Explore and discuss these two themes—duty and loss—from Remains of the Day. Explain what each theme is and how each one relates to the overall plot of the book.

Most of Stevens's life has been (and in the case of his father, were) dedicated to service and duty. Stevens has spent his years serving Lord Darlington and, later, the American Mr. Farraday, but he has done little to nothing about serving his own needs—either emotional or ethical. He says of his father, who was also in service as a butler:

Yet so well did my father hide his feelings, so professionally did he carry out his duties, that on his departure the General had actually complimented Mr. John Silvers on the excellence of his butler and had left an unusually large tip in appreciation (page 42).

His father wound up giving this tip to charity because he felt as though it was his duty to be an excellent butler and that he did not deserve any extra money or recognition for it. Stevens resembles his father, and he also feels committed to his employers, even though he gives up any personal life or commitment to Miss Kenton in the process. Stevens also overlooks Lord Darlington's Nazi sympathies because he feels that it is his duty to do so. Therefore, he ignores his own emotional and ethical needs in the process of carrying out his duties.
As a result, Stevens suffers the loss of his chance at happiness. At the end of the novel, he does not have much life left to him, as he has spent it serving others. He has suffered the loss of his father and the loss of his chance at love with Miss Kenton. One of the overall points of the novel is that the Britain of faithful servants and absolute truths has faded. This theme is related to the ideas of loss and duty. Once Britain emerges from World War II, it is no longer popular to serve one's master and be as faithful and dutiful as Stevens has been. The entire prewar world has been lost to time.