Humanity

Ishiguro deliberately makes the reader empathize with their situation by the humanization of the clones. They have individual interests, beliefs and values that every human has. Ruth even imagines her future career, “Ruth began telling us about the sort of office she'd ideally work in, and I immediately recognised it. She went into all the details—the plants, the gleaming equipment, the chairs with their swivels and castors—and it was so vivid everyone let her talk uninterrupted for ages.” (Ishiguro 103). Ruth’s dream to live a normal life is an aspiration shared by many, including myself. However, this desire is even stronger for her because she will never get it in her situation. In our world, we are free to follow our dreams and chase ambition. They are forced to live a life without purpose: to be seen as objects and not people with feelings or thought. This helps solidify the clones as the victims of society's cruel experiment in the eyes of the reader.

Kathy and Tommy’s relationship also concludes as evidence of the clones’ humanity, “And so we stood together like that, at the top of the field, for what seemed like ages, not saying anything, just holding each other, while the wind kept blowing and blowing at us, tugging our clothes, and for a moment, it seemed like we were holding onto each other because that was the only way to stop us being swept away into the night” (Ishiguro 274). Kathy and Tommy’s efforts to comfort each other prove that they can love and that they can be loved. Love is a defining factor of what it means to be a human being and their relationship helps erase the gap between clones and humans. Again and again, Ishiguro continues to include these intimate moments between characters of friendship and romance to indicate the clones’ ability to have feelings and have close connections with others. His purposeful additions to the novel allows the audience to feel indignant at how society treats clones and dig into the injustices that they suffer. This could very much apply to the world we live in today, as many injustices happen to people around the world and no one does anything. Ishiguro humanizes these clones to speak of society’s lack of response to how “outcasts” are treated.

On Acceptance

In the novel, Never Let Me Go, the narrator, Kathy, takes the reader through a natural retelling of her life. As the story is told naturally and seemingly without an end goal in mind, it represents the type of life that Kathy and her cohorts at Halisham live. Although the students at Halisham live relatively happy and free lives, they are still destined to complete a very specific fate. The inevitable nature of Never Let Me Go is a metaphor for all human life, and how humans go about accepting it. 

As Kathy begins her narration through various flashbacks and stories, she makes it clear that her story is unreliable. Her memory, much like everyone else’s, has its own faults and is clouded by emotion and new revelations. Early on she confesses to the reader,  “this was all a long time ago, so I might have some of it wrong” (Ishiguro, 13). Instead of making this a definite story, Ishiguro instead allows the reader to interpret Kathy’s memories in their own way. As the reader is never completely sure how true Kathy’s stories are, the whole novel takes on a dreamlike quality that makes it transportable and relatable to many others. 

As the story comes to a close, Kathy and Tommy take a trip to see the Madame, and question her about the rumors they have heard. Until around this time, the now graduates of Halisham have not fought against their fates, and have accepted their donations with relative ease. Even after Kathy and Tommy learn that the referrals are only, “a wishful rumor” they still manage to just continue their stories (258). As a reader, I initially struggled with their acceptance of their fate, and wanted them to fight it more, but over time I realized that we also accept a large number of upsetting fates without much struggle. 

The retelling of stories in Never Let Me Go consistently makes references to human existence as a whole. The reader weaves through Kathy’s life as she shares her thoughts and stories, but is never fully sure how true and reliable her statements are. The purpose of this novel is not to inspire an uprising, but instead to share the process of acceptance and life. Although the story includes many different shocking sections, the reader and the characters both accept their fate and choose to continue on with their stories.

Reevaluation

One reason I find Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro to be interesting is because it encourages us to reevaluate the world around us. Kathy and the other students at Hailsham feel something is different about their lives but they don’t seem to truly realize what it is or how it will effect them. They have been told about the donations, but in such a way that they don’t question them. In fact talking about the donations is almost taboo: 

“we knew just enough to make us wary of that whole territory... we perhaps even knew that a long way down the line there were donations waiting for us. But we didn’t really know what that meant. If we were keen to avoid certain topics, it was probably more because it embarrassed us” (66 ebook). One would think that they would be anxious to learn more about the donations, about what will happen to them after Hailsham, and about why they are different from ‘normal’ people, but instead they avoid these topics out of “embarrassment”.

