Quote:
Originally Posted by fantasyfan
The concept of "dignity" was the nearest approach he could make to being a "gentleman".
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Entirely agree on this. It's suggested that William Stevens's upbringing was lower class and that becoming a butler was a leap for him. As our Stevens was born to it, so to speak, he had to mythologize being a butler; he couldn't have the same sense of satisfaction as his father in achieving such status. But we also see that the price of William's ascent was the sacrifice of all human connections and emotions, to the extent that he felt compelled to die at his post because he had nothing else.
By the way, did anyone else think that William was not nearly as tall as Stevens claimed? He was undoubtedly towering in Stevens mind, but it would have been extremely unusual for someone of working class origin at that time to have topped six feet. In order to meet troop requirements, the British Army had to reduce the minimum height requirement during the first world war to five feet.
The concept of dignity also ties into the concept of Japanese responsibility after WWII. There was a (faulty, although interesting) differentiation made between German and Japanese views of their respective roles. It was said that the Germans had a guilt culture, which acknowledged wrongdoing and which needed expiation, whereas the Japanese had a shame culture in which one didn't admit having done wrong, hence silence on specific causes and actions. It seem to me that dignity is the paradigm for the public mien in a shame culture, another example of Stevens as a prototype for the postwar Japanese.