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Mr. John Farraday
A butler all his life, Stevens’s father works for a man named Mr. John Silvers until Silvers’ death, when Stevens senior comes to work with Stevens at Darlington Hall. Stevens models himself after his father, considering Stevens senior as the embodiment of dignity and professionalism. As a result, though, the narrator also has learned to maintain his formal role even when alone with his father, including at his father’s deathbed. Stevens senior, too, finds his identity wrapped up in his position as butler, such that, as he approaches death, he is most troubled by his increasing inability to fulfill the tasks required of him.
William Stevens, senior (Stevens’s father) Quotes in The Remains of the Day
The The Remains of the Day quotes below are all either spoken by William Stevens, senior (Stevens’s father) or refer to William Stevens, senior (Stevens’s father). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day Two: Morning
Quotes
Even so, if you consider the pressures contingent on me that night, you may not think I delude myself unduly if I go so far as to suggest that I did perhaps display, in the fact of everything, at least in some modest degree a ‘dignity’ worthy of someone like Mr. Marshall—or come to that, my father. Indeed, why should I deny it? For all its sad associations, whenever I recall that evening today, I find I do so with a large sense of triumph.
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William Stevens, senior (Stevens’s father) Quotes in The Remains of the Day
The The Remains of the Day quotes below are all either spoken by William Stevens, senior (Stevens’s father) or refer to William Stevens, senior (Stevens’s father). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Day Two: Morning
Quotes
Even so, if you consider the pressures contingent on me that night, you may not think I delude myself unduly if I go so far as to suggest that I did perhaps display, in the fact of everything, at least in some modest degree a ‘dignity’ worthy of someone like Mr. Marshall—or come to that, my father. Indeed, why should I deny it? For all its sad associations, whenever I recall that evening today, I find I do so with a large sense of triumph.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