I find this to be similar to how people in the real world often avoid discussing political issues like climate change, corruption, and similar topics. We ‘know’ that climate change is having drastic affects on the world, but in our daily lives we rarely do anything about it or talk about it. We ‘know’ that districts are gerrymandered and that politicians are bought by large corporations, but we don’t even think about it in our day to day life. Issues like this have always been in the background of our lives so we tend to ignore them the same way Kathy and her friends ignore the donations.

To the reader, it seems that crazy that Kathy and the others go along with the donations, but I think that Ishiguro is trying to make the reader consider all of the things that they go along with in their daily lives that could be just as important to us someday as the donations are to the clones. By presenting a situation that is alarming to an outside observer, but completely normal to those involved, the book encourages us to reevaluate what we consider to be normal in our lives.

Securing Memories

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is narrated by one of the main characters Kathy. The book is written so that it jumps between the past and present, where Kathy is a carer, and the reader is able to learn what it was like growing up as a clone and living at Hailsham. From this way of writing, Ishiguro emphasizes how even as fallible as memory and perception can be, they provide a sense of security for the characters to accept their fate. 

In the very beginning of the novel, Kathy’s current donor doesn’t want to discuss his past, rather, he wants to learn about Hailsham. Kathy realizes that “what he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham, just like it had been his own childhood” (5). Kathy describes Hailsham to her donor in the time leading up to his completion and becoming immersed in Kathy’s good memories provides him a soothing comfort. Even though the memory isn’t his, it’s better than his actual memories and so it provides an escape into a fantasy. 

Early on, we know Kathy’s time caring for organ donors is soon going to end and she will become a donor herself. Similar to her past donor, it seems that Kathy recalling her memories at Hailsham with her friends Ruth and Tommy, is also a way to cope with her impending fate. When the kids are explicitly told what their purpose in life is, Kathy points out that “it feels like I always knew about donations in some vague way” (83). This explains why Kathy, Ruth and Tommy never tried to run away and only searched for deferral late in their lives. Even though Kathy had comfort in knowing what was going to happen, she still tried to cling to the good memories at Hailsham. Kathy tries hard to get the others at the Cottages to finish their readings and essays that were assigned before leaving Hailsham because “if our sense of essays being important was allowed to seep away, then so too would whatever bound us together as Hailsham student” (197-198). Throughout the entire novel, Kathy is aware of what every clones fate will eventually be, but, until replaying her memories and caring for donors, including Ruth and Tommy, she never seems quite ready to move on from the past. At the very end of the novel, Kathy acknowledges that she lost Hailsham and her friends, but she treasures what memories she still has of them. These memories are cormforting since they will be safely in her head where no one can take them, despite the process of giving up her organs. 

Loss is Inevitable

In Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, a common theme is the inevitability of loss. This theme can be seen in many different aspects of the novel. One of the aspects is how Kathy revisits her memories at Hailsham with her childhood friends Tommy and Ruth. The recollection of Kathy’s memories can foreshadow the fear and dread the characters feel as their lives are purely for donating their organs and then coming to “completion”. Kathy understands the fate of her life and tried to hold onto her memories as closely as she can. 

The destiny of each of the characters’ lives as clones also emphasizes the importance of the title. Since the clones know their lives are not supposed to last long, and their purpose is to donate their organs to humans in the real world, they try to find ways to stop or prolong their completion time. The main hope for the characters, especially Tommy and Kathy, to spend more time together is for a deferral of their donations. This was always a hope for the characters, but sometimes it sounded too good to be true, as why wouldn’t everyone try for a deferral if they knew they were supposed to “complete” soon?

Tommy and Kathy confront Miss Emily and Madame on if they could receive a deferral but are informed that the rumor of deferrals does not exist, “She shook her head slowly from side to side. ‘There’s no truth in the rumour. I’m sorry. I truly am’” (Ishiguro 258). The inevitability of loss is confirmed for Tommy and Kathy as they are told that deferrals do not exist. This explains why everyone does not try for a deferral, because there are none. Although a deferral does prolong Tommy and Kathy’s lives together, there is no escaping the inevitability of loss for them – as a deferral is only an extension of time together, and their fate is still to donate their organs and complete.
         As Tommy and Kathy now know their lives are bound to complete soon, the title Never Let Me Go is emphasized even more. Tommy has a tantrum that reminds the readers of the Tommy that was introduced in the beginning of the novel, and Kathy tries to calm him down, “Then I realised he too had his arms around me. And so we stood together like that, at the top of the field, for what seemed like ages, not saying anything, just holding each other, while the wind kept blowing and blowing at us, tugging out clothes, and for a moment, it seemed like we were holding onto each other because that was the only way to stop us being swept away into the night” (Ishiguro 274). Tommy and Kathy hold each other tight, as the wind tries to pull them apart, in an attempt to not let each other go, as they just found out their time together is coming to an end. 

