘colonized’ and then dependent on the colonizer, Stevens has continually denied himself the opportunity to have a family, experience love. The notion of professionalism rules his life to such an extent that Stevens repressed and hid all of his emotions. His professional role as a butler resembles a cover, a “suit”, an item of clothing he discards “when he is entirely alone” (43). However, by doing so, it ultimately means that there is a surface identity that one assumes as well as a real identity that one hides (Trimm 17). The English class structure and the colonial domination become the façade of the clothing of professionalism to constrain and confine Steven’s thoughts and behaviors. The suit is like an invisible chain and a person is straitened for movement. And Stevens’s passion, emotion and dignity are all hidden behind the suit of professionalism, as he travels psychologically closer to the terrible truth. His quest for perfection proves to be a futile exercise. All he is left with is darkness and
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court also touches on the role of democracy and social stratification in Chapter 2. Democracy is portrayed when the Yankee observes the round table. The quote is “As a rule, the speech and behavior of these people were gracious and courtly; and I noticed they were good and serious listeners when anybody was telling anything—I mean in a dogless interval.” (Twain PG 13). He showed how the people at the table round listened to each other and each other’s ideas. Social stratification is shown on page 13. The quote is “ The rascals—they have served other people so in their day; it being their own turn, now, they were not expecting any better treatment than this”. (Twain PG 13). This shows how the poor are treated and they never expect more. The role of social stratification will be shown in the next chapter.
CONCLUSION Colonial Charles Towne had evolved into a sort of feudal city-state governed by power-based relationships, which established roles for everyone from the lowest slave to the economic and political elite who ruled the colony. These relationships were vital to the success and stability of the city and the lands and the people over which it held power. In his book, Robert Olwell clearly identified and defined the roles of Master, Slave, and Subject, and made a strong argument that, right or wrong, this system of power-based relationships was the key to the success, prosperity, and security of the colony.
A. “The Place of a Servant in the Scale.” Nineteenth-Century Literature. Vol. 63, No. 2 -. 1 (June 2008), pp.
Throughout a lifetime, one can run through many different personalities that transform constantly due to experience and growing maturity, whether he or she becomes the quiet, brooding type, or tries out being the wild, party maniac. Richard Yates examines acting and role-playing—recurring themes throughout the ages—in his fictional novel Revolutionary Road. Frank and April Wheeler, a young couple living miserably in suburbia, experience relationship difficulties as their desire to escape grows. Despite their search for something different, the couple’s lack of communication causes their planned move to Europe to fall through. Frank and April Wheeler play roles not only in their individual searches for identity, but also in their search for a healthy couple identity; however, the more the Wheelers hide behind their desired roles, the more they lose sense of their true selves as individuals and as a pair.
Professionalism in the workplace in many professions can be simplified into general categories such as neat appearance, interaction with clients, punctuality, general subject knowledge, and likability. In nursing, professionalism encompasses a much more broad and inclusive set of criteria than any other profession. Nurses specifically are held to a higher standard in nearly every part of their job. Nurses are not only expected to uphold what it seen as professional in the aforementioned categories, but they are also expected to promote health, wellbeing, and advocate for patients, but also continually provide the highest standard of care, demonstrate exemplary subject and procedural knowledge, and abide by the Code of ethics set forth by the American Nurses Association. This Code of Ethics includes the complex moral and ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, honesty, and integrity.
Not just darkness as in he is unable to see light, but in a way that he is unable to feel the light within
Professionalism is an adherence to a set of values comprising both a formally agreed-upon code of conduct and the informal expectations of colleagues, clients and society. The key values include acting in a patient's interest, responsiveness to the health needs of society, maintaining the highest standards of excellence in the practice of medicine and in the generation and dissemination of knowledge. In addition to medical knowledge and skills, medical professionals should present psychosocial and humanistic qualities such as caring, empathy, humility and compassion, as well as social responsibility and sensitivity to people's culture and beliefs. All these qualities are expected of members of highly trained professions.
...s important both symbolically and literally within the novel. Since manhood and masculine features are so heavily valued within this society, the challenge of one’s personality or actions can completely change them and push them to drastic measures.
Professionalism is defined as one's conduct at work. The quality of professionalism is not restricted to those in occupations with high level of education or high earnings. Any worker regardless of their level of education or occupation should demonstrate a high level of this trait (About.com, 2013). Acting professionally at workplace makes others think of you as reliable, respectful, and competent.
Stevens has some communication issues, there are a few blossoming strengths in his personality. While Mr. Stevens can be too reserved, the way he handles privacy can be admirable for one who is too over expressive. His desire to remain private about his life allows him to have majority control of how people perceive him. By giving others a specific level of insight, there is not much room left for one to judge him because of the little information he gives to society. Mr. Stevens is attempt at “bantering” or being more humorous shows that he is aware of his reserved personality.
...The Sidney estate is remarkable in its humbling and simplistic nature. The social classes all live harmoniously because of respect and understanding of what each class brings. The peasants, servants, Jonson himself, Sidney’s, and the King all have differing social statuses. It is the ability to not look down upon one another that makes the social order so remarkable. In a sense it is a paradigm of a typical English society, and conversely a watered down utopia for all who knows Penshurst to be a part of. Jonson’s “To Penshurst” is a staple of country house poetry and reflects the magnificence of the natural beauty of the estate. Furthermore, Penshurst incorporated a heartwarming community that managed to capture Johnson’s attention by providing a humbling and inviting experience to all of those who inhabit the beautiful Sidney estate known as Penshurst.
St. Augustine is a man with a rational mind. As a philosopher, scholar, and teacher of rhetoric, he is trained in and practices the art of logical thought and coherent reasoning. The pursuits of his life guide him to seek concrete answers to specific questions. Religion, the practice of which relies primarily on faith—occasionally blind faith—presents itself as unable to be penetrated by any sort of scientific study or inquiry. Yet, like a true scientist and philosopher, one of the first questions St. Augustine poses in his Confessions is: “What, then, is the God I worship” (23)? For a long time, Augustine searches for knowledge about God as a physical body, a particular entity—almost as if the Lord were merely a human being, given the divine right to become the active figurehead of the Christian religion.
For me, such moderation exemplifies Branagh's devotion to Shakespeare. It must have been tempting for a man of his talents to show off. But to forego such gestures, to offer in its stead restraint, is to put service before self. For, of course, Hamlet is restrained. His very life depends on it.
Conclusively, Austen portrays key differences in characteristics in order to enhance her point of how some professions began to “hold out the promise of a more open society.” She pays particular interest to the navy profession as it represents the new meritocratic people who have earned their wealth. Austen’s representation using the contrasting identites of Captain Wentworth and Admiral Croft against Sir Walter Elliot serves to illuminate the growing concern of the upper class and how their shallow characteristics fail to welcome the change caused by the war.
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day is about the struggles one man, Mr. Stevens, has with relationships with his father, Miss Kenton and his employer, but the struggle he focuses on the most is to be a “great butler.” He pushes himself physically to work as hard as he can, as well as mentally to determine what makes a butler great. Stevens sacrifices all normal human encounters with those around him in order to be an emotionless person. “When one encounters them, one simply knows one is in the presence of greatness” (44). Stevens, through many trials, proves himself to be a “great butler.”