The Remains of the Day is a masterpiece of Ishiguro Kazuo, the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. Based on a six-day journey, this novel intertwined Stevens’ recollections and thoughts, revealing a traditional British butler’s self-deception and self-suppression while confronting with the dilemma of professionalism and personal emotions. This article intends to analyze Stevens’ realization of autonomy through his unutterable love toward Miss Kenton in three stages: separateness, competence and emotional autonomy

王靖

Xiamen University Institutional Repository

一一一一一一一一一一一一一一中外文学文化研究本栏目责任编辑：王 力Overseas English 海外英语第23期 (2019年12月上)第23期 (2019年12月上)The Realization of Stevens’Autonomy in The Remains of the DayWANG Jing(College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005,China)Abstract: The Remains of the Day is a masterpiece of Ishiguro Kazuo, the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. Based ona six-day journey, this novel intertwined Stevens’recollections and thoughts, revealing a traditional British butler’s self-deceptionand self-suppression while confronting with the dilemma of professionalism and personal emotions. This article intends to analyzeStevens’realization of autonomy through his unutterable love toward Miss Kenton in three stages: separateness, competence andemotional autonomy.Key words: The Remains of the Day; autonomy; love; competence; separateness; emotional autonomy中图分类号：I106 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-5039(2019)23-0217-02As a butler and servant, Stevens requires himself to be sepa⁃rated from a fulfilling emotional life. His behavior is constrained:when his father passes away, he is too occupied with worryingabout whether his professionalism is being undermined to mourn,something that he later reflects on with immense pride; his emotionis suppressed: any thought might compromise his dignity would beburied deeply in his mind, including his feelings about Miss Ken⁃ton. Fortunately, at the end of this novel, he finally realizes the nu⁃merous possibilities of his life that erased by his innate butler crite⁃rion, assisting him in finishing his final step in autonomy.According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s English, autonomyindicates“the ability to act and make decisions without being con⁃trolled by anyone else”. In this novel, instead of being controlledby any person, Stevens’behavior is controlled by his own criteriontowards his occupation. As Frank (1988) pointed out, the process ofacquiring one’s autonomy involves with three stages: competence,separateness and emotional autonomy. This article will combine theevents chronologically between Mr. Stevens and Miss Kenton andFrank’s three-stages theory to prove that Stevens has realized hisautonomy.1 CompetenceAccording to Frank, competence can be evaluated through de⁃cision making scale which indicates that the ability to“make im⁃portant decisions and life choices without undue influence from theparent”(731). Correspondingly, Stevens should be independent ofhis occupation when he is making personal decisions. However, hisfailure at competence has been fully demonstrated in his sup⁃pressed love towards Miss Kenton.At the beginning of this novel, having been influenced byLord Darlington, Stevens asserts that love relationship betweenhousekeeper and butler is“a serious threat to the order in thehouse”and“house keepers are particularly guilty here — whohave no genuine commitment to their profession and who are essen⁃tially going from post to post looking for romance”(Ishiguro 34)who will only cast a blight on good professionalism. Therefore, hedeliberately ignores Miss Kenton’s affection whenever their conver⁃sation is about to get involved with love.Undoubtedly, Stevens loves Kenton. He is used to“minimizehis presence by standing in the shadows”(53), but Miss Kentonjust like“a series of orange shafts from the sunset breaking thegloom of the corridor”(49). Stevens arguably understands and evenshares, to some extent, Miss Kenton's feelings, but he fails to recip⁃rocate.He is moved by the proposal that Miss Kenton accepts, and“remains standing”outside her room. Then he feels“a deep feelingof triumph”because he“preserve a‘dignity in keeping with my po⁃sition’”by serving“the most powerful gentlemen of Europe”(166). That night, he completely submits himself to his position asa butler, which indicates a failure of competence.2 SeparatenessSeparateness can be evaluated through self-other responsibili⁃ty scale which“described the young adults’ability to separatefrom and develop investments outside of the parent-child dyad”(Frank 731). Correspondingly, separateness can be interpreted theestablishment of boundaries between Stevens’life and career. Inthis novel, Mr. Farraday, Stevens’new master, accelerates his sep⁃arateness with old-fashioned British butler.At first, when his new master suggests him to“get to seearound this beautiful country”(5), Stevens insists on his butler life⁃style. The crack of his perfect image of being a qualified butler oc⁃curs when he receives Miss Kenton’s letter. Though he repetitious⁃ly emphasizes his professionalism, Stevens also keeps on reviewingMiss Kenton’s letter, revealing his sentiment of missing. From thismoment, he takes a step to separate his personal life and careerlife. In the prologue, Stevens describes a recent letter from MissKenton, which expressed“an unmistakable nostalgia for DarlingtonHall,”and he is“quite sure of this-distinct hints of her desire toreturn here”(Ishiguro 9). In fact, his interpretation of Miss Ken⁃ton’s letter reflects that he subconsciously hopes she could returnto Darlington Hall and companies him.Stevens believes that“there seems little reason why I shouldnot undertake my motoring trip to the West Country...But all in all,收稿日期：2019-08-22 修回日期：2019-09-01作者简介：王靖(1998—) ，女，福建厦门人，厦门大学2016级本科英语语言文学系英语专业学生, 主要学习研究语言学、外国文学、口笔译等方向。