What is Igshiguro’s message?

I enjoyed reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go. The characters and the storyline are intriguing and kept pulling me in. A question I had after reading the book, however, is what was Ishiguro’s point? The novel is science fiction and describes a dystopian society, so what are Ishiguro’s readers supposed to take away from this? I will offer my own interpretation, but I am also curious to hear what others think Ishiguro’s message was.

I think this book is used to encourage appreciation of what life has to offer. We are not like the students of Hailsham. We have the freedom to pursue art, music, love, or whatever else we desire. We are not confined by the strict rules the students at Hailsham are set to follow. Our futures are undecided, and we can pursue whatever we want with that. We can go to America (or travel elsewhere), we can be teachers, racecar drivers, all of things that weren’t possible for Hailsham students are possible in this world. Personally, this is what I take away from novels that describe a dystopian society. I think it is encouraging to think about all the possibilities we have in our own lives when comparing that to the limited freedom available to the characters in the novel. This point was emphasized when Miss Lucy had an honest conversation with the students about their futures. Miss Lucy said, “You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of the, have been decided … You’ll be leaving Hailsham before long, and it’s not so far off … If you are to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you” (Ishiguro 81). Now this is not something that came to a shock to the students at Hailsham. They knew that they were created for a purpose and that they would complete someday. However, the severity of their harsh reality didn’t set in until Miss Lucy gave this speech. The Hailsham students are given a lot of freedom and opportunities compared to the students in other schools for clones. At the end of the day, the world sees all clones as the same. They are not human, and they have one purpose in life.  This got me to think about stereotypes we have in our society. Sometimes people feel trapped because the world only sees them in one way, and it is hard to break that mold. However, unlike the students at Hailsham you have a way out. Our futures are still undecided and our only purpose in live is to do what makes up happy.

This is my personal takeaway from the novel, but I am sure it changes reader to reader. I am curious to know what you took away from the book and what you think the message is that Ishiguro is trying to deliver to his readers.

Observing Humanity

In Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the students at Hailsham observe one another closely, indicating their need to fit in with one another and their propensity for human emotion, further proving their validity as humans.

One of the first memories Kathy shares of Hailsham involves watching other students. Kathy remembers that they “shouldn’t be so obvious about watching” as they observe Tommy and the other boys playing soccer (7). Kathy and her group of girls, including Ruth, watch from the pavilion before Tommy throws a tantrum. Their observance of Tommy’s demise makes them feel more secure in their position inside a group. The need to be part of a group is prevalent among people. Kathy was not always the one doing the observing, either. After Kathy asks to speak to Tommy and they make plans to meet by the pond, she mentions that “the way sound travelled across the water was hard to predict; if people wanted to eavesdrop, it was the easiest thing to walk down the outer path and crouch in the bushes on the other side of the pond” (25). Kathy is keen to protect her privacy but knows that it might not be possible because of the commonality of watching one’s peers at Hailsham. The lack of privacy between students draws them closer to one another, especially since, as clones, they can only rely on other clones. Because the students have little privacy, their observation of one another for social cues shows their need to fit in, which is a very human quality.

Even after laving Hailsham, observation and watching still play a big role in Kathy’s relationships. At the cottages, there is “an unspoken agreement to allow for a mysterious dimension where [they] went off and did all this reading” (123). Kathy and the others spend enough time together to know whether someone is telling the truth about what they’re reading, but in order to keep up appearances, they pretend not to know. They use observation, or, in this case, a lack of observation, as a method of fitting in and adapting to new surroundings at the cottages. Later, when Ruth, Kathy, and Tommy are finally reunited, Ruth observes Kathy and Tommy like they are “people in a play she [is] watching” (220). I see this as the point that Ruth truly realizes what she has done by keeping Tommy and Kathy apart. Ruth’s careful observation of the pair ignites her remorse, another very human quality. Throughout Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro uses the motif of observation among Hailsham students to demonstrate their normalcy and ignite empathy in the reader.

