Never Let Me Go by: Kazuo Ishiguro
Introduction
Up until this semester I thought I enjoyed reading everything. No one has ever asked me what I like to read or questioned me on what type of books I like to read. I have never thought about all the different genres. In the past I have read mostly what was assigned to me in school. I have done a lot of textbook readings and also a few young adult novels: The Face on the Milk Carton, Among the Hidden, and The Glass Castle. I have also read without being told to or questioned about, including Before I Fall, A Child Called “IT,” The Fifty Shades series, etc.
Being a mother and a daycare teacher I read multiple children’s books daily. I also read and write online posts on social media, but other than that I have not read a book that was not assigned to me in over a year. When I can relate to a book or really get into a book I can read for hours, once I am in the right zone, when I can forget about the current stress I am having, when I can escape reality. I blame myself for not making time for it. I used to read when I was not so stressed.
When I read now it is hard to stay focused. I am not the best reader: sometime, when I read the entire first page I forget what the first paragraph said. In order to help me get what is going in the text, I read it out loud and have actually experienced comprehending what I am reading. However, I do a lot of rereading, especially because of distractions, including moments when I encounter unfamiliar words and difficult sentences. When I read I like to enhance my vocabulary, but I do not like when I am reading a paragraph and every sentence has two words I have to look up. I do not mind looking up a word or two, but too much effort spent making sense of a text is a formula for me losing interest. I enjoy reading when I can figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words relying on surrounding words that I know already.
Everybody Dies, But Everyone Does Not Live
“None of you will go to America, none of you will be film stars. And none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard some of you planning the other day. Your lives are set out for you.”
(Never Let Me Go, Miss Lucy, 81)
Never Let Me Go, is a very interesting novel. I have never read anything like this before. To me the title Never Let Me Go led me to believe this book was going to be a romance. It Is actually a dystopian, science fiction novel about a woman named Kathy H. who discovers that she is a clone whose purpose is to provide healthy organs for people who are not clones, “the normals”. Kathy accepts her role as a clone and even becomes a “carer” for other clones who have donated organs to very ill people. Despite this bleak plan for her life, Kathy falls in love with Tommy, and Ruth was her best friend, both also clones, and even though she ultimately fulfills her role as a donor of organs to “real” human beings, she proves her humanity in the compassionate choices she makes throughout her brief life. This novel is broken down into three parts. Never Let Me Go is written from Kathy’s point of view. Kathy is also the narrator who switches back and forth from now to the past.
What does it mean to be human? I have thought about this premise over and over. What makes it right for someone to take a life? In this novel scientists clone people to harvest the clones organs to help the ill. These clones were not always in a place like Hailsham. Hailsham is a school where it was kind of like an orphanage. The children were there from babies to late teenage years. They had no parents, no families, no one but who was at hailsham, other clones and their guardians. Hailsham was created, because Madame and Miss Emily believed these children had souls. They believed this was wrong, but also wanted to try to prove these clones could mimic humans. Hailsham was eventually shut down, but they continued to clone. To stay healthy they thought this was the best way to keep the clones at Hailsham at a school. Where they were reminded of the rules of not smoking, of being as healthy as possible because they are not like the guardians they are very important.
As young adults, clones begin to donate their vital organs. All “donors” have a “carer,” that looks after them. A carer is a clone who has not started the donation process yet. Donors donate three or four organs until they “complete,” which is equal to death. Imagine being destined to be slaughtered for other peoples gain. Who was appointed the right to kill someone else? Clone or not these clones proved to have a soul. These clones proved they are worth more than just their body parts. This to me reminds me of the death penalty only these clones are innocent and have done nothing wrong, but dreamed to be something one day. These clones are Heros, they saved life after life.
If I were asked the question, “What does it mean to be human?”. My response would be a human has morals and beliefs, we communicate, and we are responsible for the world. This book to me is showing that the scientist who made these clones do not have morals. Madame and Miss Emily thought they could prove to the world that the clones have all qualities of a human through their artwork. How can someone make something with so much passion and beauty if they are not human? Being human means communicating with others, and expressing your ideas which is exactly what Kathy expressed in the entire story. Does noone question the ethics of human cloning? In what way is this moral?
