Remains of the Day III

That was a good ending; filled with bittersweet-ness! A pretty decent book I must say!Mr. Stevens realizes that his “heart was breaking” (239) (emotion, YES!!) and soon Miss Kenton’s “eyes had filled with tears” (240). If only they realized sooner… The way I see this novel is a tragic love story, like Romeo and Juliet (When in doubt it’s from Shakespeare!! lol). Except that what’s keeping these two lovers apart is not death, but their past mistakes. Mr. Stevens regret of being too caught up in his work and putting his trust in someone who had the ultimate mistake has put him in a state of shame and regret. Miss Kenton wanted revenge on Stevens for not showing emotions to her when necessary, so she gets married. However, she lives unhappily because she knows she was meant to be with Stevens. No matter how hard they try and no matter how much they deny it, they will never be fully happy unless it is with each other. I loved the part where Stevens is sitting on the bench with the “cheerful fellow” and he just pours out his heart to this stranger. Stevens finally lets go of his burden: “Since my new employer Mr. Farraday arrived, I’ve tried very hard, very hard indeed, to provide the sort of service I would like him to have. I’ve tried and tried, but whatever I do I find I am far from reaching the standards I once set myself. More and more errors are appearing in my work… Goodness knows, I’ve tried and tried, but it’s no use. I’ve given what I had to give. I gave it all to Lord Darlington.” (243) And this is when he relieves his “secret.” He regrets having spent so much energy and time and giving his all to this man, who didn’t even care for him enough, and putting his trust in this man to only have it thrown away and forgotten. Stevens regrets not living his life the way he would like. He always waited on everyone else, but forgot about himself. Actually, the way I see it, he doesn’t even have an identity; he relies on the power of Lord Darlington to give him a name. Another line I loved was, “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? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services.” (244) Stevens knows what he must do to at least enjoy the remains of his days (learn to talk more, laugh more, have a good time). This passage shows once again the feeling of regret (which he is no longer ashamed of showing); he didn’t take control of his life, but let others dominate it. It also shows that even though Stevens is forever changed by the fact that he gave his all to Lord Darlington, he is dependent on being a butler and therefore cannot take a totally drastic move to change his life; but he does take little steps to improve it. Speaking of improving… there was rain!! I was very excited that I got to interrupt the rain, and I choose to write my essay on it! That’s all for now!Oh.. I'm happy I read this book... =)