Humanizing Clones

In his novel, Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro humanizes clones, despite their creation for the single purpose of donating their organs to the "normal" members of society.

Firstly, Ishiguro names each of his clones common names, such as Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, rather than calling them by a serial number, which adds character and depth. If Ishiguro simply named his characters with numbers, the reader and other characters of the book could view them simply as science experiments. He educates each on all subjects ranging from art to geography in the clone's boarding school Hailsham. If the clones did not have a human element to them, there would be no need for this society to educate their organ-donating members.

In Hailsham, the guardians emphasize how the clones should rely on one another for almost everything, which is similar to the rest of society. Not only do these clones talk and play together constantly, but a majority of their prized possessions also comes from the Exchanges, essentially a swapping of each other's artwork. The guardians thought teaching them to put others first would prepare the clones for lives of looking after each other because most regular people did not want anything to do with clones. At the Cottages, the clones rely on each other to complete their chores, go on trips, and for entertainment. Because the clones are not simple science experiments that can be successful on their own, Ishiguro again underscores how parallel their interdependence is to regular members of society. Both depend on others to be happy and to survive.

Finally, Ishiguro reveals that the normal members of society still have reservations about the cloning experiments. Originally, Hailsham is created as a "more humane and better way" to raise the clones (Ishiguro 258). The emphasis on being creative and on their artwork is to "prove that they had souls at all" (260). Although the rest of society may have been in doubt, advocates, such as Madame, try to illustrate to the rest of society that clones do in fact have souls. When the clones travel outside of the Cottages, Kathy is under the impression that everyone she meets would shiver in disgust if they knew what they were. And even Madame, who largely believes that the clones have souls in the same way as everyone else, is "afraid of [the clones] in the same way that someone might be afraid of spiders" (35). In this manner, Ishiguro again demonstrates that even while the clones are being raised for organ harvest, the rest of society still sees a human aspect in them rather than just an experiment.

It's All a (Hail)Sham

In Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, the author foreshadows the end of the novel by giving the readers clues. For example, all of the students go to Hailsham, where they are taken care of and taught to be creative. They learn what to expect out of their lives and are constantly encouraged to create different works of art and poetry. However, Tommy is different than the rest of the students. He doesn’t enjoy creating things and when he is forced to, he often creates things that are very childish and below his potential level of creativity. This causes him to be bullied by the other children, resulting in tantrums. He only stops throwing temper tantrums after a long conversation with Miss Lucy, who is one of the guardians. She is also different from her respected peers because she is more honest with the children, while the other teachers keep up the facade that everything is normal. Miss Lucy tells Tommy that if “he just couldn’t be very creative, then that was quite all right, he wasn’t to worry about it” (Ishiguro 28). Miss Lucy telling Tommy that it isn’t important for him to create foreshadows the fact that the art is unimportant because at the end of the novel, it is revealed that Madame only took it to try and convince outsiders that the clones were worth more than just their parts. Ultimately, this is unsuccessful and Hailsham is shut down. 

Another way that Ishiguro foreshadows the ending is with the actual name of the school. Throughout the novel, all of the clones believe that Hailsham is just their normal school, and there is a deferral program that they can join if they are in love. However, when Kathy and Tommy go to try and get a deferral, Madame tells them that the whole thing was a sham. There is no deferral program, and no real necessity for their creativity. Hailsham was simply created to prove that the clones have souls, however, the efforts of Madame and the teachers were unsuccessful in keeping Hailsham open. They themselves didn’t even believe that the clones were equal to humans, and they refused to touch them. Miss Emily, another one of the teachers, tells Kathy and Tommy, “I’d look down at you from my study window and I’d feel such revulsion” (Ishiguro 269). Despite the fact that the school seemed so nice at the beginning of the novel, there was never any unity between the teachers and the students. They would always be different and even though the teachers tried to get past their discomfort around the clones, it was not successful and the sham of Hailsham was put to rest with its closing.