The controlling idea is that the clones do not donate and are forced to harvest their organs. How does noone see this act as murder. Is this really volunteering your life when you know no other way of life? Why educate a clone if you are just going to off them no matter what? The children at Hailsham have art classes and their best art gets selected by Madame to be in the Gallery. Depending on how unique and beautiful one’s art is one will receive little tokens which they can buy things at the Sales. The Sales are basically donated toys and other things people did not want, but it was Hailshams treasures. This is where Kathy buys her cassette tape, Never Let Me Go, by Judy Bridgewater. Kathy got this tape at 11 years old, when she hears this song and she young mindedly assumes Judy Bridgewater is singing about a woman holding her baby. Kathy played this song on replay. One day Madame caught Kathy dancing slowly, and holding an imaginary baby in her arms. Kathy noticed this caused Madame to cry. The clones never had a family. Kathy always wanted a family and you can tell this in many of her different acts like when she tried making the lyrics to the song about a mother and a baby. “Oh baby, baby, never let me go” (Page 70-71, Kathy). She was only eleven and had not listened to much music, but Kathy always had the tape close so she could listen. Clones are sterile, unable to have babies.
What would have happened if they rebelled if they refused or ran away is my counter idea. Would there have been consequences. Why did the clones think this way the only way? At Hailsham the kids had a fear of crossing a certain point because of the fear older kids installed in them about how once you crossed you could never come back and you were tortured. Once they were able to go to the cottages why did they stay?
A year before the trio left Hailsham to go to the cottages, Ruth and Tommy became a couple. Which was sad, because you could tell Kathy and Tommy really liked each other. Being Kathy was so sweet and Tommy was a young and dumb Ruth, Kathy’s bestfriend seen an oppurtnuoity to not be alone and took her chance with Tommy. Miss Lucy overheard some students talking about their futures and she cut it off right away. “You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you were created to do. You’re not like the actors you watch on your videos, you’re not even like me. You were brought into this would for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided. So you’re not to talk like that any more. You’ll be leaving hailsham before long, and it’s not so far off, the day you’ll be preparing for your first donations you need to remember that. If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you.” (Never Let Me Go, Miss Lucy, Page 81)
Once the three got to the cottages they met a lot of new people from other places. They meet a couple named Rodney and Chrissie who take them on a trip to Norfolk. This is where they claim they have possibly spotted Ruth’s possible. A possible is who you are cloned from. After the five got there the truth was revealed that the couple actually brought them there, because they heard a rumor from a prior hailsham student about a deferral. This was the first time any of them have heard about a deferral. The couple thought they were lying at first. Kathy figured Rodney and Chrissie’s plan out. Ruth goes on to say they were made from the lowest trash. Which is why Kathy would look for her possible in a porn magazine. Kathy believed her urges to have sex reflected what sort of possible she came from.
Still at the cottages Kathy put her application in to be a carer after something Ruth said to her. Ruth told Kathy that even if Ruth and Tommy ever break up Kathy would never have a shot with Tommy. Ruth told Kathy that Tommy does not like girls who have slept with other people. This had to be false, because Ruth and Tommy broke up in the past due to Ruth’s cheating. This hurt Kathy that her best friend would say something like this to her and that the guy she knew was her true love was with her best friend. Ruth knew Kathy and Tommy loved each other. Ruth was jealous that Kathy and Tommy went to the store and looked for a new tape. Kathy’s favorite tape somehow went missing. Ruth kept them apart for many years. Ruth and Tommy parted ways after the cottages.
Towards the end Kathy is still a carer and she recognized Ruth in the hospital after her first donation. Kathy became Ruth’s carer. Ruth and Kathy go and find time over an hour away and the three go on a trip together to find an abandoned boat. Ruth wanted to take this trip to apologize to Tommy and Kathy for “keeping them apart”. Ruth told Kathy and Tommy, she did wrong. ““That was the worst thing I did?,” she said again. “I’m not even asking you to forgive me about that. God, I’ve said all this in my head so many times, I can’t believe I’m really doing it. It should have been you two. I’m not pretending I didn’t always see that. Of course I did, as far back as I can remember. But I kept you apart. I’m not asking you to forgive me for that. That’s not what I’m after just now. What i want is for you to put it right, Put right of what I messed up for you.”” (Page 232 Ruth) ““Kathy, listen,” Ruth said. “You and Tommy, you’ve got to try and get a deferral. If it’s you tWo, there’s got to be a chance, A real chance.””. (Page 233 Ruth) Ruth gives them Madames address and tells them to get a deferral. Ruth completed after her second donation.
