In both The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, skewed perceptions by both Stevens and Orual prevent them from growing as people since they cannot see beyond their personal viewpoints. Stevens’s misperception of dignity as professionalism prevents him from growing as a person. This is because he is not willing to act outside of what is acceptable from his parochial viewpoint. From the beginning, Stevens states that dignity in a butler “has to do crucially with a butler’s ability not to abandon the professional being he inhabits . . . . The great butlers are great by virtue of their ability to inhabit their professional role and inhabit it to the utmost” (Ishiguro 42-43). This statement demonstrates
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Stevens views loyalty to his master as one of his professional duties and thus is loyal to a fault. When reminiscing about the time when he served Lord Darlington, Stevens does not eschew details on the lord’s involvement in fascist organizations; however, Stevens attempts to portray his former employer in a softer way. For example, Stevens depicts Darlington as a good man, even saying that Darlington “was a gentleman of great moral stature” (Ishiguro 126). Later, when Stevens describes the time when Darlington asked him to fire any Jewish staff on the basis of ethnicity alone, Stevens intrinsically knew that such an action was morally wrong, but did so anyways, as his “duty in this instance was quite clear” (Ishiguro 148). The fact that Stevens then goes on to state that “there was nothing to be gained at all in irresponsibly displaying such personal doubts” (Ishiguro 148) and that the task “demanded to be carried out with dignity” (Ishiguro 148) further demonstrates how distorted his values are; he truly feels justified in firing the two Jewish housemaids and even suggests that the act itself was dignified. Ultimately, this example illustrates how misperception, particularly of an ideal, can fool a person into thinking that he is virtuous when he is in fact
Stevens views loyalty to his master as one of his professional duties and thus is loyal to a fault. When reminiscing about the time when he served Lord Darlington, Stevens does not eschew details on the lord’s involvement in fascist organizations; however, Stevens attempts to portray his former employer in a softer way. For example, Stevens depicts Darlington as a good man, even saying that Darlington “was a gentleman of great moral stature” (Ishiguro 126). Later, when Stevens describes the time when Darlington asked him to fire any Jewish staff on the basis of ethnicity alone, Stevens intrinsically knew that such an action was morally wrong, but did so anyways, as his “duty in this instance was quite clear” (Ishiguro 148). The fact that Stevens then goes on to state that “there was nothing to be gained at all in irresponsibly displaying such personal doubts” (Ishiguro 148) and that the task “demanded to be carried out with dignity” (Ishiguro 148) further demonstrates how distorted his values are; he truly feels justified in firing the two Jewish housemaids and even suggests that the act itself was dignified. Ultimately, this example illustrates how misperception, particularly of an ideal, can fool a person into thinking that he is virtuous when he is in fact