Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Thirty-one-year-old Kathy H. unfolds
this story with her monologue-like narration. She grew up with her friends,
Ruth and Tommy as her closest ones, in a school named Hailsham, then moved to
the Cottages during their teenage years, and after the days in the Cottages,
they are required to be either a “donor,” a person who donates his/her organs
to the “normals” until the end of life, or a “carer,” a person who takes care
of donors. Even if they choose to be a carer, they still doomed to, sooner or
later, donate their vital organs to normal people, and then they will all
“complete,” or die because that’s why they are created. This genre of this
novel arguably belongs to Quasi-Sci-Fi and the time of this story sets in late
1990s. Ishiguro depicts a world developing clone technology in order to prolong
human lifespan and to achieve longevity since World War II. Therefore, clones
are made for donations, and Miss Emily founded Hailsham so as to prove the
world that clones have souls at all.
The depiction of emotional struggles in
this novel is so remarkable that readers are pulled in to ponder over and gain
spiritual growth. Along with this story line, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy
demonstrate a strong emotional bound to one another. Moreover, during their
dealing with the ordeals they have encountered throughout their lives, an
enormous sense of loss is shown. On the one hand, they exhibit a very
human-like way of interacting with others, while on the other hand, they also
illustrate an almost wholeness as a human but something is missing. The biggest
reason dividing humans and clones in this story is the way they’re reared.
Accordingly, two themes are selected: one is regarding their being deprived of
deeper education and the other is about their loss of identity. After brief
discussion of the selected themes, the focus will be on Ishiguro’s message to
this real world.
The first theme chosen is about their
being deprived of further education. Though they grew up in a school and
created artwork and poetry, they were never enlightened. They sense something
weird and sometimes question, but they never think further, or they are blocked
to do so. They were told enough to know that they are one day to donate, but
they were never told enough to understand the true meanings of donation and why
they have to donate. Therefore, since their childhood, they know their only
mission is donation. However, some might get the answer at the very end of
their lives, while others remain completely innocent when they die. Without
enlightenment, they can think on the surface instead of think critically. When
encountered with predicaments, like young children, they passively accept it,
remain gloomy for a while, or sometimes shout desperately simply trying to
drain their powerlessness out. They are not aware to change not because they
are really that impotent, but because, with every clone fulfilling their
mission, none of them think about escaping and being abnormal as their life
mission as a donor has been internalized into their mind. As a result,
education itself is a double-edged sword. It enables educated people to think
critically if they receive enough nurture of quality education. However, it
also paralyzes one’s thinking system if it only teaches talent-oriented
subjects, such as creating artwork and poetry.
Another theme is their loss of identity.
An important clue is their desire to find their own “possible,” the one who
donate genes so that they can be made. A scene describing Ruth’s outrage after
they know that the fine lady in the office is not Ruth’s possible best
exemplifies their subordinate attitude and inferiority complex.
‘I didn’t want to say when you
first told me about this. But look, it was never on. They don’t ever, ever, use people like that woman. Think
about it. Why would she want to? We all know it, so why don’t we all face it.
We’re not modeled from that sort… We all know it. We’re from trash. Junkies, prostitutes, winos,
tramps. Convicts, maybe just so long as they aren’t psychos. … If you want to
look for possibles, if you want to do it properly, then you look in the gutter.
You look in the rubbish bins. Look down the toilet, that’s where you will find
where we all came from.’
This scene can be regarded as their epiphany,
a moment when they realize that they will never be a decent person as they once
dreamed of. Since their childhood, they dreamed their own dreams. Some dreamed
to become a Hollywood actor, while others dreamed to become their ideal
profession. The fantasy that they had clung to suddenly collapsed. Their
desires are never to be fulfilled; even their eagerness to find their own
identity and the position in the world failed. They are rootless. Moreover, at
all time, they view themselves as subordinates of human beings; therefore, it
drives them to seek their identity from their possibles, even though the two
parties do not have any strings attached except for genes. In addition, when
Kathy worked as a carer, Hailsham was closed. Upon knowing this, Kathy thought
about the students who she had grown up together, now all over the country as
carers or donors. They were all separated but somehow still linked by the place
they were from. Hailsham, a place where their common memories took place, was
shut down, and nothing they’re related to will remain. All of them will
complete. All of them will leave the world without any traces. They are born
and dead without identity.
Ishiguro depicted Never Let Me Go in a slightly gloomy fashion; all the miseries leak
through the lines and shroud your heart with a thin layer of sadness instead of
striking you directly with a powerful sentimental bomb. It is remarkably
written and enchanting. Not only does it provide immense pleasure for a reader,
but, with the first person narration, it leads readers to be the one whom Kathy
talks to. In this way, the real world and the fictional world seem to merge,
and it makes readers to ponder whether in this real world exist this group of
minorities who suffer to make life of the majority more pleasant.
Based on my knowledge of this novel,
Ishiguro indeed tried to make the world think, to think what can be done and
what can’t. Throughout the whole novel, Ishiguro’s detailed depiction of
clones’ misery triggers readers’ sympathy. It is certainly not humane to treat
a life like that. Even if some argue that clones are not humans, people don’t
do that on animals. Accordingly, there must be a distinction between the
forbidden and the debatable. Some issues welcome all parties to present their
arguments, while others should remain undone because morality should never fade
and always be the priority.
In one of Ishiguro’s interview, he
pointed out that one of the most important themes in this novel is limited
lifespan. No matter clones or humans, they all live through the periods as a
child, as a teenager, and as an old man. Though the life of clones is limited
in around 30 years, they experienced discomfort as a suffering patient as well.
Ishiguro himself also assisted in shooting the adapted film and at the very end
of the movie, unlike the original novel, Kathy has a new line: “What I’m not sure about is whether our lives
have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. And
none of us really understand what we’ve lived through. Or
feel we’ve had enough time.” By reading this novel, readers gain catharsis
through the haunting predicaments of the characters, thereby understanding that
life is never long enough, not even when we try various means to prolong our
lifespan. We all spend our lifetime exploring the true meaning of life. With
the dandelion of this well-knotted plot landing in readers’ brain and mind,
Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy provide inspirations and encouragements whenever one
feel defeated. What’s more, it also invites readers to thoroughly ponder over
the true meanings of life and the distinction between what should do and what
shouldn’t.
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