Finally, Kathy and Tommy went to Madame’s house hoping their donations could be postponed. Only to find out deferrals do not exist. Madame and Miss Emily tried to explain the purpose of Hailsham. How they tried to better the lives of the clones and not have the clones to grow up with no purpose. Even though they knew it would not help them either way they were destined to die. Everyone dies, but now everyone lives. Can you truly ever live if your entire life is controlled. Madame also let Kathy know she never forgot about when she saw Kathy holding her imaginary baby. Does a not “normal” human deserve to be deprived of human rights?
My heart breaks for Kathy and Tommy although this is not a romance novel it has some juicy tales in it. Kathy and Tommy after years are finally able to be together.
This is a very sad dystopian novel. It has given me a lot to think about. Mimesis services as imitation to reality living through the narrative. Although in some books I can really relate and feel like I am in the book living it. I could not in this book it was sad and I could not place myself in this dystopian world. Even after Kathy knew the truth she wanted to serve her purpose. I believe that the person I am I would try to leave. Why does one have to die to save someone else.
I also modified this, I changed what I thought was most important through the entire book and not just a small section.
Work Cited
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
https://www.humansandnature.org/what-does-it-mean-to-be-human-what-it-means-to-be-uniquely-human
http://howwritersread.weebly.com/mckee.html
Never Let Me Go Blogs and Comments
Blog 1: A Relevant Read
By: Destiny
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is nothing less than a thought-provoking read that discusses systemic barriers and the people who are oppressed by them. While reading the novel I was completely submissive to this discussion. It was intriguing to have a discussion about systemic racism and classism without mentioning contemporary forms of oppression. Within this novel racism is sourced through genetic characteristics rather than physical traits. I found that this depiction challenged my own understanding of systematic barriers.
In many ways, our group read this novel at the best and at the worst time. We are in the middle of a racial revolution where minorities are fighting for their right to simply live without fear within our society. We’re keenly aware of racism because of the events that occur within our society. However, it was important to be aware of the perils of reading the novel in order to confirm our own educational bias.
Together, we took on the challenge of trying to pinpoint the premise of the novel. We were interested in the notion that the clones were made so their counterparts would be able to live forever. We came up with the premise, “What would happen if people were cloned to be organ donors so other people could live forever?”. However, this premise still felt wildly flawed. I realized that the reason why was because it was unfair to the clones. There’s a difference between someone who knows from the start what their purpose is and someone who is told this is acceptable by society. So I added the word “unknowingly” because I thought that not knowing the circumstances surrounding your existence was important. Thus our premise became, “What would happen if people were cloned to be organ donors so other people could live forever?”,
Satisfied, our group moved onto the controlling idea and the counter idea. When writing the controlling value I wanted to acknowledge the anarchy that was brewing between our leading characters Kathy and Tommy. According to Mckee, the controlling value is something that “may be expressed in a single sentence describing how and why life undergoes change from one condition of existence at the beginning to another at the end” (115). I realized that the controlling idea had to showcase not only the injustice of Kathy’s society but also the choices that she makes in response to this dark injustice. My group decided on, “When you take a human right away from someone you give them no choice but to rebel.”. Within the novel, Kathy is outwardly submissive to the powers that be however, she naturally diverges from the status quo in order to achieve a sense of humanness.
Ally: Hi Destiny! Your blog was phenomenal and did an outstanding job explaining the underlying themes of the novel as well as how those themes are relevant in our society today. I loved the quote that you pulled out— “There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.” (Kazuo Ishiguro).— and how you connected it to those in our society who are minorities and experience life differently than others. After reading your blog, I found that it actually challenged my own understanding of systematic barriers as well, as I had not made as significant connection while first reading the book as much as I did after reading your take. Great job!