Means to an Inevitable End

Although references to “carers”, “donors”, and “completing” are made in the beginning of the book, there is much ambiguity regarding the lives of those at Hailsham. The truth is revealed to the reader in Chapter 7 when Miss Lucy tells the Hailsham students, “[Y}our lives are set for you… before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs” (Ishiguro 81). No longer can they be viewed as creative children growing up in a strange school. Now, the story forces the reader to face clones that will live lives full of limitations that will result in one thing, completion.

This perspective on information reminds me of the falling question. If a person is going to fall to their death, would they prefer to have their back to the ground or see when it is coming? The short answer is that it does not matter. Regardless of what is done, the result is the same, death, or “completion” in Ishiguro’s novel. Yes, the clones reveal a sense of humanity through their relationships, creativity, and appearance, but in the end, it does not matter. Their short lives will be lived, and their purpose served. To the people receiving their organs, there is an excitement for life, not a sadness behind death. Even their headmaster, Miss Emily, shares, “We’re all afraid of you. I myself had to fight back my dread of you all almost every day” (Ishiguro 269).

In Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro reveals a side of human nature that many people struggle to acknowledge. It stems from the ideal that the “ends justify the means”. Nobody ever wants to admit they are willing to make this trade of morality when another person’s life is at stake, but it is much easier when the life being sacrificed is artificially created. As Miss Emily explains, “[h]owever uncomfortable people were about your existence, their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friends, did not die” (Ishiguro 263). Once the option to save those important to them emerges, the means by which it is done no longer matters to society.

If the children are simply a means to an end, then why create an environment like Hailsham? Once the public knew about the means by which they received organs, they were not willing to sacrifice their own loved ones for the sake of clones. Instead, a select few took it upon themselves to show the world that these clones, if raised as children, could have souls. All that did is make the public feel better about themselves for a short time. They can feel like a service is being done in the lives of the clones.  

Part of me wonders if the Hailsham upbringing is worse the alternatives. The children are encouraged to dream about things outside of their realm of possibility. In other places, clones are brought up in horrible conditions. They are not taught to learn or play, but rather are treated as they are to society, an incubator for their organs. However, this may be better than the Hailsham students who place themselves within a world they can never be a part of. Kathy may have held the baby and sang “Never Let Me Go”, but it was the false hope provided by Hailsham that provided her with something to hold on to in the first place. In my opinion, that is the greatest disservice of all.

Art as a Demonstration of One's Humanity

Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go introduces the idea that art has the power to demonstrate an individual’s humanity or soul. From the very beginning of Never Let Me Go a mystery surrounds the purpose of creating artwork at Hailsham and the even more mysterious ritual of Madame, later known as Marie-Claude, taking a few of these pieces of artwork for an unknown reason. Later in the book, while Kathy and Tommy are seeking a deferral, Miss. Emily answers this question when she says, “We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all” (260). The audience does not receive a resolution to the question of what effects the display of this artwork had on the organ harvesting program, but we are able to see what Ishiguro presumes are the effects of an art education and a creative outlet in youth.

The first of these effects, which Ishiguro proposes as a demonstration of a soul, is the ability of art to awaken empathy in its viewers. This is evident in Miss. Lucy’s outburst in an effort to convince the cloned children at Hailsham to fear the idea of the donations (81), and also when Madame breaks down crying at the sight of Kath dancing with her imitation baby (72). The experiment being done at Hailsham was a demonstration of how well art can influence its viewers to extend their empathy to the artist, and this principle is seen with the gallery which the administrators at Hailsham hope will convince their audience to accept the humanity of clones.

The second of these effects seems to be the capacity of former Hailsham clones to have original thought as compared to other clones outside of Hailsham. The veterans at the cottage clearly behave differently than Kath and Tommy, excluding Ruth because she attempts to adopt their mannerisms, and this is noted by Kath as she observed “all kinds of other things the veteran couples had taken from TV programmes” (121). Instead having original mannerisms, many of the veterans at the Cottages adopt mannerisms from available media and each other, unlike the complex personalities the audiences sees at Hailsham. This also further the idea brought up by Miss. Emily that the art will “reveal” an individuals humanity because, unlike assuming the roles of actors within their own life, the students of Hailsham act in accordance to their own personality.

The audience can assume that the clones in this novel do indeed possess a soul based on the fact that the novel is narrated by one of these clones, and through her narration she demonstrates the ability to act morally, think complexly, and feel deeply for those she loves. I propose that the true intent of the artwork in this novel is to demonstrate ways in which empathy can be extended to ‘outgroups’ in society.

