Despite the overwhelming evidence against his own misperceptions, :: English Literature

Despite the overwhelming evidence against his own misperceptions, Stevens emerges as a somewhat compassionate character.[Wong, 2000] Do you agree with this assessment of Ishiguro's representation of Stevens? Stevens is riddled with misperceptions about his work, his relationship with Miss Kenton and Lord Darlington. During the course of the novel, the reader is shown - not through what he tells us, but by what he doesn't - the truth behind them, and just how wrong he is. Stevens also realises the reality of his beliefs and his situation, but long after the reader. Despite his mistakes, as he begins to come to terms with the events of the past, there is a glimmer of hope that he will change and become a better person. However, he is still detached and at the end appears to return to his old, self-deceiving ways, escaping the responsibility of his mistakes. One of Steven's misperceptions is the importance of his work. For example, at the beginning of the novel, he is obsessed with the trivial matter of "what is a great butler?" [pg 32]. For Stevens, this is a matter of some importance, and shows he considers butlering to be more than just a job. This point of view is reinforced by the statement: The great butlers are great by virtue of their ability to inhabit their professional role and inhabit it to the utmostà ¢ they wear their professionalism as a decent gentleman will wear his suit [pg 43] His job is a way of life, not simply a means of employment, and he has an utter devotion to duty, to the extent that he will only discard his 'suit' when he is completely alone. It is this necessity to keep a public face that ruins his chance of happiness. He perceives his role to be more important than it is, believing that he has "been given a part to play, however small, on the world's stage" [pg 198] and he is also convinced that: it is not simply my fantasy that the state of the silver had made a small, but significant contribution towards the easing of relations between Lord Halifax and Herr Ribbentrop that evening. [pg 144] Stevens believes his job to be much more important than it is, and because of this he neglects his relationships with other people. His relationship with his father suffers because both are devoted to their jobs. He admires his father's abilities as a butler, but as father and son they have no relationship at all: for some years my father and I had tended to converse less and less even brief exchanges took place in an atmosphere of mutual