British-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro wrote his story from the perspective of an English butler named Stevens.
The story goes like this ... 'In the summer of 1956, Stevens, an aging butler, has embarked on a six-day motoring trip through the West Country. But his holiday is disturbed by the memories of his past service to the late Lord Darlington, and most of all by the painful recollections of his friendship with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. For the first time in his life, Stevens is forced to wonder if all his actions were for the best after all ... A sad love story, and a witty meditation on the democratic responsibilities of the ordinary man.' The figure of the butler is a subtle illustration of the ability of human consciousness to deceive itself in what Sartre called 'bad faith'.
Jean-Paul Sartre’s conception of existentialist philosophy focused upon the radical freedom of every human being. In the absence of any fixed human nature or absolute external standards, we must all become responsible for whatever choices we make. Sartre recognised, however, that such freedom was too much for people to always handle. A common response, he argued, was to use their freedom to deny the existence of such freedom — a tactic he called Bad Faith (mauvaise foi). Sartre used the phrase “bad faith,” to refer to any sort of self-deception which denied the existence of human freedom. According to Sartre, bad faith occurs when someone tries to rationalise one's existence or actions through religion, science, or some other belief system which imposes meaning or coherence on human existence.
In Stephen's case the self-deception is enhanced by being legitimised in the framework of a professional ethics. Stephen must be the perfect butler. That is why he denies himself love, a social life, an identity almost ! Stevens glorifies his self-denial by describing it as dignity. He gives his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him ... oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer, oblivious of the fact that Miss Kenton loves him. Thus, bad faith comes from within and is itself a choice — a way that a person uses their freedom in order to avoid dealing with the consequences of that freedom because of the radical responsibility that those consequences entail !
Love – unrequited, lost, passionate, eternal – has been a quintessential element in literature. Love is said to be the most profound experience of life ... it involves taking a leap of faith ... with chances of a certain impending heartache. Love can be a challenge, but we must continue to fight for it against all odds because something capable of causing such immeasurable despair certainly must be able to produce feelings equally as wonderful ...
In Stephen's case the self-deception is enhanced by being legitimised in the framework of a professional ethics. Stephen must be the perfect butler. That is why he denies himself love, a social life, an identity almost ! Stevens glorifies his self-denial by describing it as dignity. He gives his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him ... oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer, oblivious of the fact that Miss Kenton loves him. Thus, bad faith comes from within and is itself a choice — a way that a person uses their freedom in order to avoid dealing with the consequences of that freedom because of the radical responsibility that those consequences entail !
Love – unrequited, lost, passionate, eternal – has been a quintessential element in literature. Love is said to be the most profound experience of life ... it involves taking a leap of faith ... with chances of a certain impending heartache. Love can be a challenge, but we must continue to fight for it against all odds because something capable of causing such immeasurable despair certainly must be able to produce feelings equally as wonderful ...