Stevens: The Remains Of The Day
What is greatness Is it something a person is born with, or something a person can acquire over time Does a person?s greatness depend on their social status, or can their greatness be defined within the bounds of their social status This is what the main character in Kazuo Ishiguro?s novel The Remains of the Day is trying to figure out.
Greatness is indeed something which Stevens seems caught up in throughout the novel, but only greatness that he can lay some kind of claim to. It is easy to see, from the passage starting with ?Now I am quite prepared?? and ending with ??this quality is probably best summed up by ?greatness.?,? (28) that Stevens holds his country, along with his profession, as something that outshines most other things. For instance, when he is serving guests at the conference at Darlington Hall, there is a moment when Mr. Lewis, the American Senator insults Lord Darlington, calling him an ?amateur? (102). Lord Darlington then points out that what Mr. Lewis refers to as professionalism he himself calls ?getting one?s way by cheating and manipulating.? (103). Stevens quite obviously approves of his employer?s attitude, because
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