Heather: This is a really good blog! I really like the connection you made from the book to our society now. It was definitely thought provoking for me, and I have to say that it makes sense. In the novel, the minorities were the clones, and it seemed normal for them to be treated poorly, and sadly they didn’t know. Even when Kathy found out, she just seemed to accept it. In our own society, people fight to make sure that we are all equal, so it was interesting to me that this novel was so accepting. Great job on this blog!
Rachel: This blog was fascinating! I think it was a great opener to the blogs to come for this novel! I think you did a great job at explaining the premise. It is very interesting how you explained “unknowingly” because you are right. The clones just donate organs to the other people without knowing the real truth. I found it interesting how you related it to what is going on currently in our society. I love that you mentioned the black lives marches, it honestly really challenged my thinking! I saw this in a way I hadn’t before. I was so impressed with that part. I do wish you added more about it. You did bring it up in the end again which was good. I just wish there was a bit more about the novels connection to the black lives march. Besides that, I think this was amazing!
Blog 2: The Enigma of Hailsham
By: Ally
I’ve never been one to necessarily even glance at the science-fiction section of a bookstore, yet Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian science-fiction, Never Let Me Go, more than less left me in awe after reading. Ishiguro’s novel takes place in England during the late 1990’s and tells the story of a parallel universe in which there are “clones” created to live short, healthy lives for the purpose of donating their vital organs to keep ordinary citizens alive. These clones are put into a school where they essentially grow up away from the outside world. Their world isn’t much different than others, and fairly mimics a typical boarding school— there’s sports, arts, general academics; the student’s experience friendship, love, sex, etc. The dystopia mimics our life so closely, it’s hard to distinguish where things differ for some time in the novel.
From the first page of the novel, the language used was different and sent myself into a spiral of questions. In the first chapter we’re introduced to our narrator Kathy, who is a woman in her thirties and describes herself as a carer. A carer? I assumed a caretaker— possibly for the elderly. Shortly after we’re introduced to new vocabulary; Kathy mentions the donors she cares for— this answered my question— in a sense, at least. As I was reading the text and noticing myself asking question after question, I thought of the codes explored in Silverman’s, Re-Writing the Classic Text. I found myself naturally exploring the hermeneutic code while reading Ishiguro’s novel. In the introduction of the codes in this text, Silverman first describes the hermeneutic code as, “entrusted with the responsibility of articulating and resolving enigmas.” The hermeneutic code essentially creates mystery in a text and initiates the reader to question their reading. This novel, described as a dystopian science-fiction novel, is established with complexities of an unknown society to the reader in which it becomes revealed to us in time.
The story is divided into three parts. Part one begins with Kathy reminiscing about her childhood at her boarding school, Hailsham. I remember the first few mentions of Hailsham originally confused me, again, since the language and vocabulary is still a mystery to the reader. Kathy talks of the donors she’d care for whom she knew from Hailsham— she described growing up there and I was under the impression that this was a hometown of some sort. Per the hermeneutic code, this small enigma is resolved and revealed to be the boarding school that those who were “special,” meaning clones, were sent to live their lives in preparation for becoming donors. Kathy grew up with her two friends, Ruth and Tommy, at Hailsham. Coincidentally, Kathy becomes a carer to both of her friends in their later years, and is recalling their childhood memories after the fact.