Finally Letting Go

For much of Never Let Me Go, the title is very appropriate. Two-thirds of the novel consist of memories from Kathy. From her childhood spent at Hailsham to her young adult life at the Cottages, a significant amount of time is spend reflecting on the past, refusing to let it go. The remaining third of the story is spent looking toward the future of the characters. Once again, everyone cannot let go of their hopes that their lives will end differently than so many clones who have come before them. In spite of how desperately all the characters try to hang on to something to distract them from their bleak situation, they are all eventually forced to come to the grim realization that their futures have already been decided. Unfortunately, they are given no choice but to let go.

For Kathy, memories are the most important way for her to cope with the idea that her future will inevitably be cut short. Even when Ruth is on her deathbed after her final donation, she and Kathy "sit side by side at her window, watching the sun go down over the roofs, talking about Hailsham, the Cottages, anything that drifted into [their] minds" (Ishiguro 235). Despite the horrible circumstances, they both find comfort in each other's company, reminiscing about their childhood. However, once Kathy becomes Tommy's carer as he begins to die, their conversations begin to move away from memories and start to focus on the present. Kathy notices that "Tommy [tends] to identify himself with the other donors more. If, for instance, the two of [them are] reminiscing about old Hailsham people, he [will] sooner or later [move] the conversation round to one of his current donor friends" (Ishiguro 276). As Kathy's childhood friends begin to leave her life, the memories they share begin to hold less weight in their conversations, showing that they are letting go of their past to some extent.

As much as the characters are forced to let go of their past, they are also forced to let go of any dreams for a future beyond having their organs harvested until they die. This is most clearly illustrated in Kathy and Tommy's visit to Madame, where they hope to give Tommy's drawings to Madame's Gallery in exchange for a deferral on donations. Unfortunately, when they arrive at Madame's place, it is revealed by Miss Emily that "[t]here's no truth in the rumour" (Ishiguro 258). This encounter snuffs out any hope that their future might not already be determined for them, and they are forced to come to terms with the facts that they must let go of this hope. While the phrase "never let me go" seems to indicate some potential for the characters to stick together or hold on to some aspect of themselves, the sad reality is that they all will be pushed toward death, with all their memories, relationships, dreams, and aspirations dying with them.

Never Let Me Go but Please Let Me Leave

Among our class discussions of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, we spent a great deal of time discussing the clear oddity that lies in the novel: why do the students never rebel against their circumstances? Upon completion of the novel, I’ve found myself faced with more questions instead of clarity. In particular, Chapter 22 busts the entire story wide open, finally explaining to the reader how the clone program came about and its reception by the outside world. 

During this chapter, Tommy and Kathy finally track down Madame (now known to us as Marie-Claude) to attempt to request a deferral and, in part, understand what the Gallery was for. They learn she is living with Miss Emily and that the two of them ran Hailsham together. The response to the deferral request is a clear no which was, frankly, unsurprising. What was significantly more chilling was Miss Emily’s response to the Gallery questioning.

The audience learns that Tommy’s theory wasn’t all that far off. Miss Emily summarizes the purpose of the Gallery by saying, “We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all” (Ishiguro 201). Because the clones are able to make art, it seems clear that they also possess souls. This seems to explain Tommy’s outburst at the end of the chapter, something the reader hasn’t seen from him since his temper tantrums at Hailsham. If the clones have souls, then what makes them different from the rest of the populace? Is it simply because they were born of unnatural circumstances and taught they had a predetermined path from the beginning? Where is the line drawn on how long we are able to control the sentient things we create? 

If I were Tommy and had these thoughts running through my head I, too, would go off screaming in a field. It’s clear he’s angry, angry at his circumstances and angry at his limited time and angry at the distinction that lies between him and the “normals.” But why, then, does he not try to convince Kathy to run off and try to assimilate into the “normal” world? She has a car with a driver’s license and there are no clear markings on the two of them that scream “clone.” We never hear of people attempting to escape or, consequently, any repercussions of this so what do they have to lose?

