Comparing The Remains of the Day and A Fragment of Stained Glass

he reads his story to his guest with no interruptions. Both stories are written in the first narrative, even though Lawrence manages to change the narrator of his story halfway through. Both stories are very descriptive as to what our narrators are feeling and thinking.

In The Remains of the Day, Stevens is always analyzing his thoughts and questioning his own motives and actions. Looking at the next passage taken from the book we can see an example of Steven's over-analytical mind. "I made my exit, and it was not until after I had done so that it occurred to me I had not actually offered her my condolences. I could well imagine the blow the news would be like to her, her aunt had been, to all intents and purposes, like a mother to her, and I paused out in the corridor, wondering if I should go back, knock and make good my commission. But then it occurred to me that if I were to do so, I might easily intrude upon her private grief. Indeed it was not impossible that Miss Kenton, at that very moment, and only a few feet from me, was actually crying." As seen here, Stevens is fretting about his decision and pondering about how and if he should rectify it. In the other book, the vicar is really telling us a story. A story within a story can be quite complicated.

It is the vicar's story I aim to concentrate on. As explained above the vicar has chosen a stable boy to play his narrator. The stable boy is also a worrier but has good cause to be. He set

his master's barn alight which consequently set fire to the house. Due to his actions, the stable boy is now a fugitive on the run. As a hunted man he feels threatened by all.

"As the fire went down I got frightened. I ran for the woods, with fire blazing in my eyes and crackling in my ears. For hours I was the fire. Then I went to sleep under the bracken. When I woke it was evening. I had no mantle, was frozen stiff. I was afraid to move, lest all the sores of my back should be broken like thin ice."

Unlike Stevens the butler, the stable boy is more interested in himself and his feelings rather than that of the people he may or may not have just killed. Both characters had love interests too. The stable boy is in love with Mather the millers' daughter. Throughout his ordeal, he seeks the help of Mather and she too is loyal in her love for him. She brings him food and a knife and also decides to join him, so as to help him evade capture.

The next passage illustrates just how much the stable boy thought of Mather. "I lay her down till cut flat hairy boughs. I put her in my bosom on this dry bed so we swooned together through the night. I laced her round and covered her with myself so she lay like a nut within its shell. 'Again when morning came, it was the pain of cold that woke me. I groaned, but my heart was warm as I saw the heap of red hair in my arms." Both narrators

had someone they loved. In Stevens's case, it was more love at a distance. After the departure of Miss Kenton (the old housekeeper at Darlington hall), Stevens realized that after all these years he was actually in love with her. Steven's realization comes to little too late as Miss Kenton has now married.

What makes it worse for Stevens is he now realizes Miss Kenton had loved him for years but he had been too caught up in his work and sense of duty to realize it. Their relationship was one of petty squabbling and nit-picking but nevertheless, this seemed to make no difference to their feelings except maybe enhanced them. Both characters are always picking holes in each other's personas and over-reacting to the simplest of requests. The next passage illustrates just how tiresome Stevens could behave and how he could overreact to the slightest of remarks.

"After several minutes of my talking and her contributing only statements such as, 'of course Mr. Stevens,' or 'I quite agree, Mr. Stevens' I finally said to her: "I am sorry, Miss Kenton, but I see little point in our continuing. You simply do not seem to appreciate the importance of this discussion." "I'm sorry, Mr. Stevens," she said, sitting up a little. "it's simply that I'm rather tired this evening." "You are increasingly tired now Miss Kenton. It used not to be an excuse you needed to resort to" To my sudden astonishment, Miss Kenton responded to this in a sudden burst: "Mr. Stevens, I have had a very busy week. I am very tired. In fact, I have been wishing for my bed for the last three

or four hours. I am very, very tired, Mr. Stevens, can you not appreciate that?" He thoroughly enjoyed his new meetings at the end of the day and was feeling hurt that Miss Kenton was not giving him the full amount of attention he deserved. However, after this conversation, Stevens decided to cancel any such meeting in the future. In other words, he cut off his nose to spite his face.

The narrator Stevens is an unreliable narrator. Unreliable narrators have invariably invented characters who are part of the stories they tell. The use of one is so the writer can find an interesting way to bridge the gap between appearance and reality. Stevens is a man whose whole life has been based on the suppression and evasion of truth, about himself and others.

Throughout the story, he avoids the fact that his previous employer Lord Darlington was actually a supporter of Hitler and his fascist regime. This illustrates how Stevens was a loyal man and that even though he is no longer employed by Lord Darlington he still had no bad words to say about him. The stable boy also held a certain type of loyalty from Marther the millers' daughter. As shown in the previous excerpt he made sure she was kept dry and sheltered from the weather but in this next passage, we see how Marther made sure he had all he needed for his escape and the fact the stable boy recognized her loyalty to him.

"When I woke, she was rocking me wildly to rouse me. I dreamed," said I, " that a great heap, as if it were a hill, lay on

me and above me." She put a cloak over me, gave me a hunting knife and a wallet of food, and other things I did not note. Then under her own cloak, she hid the lanthorn.

Both narrators experience loyalty, be it on the giving or receiving end. Both of the narrators are men and both stories are written from male perspectives. Although we have seen many similarities between both narrators it is important to note there is some difference between the characters too. Stevens is an aging butler who is extremely formal and regardless of his own feelings for a situation would always make an excuse as to why it wasn't his place to comment.

He was a serious man who treated every aspect of his work as important as the next. He believed in order and decorum and most importantly knew where his place was when it came to class. With regards to love, he was clueless not knowing when someone liked him and when someone did not. The stable boy however was slightly different.

He worshipped and remembered everything his loved ones would do for him. He cherished mother like his last breath of air. On the other hand, he was also a spiteful boy who murdered a horse not belonging to him. He was resentful towards his master who punished him for this crime, which then led to a desperate want for revenge.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading both stories but for different reasons. The Remains of the Day was a sad and humorous love story and a moving and witty meditation on the democratic responsibilities of the ordinary man. It was also the poignant tale

of thwarted idealism and the subtlety and grace of the characters have been duly noted. D.H. Lawrence and his short story A Fragment of Stained Glass was sensuous, passionately intense, and probed deep into uncharted feelings and experiences of human beings. Both stories however would have been unsuccessful if it had not been for the author's excellent choice of narrator.