This story is told rather nonchalantly and with little attention to the cruelness of the world they live in. It’s almost unnerving to read such dialogue in relation to a world that is generally rather gruesome. The most disturbing euphemism I found in this novel was this term used in their society among carers and donors called “completion.” As children, such as the perspective we read in part one, the clones are shielded from their fate as donors and are not told much about this process and “completion.” One “guardian,” or teacher, at Hailsham did at one point reveal a glimpse of their future to the students. She had just overheard some young students talking about their dreams for the future— becoming actors! Kathy watched her struggle to bite her tongue, as she saw in the past, but she could no longer keep such a secret from the children regarding their lives— she said, “You’ve been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way. But I’m not. If you’re going to have decent lives, then you’ve’ got to know and know properly. None of you will go to America, none of you will be film stars. And none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard some of you planning the other day. Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you was created to do. You’re not like the actors you watch on your videos, you’re not even like me. You were brought into this world for a purpose, and you’re futures, all of them, have been decided. So you’re not to talk that way any more. You’ll be leaving Hailsham before long, and it’s not so far off, the day you’ll be preparing for your first donations. You need to remember that. If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you” (Ishiguro 64-65). This was when the students were first really told about their reality. In part two of the narrative, Kathy reminisces about the time of her life living in the cottages, which were a transitional type of housing for clones. During this time of her life, she and her friends learned the most about the process of their future as well as the real world. It’s during this time they learn that to “complete” as a donor is a euphemism for their death— they typically “complete” after their third or fourth donation. This realization is especially tragic at this point of their lives as they explore their wants and dreams for themselves and their future.
The third part of the novel brings us back to Kathy’s days as a carer. Kathy became a carer for her old friend from Hailsham, Ruth, during her donation process. During this time Kathy and Ruth decide to reunite their old friend group and pick up Tommy, who is in care after a donation of his, and they visit a beach nearby his recovery center. The three of them reminisce and share a rather tragic, but wholesome, night before Ruth “completes” as well as Tommy will shortly after. The story, in my eyes, was unfortunately a hopeless one. The clones were destined to kill themselves for others— the loss was inevitable.
“I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it’s just too much. The current’s too strong. They’ve got to let go, drift apart. That’s how it is with us. It’s a shame, Kath, because we’ve loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can’t stay together forever.”
Never Let Me Go is a story filled with enigmas. There is secrecy and distrust in this frightening world which uses clones of ordinary citizens for their vital organs to prolong lives in the outside world. These clones are as humane as they get; they experience love, friendship, and everything in between. Their fate is a tragedy, but Ishiguro keeps us on our toes with each page turn as we learn more and more about the lives within this world.
Heather: Ally, you wrote this blog extremely well! You asked all the same questions I had thought, discussing the different language and how we didn’t really get answers until later on in the text. The hermeneutic code was a good choice to explore, because this book definitely had lots of mystery throughout. I really liked how you broke up the blog into three sections, referencing how the novel was separated into three parts of Kathy’s life. This was a good idea because then you can easily talk about each part without getting the reader confused about what part of Kathy’s life you were referencing to. Your ending paragraph was also really well-written and correct. The author definitely kept me interested. Great job!
Ally, this blog was written great! I think this is a perfect representation of what Blog 2 should look like. I really like how you explained how the novel is basically broken up into three parts, because that was my thought as well. I think that explaining that the novel is broken up into three parts further emphasizes the hermeneutic code. The hermeneutic code is all about the mystery and such, which this novel has a lot of.Each part has a different way of explaining the hermeneutic code, as each section has different mysteries to it. I think you did an amazing job at explaining how the hermeneutic code is expressed in this novel, as the whole novel revolves around unanswered questions.
Me: This blog was written very well. I now know what enigma means. This book is definitely full of surprises. I myself had many questions to ask once I started reading this book. With the real life activity it is very hard to distinguish between what is real and what is not. One of the biggest parts that pop out at me from this book is exactly what you added in your blog about what one of the guardians said! She said, “You’ve been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way. But I’m not. If you’re going to have decent lives, then you’ve’ got to know and know properly. None of you will go to America, none of you will be film stars. And none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard some of you planning the other day. Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you was created to do. You’re not like the actors you watch on your videos, you’re not even like me. You were brought into this world for a purpose, and you’re futures, all of them, have been decided. So you’re not to talk that way any more. You’ll be leaving Hailsham before long, and it’s not so far off, the day you’ll be preparing for your first donations. You need to remember that. If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you” (Ishiguro 64-65). I feel like the kids put that on the back burner and kind of forgot about it for a while.
Blog 3: The Value of Life
By: Heather
At the beginning of this book, I had no idea what I was to expect. Never Let Me Go doesn’t really give any hint to what the plot is going to be about, and honestly I didn’t really start putting the pieces together until about a third of the way in. The very first page, Kathy talked about things that didn’t really have a context, almost as if she assumed her audience knew what she meant. Words like “carer” and “donor” had no meaning to me, so I could only assume “carer” was a type of job, and “donor” was someone who donated something important, like blood, where it could be multiple times throughout their life.