Perhaps they’re both scared of the enormity of what they would be facing if they were discovered. The general population sees a clear, distasteful “otherness” towards the clones. In this way, then, Ishiguro’s novel can be seen less in a dystopian view and in a more familiar way; this could be the same reason people choose not to take the risk and immigrate to safer countries from their war-pocked homelands. There lies a fear of rejection from a group of people who are essentially the same as you but feel they possess an inherent superiority.

Kathy H. as an Unreliable Narrator

The entirety of the story told in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is told through Kathy recalling memories from her past. These memories date as far back as when Kathy and her friends were five or six years old, and at the time she is narrating, she is 31. Because of the vast amount of time that has passed between the stories Kathy is telling and when her narration takes place, and because the narration only occurs from her point of view, Kathy can be viewed as an unreliable narrator. 

 From the very beginning of the novel, Kathy acknowledges the fallible nature of her memory, writing that “[t]his was all a long time ago, so I might have some of it wrong” (13). In recounting the start of her friendship with Ruth, Kathy says “I can remember, at five or six, doing things with Hannah and with Laura, but not with Ruth” (45). Personally, I remember very little from when I was that age, and I’m only twenty years old. I’m sure my memories will continue to fade as I get older. Maybe I just have a bad memory, but I find it a bit implausible that Kathy remembers details from that long ago in her life. Or maybe Ishiguro necessitates that readers suspend their disbelief at Kathy’s ability to remember for the sake of the story. Either way, Kathy’s description of her time at Hailsham is likely partially fabricated, since it occurred so long ago. 

A secondary reason that Kathy’s narration is unreliable is because it presents the events that occurred at Hailsham, The Cottages, and beyond from only her perspective. The perspective Kathy offers on Ruth and Tommy is entirely subjective, but, because hers is the only perspective offered, it is most commonly the view adopted by the reader. There are quite a few instances in the novel in which Kathy reveals that Ruth and Tommy remember an event she is describing differently than she does, which further reveals the subjectivity of her narration. 

 Many fiction novels fall victim to unreliable narrators, and Never Let Me Go is no exception. While the presence of an unreliable narrator does not make Kathy’s story invalid, the reader should be cautious as they read, and question how the events recalled could be seen or interpreted from someone else’s point of view.

The Relatability of Fiction

While works of fiction and fantasy present fantastical characters in strange, impossible situations, readers always seem to find some relatability that makes them feel connected to the book. “Never Let Me Go”, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a novel that takes place in an entirely different universe, where clones and organ donation programs are commonplace, but still holds a lot of relatable truths. The most prominent of these truths is how people react differently to the loss of childhood. Ruth and Kathy have the starkest difference when it comes to this subject; where Kathy fully embraces Hailsham as a defining part of her life, Ruth tries to push these memories away. When Kathy brings up a story involving the rhubarb patch at Hailsham, Ruth pretends to have no memory of the story nor the consequences of walking across it. She replies to Kathy’s story, “‘Why? What was wrong with that?’” to which Kathy replies, with annoyance, “‘Ruth, don’t give me that. There’s no way you’ve forgotten. You know that route was out of bounds’” (202). Throughout the novel, Kathy clearly holds a tight connection to Hailsham and cherishes all the memories she had there. She points out to one of her donors that as she gets older and her memory fades, she never sees herself forgetting her most valued memories at Hailsham (286). In her last moments as a carer, she says, “Once I’m able to have a quieter life,  in whatever centre they send me to, I’ll have Hailsham with me, safely in my head, and that’ll be something no one can take away” (286-287). She knows that even in her final days, her childhood was her “peak” and something that she will give herself peace.

Another relatable aspect comes from this difference between Ruth and Kathy in itself: the fact that some friendships are mostly held together through similarities. After the two girls have the disagreement on the rhubarb patch, things aren’t the same between them. Kathy notices that they part without their “usual little touches on the arms and shoulders” (202), and days later decides to start training to become a carer. Even when Kathy and Ruth reunite later in life, they seem to get along the best when they’re in agreement or sharing common stories from their past.  The trip to see the boat solidifies this fact, as Ruth grows increasingly uncomfortable when Tommy and Kathy “gang up on her” in small, insignificant disagreements. While the fictional situation of carers and donors is far out of reach for readers, these relatable situations are necessary in keeping them invested in the story. Fantastical stories are fun to read, but there needs to be some applicable substance to reality to keep the story grounded and approachable.