Character Clues

Character Analysis

Social Status

When it comes to The Remains of the Day, this is the one characterization to rule them all, the one characterization to find them, the one characterization to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Wow. We just let our inner Lord of The Rings nerd out to play there.

But this is the Big Bad, the shadow, the All-Seeing Eye that watches over The Remains of the Day like Big Brother. It dictates everything.

Lord Darlington and his peers are at the top of the social ladder, followed by middle-class professionals such as Dr. Carlisle and the American senator, and followed by servants such as Stevens and Miss Kenton. And at the bottom of the heap are the villagers and farmers. Class determines how you speak, what you do professionally, what you wear, and who you hang out with.

Occupation

On the most basic level, characters are divided between those who work (Stevens, other professionals, farmers) and those who do not ("gentlemen" such as Lord Darlington).

Each person's profession also gives some insight into his character: Stevens takes particular pride in being an exceptional butler, but he also has the same formality in his personal life that he does in his professional life: he's super uptight.

Having a profession, for some characters, gives them dignity and a sense of self-worth. The American senator and Mr. Carlisle, for example, dismiss the amateur-hour attempts of Lord Darlington to be a diplomat. Darlington is just a lazybones gentleman, think the senator and Mr. Carlisle; he should stick to fox hunts and drinking tea with his pinky extended.

Names

Most of the characters are not on a first-name basis with each other: it's "Lord This" or "Mr. That." First names are used only when speaking down to someone. That's why Stevens throws a snit fit when Miss Kenton calls his father by his first name, William—even though his father is technically a footman and thus ranks lower than she does in the staff hierarchy. Despite their friendship, Stevens and Miss Kenton continue to refer to each other formally: "Mr. Stevens" and "Mrs. Benn."

Some of the names are also suggestive of personality traits. The word "darling" in "Darlington" suggests that the lord is capable of emotional attachment, but perhaps not much else. The new American owner's name is Mr. Farraday, which sounds like a pun on "fairer day," appropriate for the fresh new way of doing things. But don't be too hopeful: Mr. Farraday also suggests the scientist Michael Farraday, who invented the Farraday cage, a device that blocks electric fields. And dang if it doesn't look like Stevens is going to spend the rest of his life locked up in his secluded butlerhood, impervious to any electrical (or otherwise) change around him.

Mr. Harry Smith, also referred to as Mr. Smith, has a generic name that fits his standing as a kind of ordinary everyman.