ISSN 1009-5039Overseas English 海 外 英 语zwwx@overseaen.comhttp://www.overseaen.netTel:+86-551-65690811 65690812217一一一一一一一一一一一一一一中外文学文化研究 本栏目责任编辑：王 力Overseas English 海外英语 第23期 (2019年12月上)第23期 (2019年12月上)I can see no genuine reason why I should not undertake this trip”(17). Through these two applications of double negatives, he in⁃tends to emphasize the necessity of this trip. However, his intentionis not only confined to recruit, but also to meet Miss Kenton. WhenMr. Farraday describes this meeting as a“dubious assignations”(15), he didn’t explain his relationship with Miss Kenton. More⁃over, he admits his“growing excitement at the notion that I mightnow actually undertake a motoring trip myself around”(11) theplace where Miss Kenton lives. His re-emerged love towards herembodies that he shakes off the shackles of his self-oppression.3 Emotional AutonomyThe definition of emotional autonomy is that whether a personcan, based on self-awareness and self-recognition, control his ownemotions, which can be evaluated through self-assertion scale(Frank 732). This scale emphasizes Stevens’ability to considerhimself to be the best evaluator of his own self-worth and is willingto risk disapproval by expressing needs or values that clashed withbutler’s values.Before the meeting, Stevens always indulges in the recollec⁃tions that reveal the lost possibilities of their romantic relationship,as past interactions are recreated. Though he is never able to ac⁃knowledge the complexity of feeling he possesses for Miss Kenton,insisting only that they shared an“close working relationship”(59), his actions of repetitiously presuming Miss Kenton’s attitudeand intention and convincing himself that his assumptions all provehis affections. Finally, they meet in the hotel’s tea lounge after 20years. Under the dim light, it seems that they return to the night be⁃fore Miss Kenton left, which also pervaded the atmosphere of sor⁃row and remorse. As he asserted before, the purpose of this trip isto find a qualified servant for Darlington Hall. Nevertheless, he nev⁃er talks about this matter with her but just attempts to inquire abouther life, exactly representing his beginning of emotional autonomysince he is no longer manipulated by his innate butler mind but fol⁃lows his instinct for his affection.When Stevens finally summons his courage to directly ask hermarried life, he, staring at the thick fog outside the window, daresnot to look straight into her eyes. Afterwards, when his previous as⁃sertion that“sadness in her expression”(168) is proved to be incor⁃rect because Miss Kenton states that she actually enjoys her cur⁃rent life, he dresses up his professional attitude (“work, work, orwork”) to conceal his sadness, which is noticeable that he is no lon⁃ger oppressed by his recognition of being a butler but actively uti⁃lizes his job to hide his increasingly emptiness and loneliness.In the bus stop, Miss Kenton confides to Stevens her love to⁃wards her husband straightforwardly and mentions“a better life”they might have had, provoking“a certain degree of sorrow”withinStevens. At last, his love towards Miss Kenton is fully waken be⁃cause he feels his“heart was breaking”. During their time spent atDarlington Hall, Stevens always maintains distance from discover⁃ing and admitting the feelings that existed between himself andMiss Kenton due to his personal understanding of dignity. It is onlywithin their final encounter that Stevens tragically becomes awareof the lost potential of his life with Miss Kenton.4 ConclusionSome critics doubt about his awakening during this trip. Forexample, Ma (2010) states that this trip is just a temporary relieffrom the oppression of being a butler because without Miss Kenton,Stevens has to return to Darlington Hall alone to act as a perfectservant, which is just like going around in circles.However, from the transition of his attitude towards his sup⁃pressed love towards Miss Kenton, it is obvious that he eventuallybreaks through the shackles of a butler’s mind. Admittedly, he willgo back to Darlington Hall to continue his occupation as a butler.But it will just denote his identity instead of his self-recognition,which precisely reveals his realization of autonomy.References：[1] Frank, Susan J., et al. Young Adults’Perceptions of Their Re⁃lationships with Their Parents: Individual Differences in Con⁃nectedness, Competence, and Emotional Autonomy[J]. Develop⁃mental Psychology, 1988, 24(5):729-737.[2] Ishiguro, Kazuo. The Remains of the Day[M]. New York: Vin⁃tage Books, 1998[3] 马宗燕 . 寻找尊严之旅——从精神分析的角度解读《长日留痕》[J]. 文学与艺术, 2010(3):14-15.[通联编辑：王力]218

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