Science fiction isn’t my type of reading, but high school had forced me to read many science fiction novels, dystopian and utopian being the popular sub-genres. Until I got to the second third of the book, I realized that Kathy was sharing her exact experience, and that what I didn’t understand, she didn’t understand at the beginning either.
When I realized that the students were cloned from real people, with no purpose in life but to donate all of their organs, ultimately leading in their deaths at a young age, I immediately thought of another book series, Unwind, by Neal Shusterman. It has a very similar idea, except the children are real children, but their parents can decide at any time before their child turns 18, that they can send them to camp to be “unwound”. The series is a fight for the value of human life, because harvesting your child seems to be known as a post-birth abortion. In Unwind’s society, the children aren’t valued until they turn 18, when they become adults, but in the society of Never Let Me Go, the children are never valued, and even when they become adults, they are able to leave the “school” they lived at, only to go to another place with their peers, before training for a bit, and then becoming carers and donors.
In the last part of the book, Kathy finally finds out the truth to her upbringing, why they were at a school with guardians, why they were pushed to create art. Based off of the Morningdale scandal, where James Morningdale of Scotland worked to prove that cloned children had souls, Hailsham housed cloned children, made sure they were fed, taken care of, and taught to provide art pieces. When Kathy and Tommy visit Madame, she reveals it was all because the regular people looked down on the clones, that they were only used for their organs, and there was no need to treat them well because they would die eventually. But Madame and the other guardians believed those children had souls, and used their artwork to show their followers that they weren’t just soulless clones. I think that seems like a better life for a child, clone or not.
“‘But what I don’t understand,’ I said, ‘is why people would want students treated so badly in the first place’” (Ishiguro, 262). This question is so innocent. Why would anyone want anyone else treated badly? Humans can be selfish creatures. Why do we allow poverty, homelessness, etc. in our own society today? People are seen as different, and not their problem to take care of. In the book, it was strange to society that Hailsham treated the students well, until eventually the school got shut down. The clones were seen as lesser than people, with the sole purpose to provide organs to the normal people. They could only work as carers to take care of the donors, before becoming donors themselves. In Unwind, why are the children seen as lesser than adults? If the adults had their baby, and it started growing up and turning into a person the adult didn’t like, they could just get rid of their child.
In a perfect world, no one would be treated poorly. But there will always be a group that is seen as lesser, to provide power to another group. Similar to historical events, such as Hitler and the Holocaust, where Jewish people were considered “lesser than” and those with blond hair and blue eyes were considered “perfect”. Hitler needed to feel powerful, and in order to do that, he needed a group of people to blame his problems on, causing his followers to agree with him, putting the whole group down, and leading to genocide. Today, in the media, there is the war on police brutality, where some police officers will abuse their power to put down a suspect, sometimes resulting in their deaths. Even though every society will have that power-hungry group and group seen as the weaker group, there will always be a group of people, small or big, who will see equality in the weaker group. Kathy and the other clones had Madame to believe in them. In Unwind, the Bill of Life was signed and ended the Second civil war, protecting a child’s and teenager’s choice to live. In the end, Kathy and her peers ended up “completed”, but there were still people fighting for their rights to be treated fairly.
Ally- Hey Heather! I loved the connection you made between Never Let Me Go and the novel Unwind— we had briefly discussed this connection during class and you paralleled the two exceptionally. Unwind was a common book read in school so it automatically stood out since the two novels are so similar. You also did a great job summarizing what needed to be summarized for a better understanding the books and their relatability. Great job!
Rachel- Heather, amazing job with this blog! I had never read the book Unwind, but I do think you did a great job at explaining it to those who had never heard of it. Now that you described it, I am actually interested in reading it. I wonder if Unwind revolves around the hermeneutic code as Never Let Me Go does. That could be something you could add in. It could be a good way of connecting this blog to the one before it. Maybe explaining the hermeneutic code of Unwind could add more as to why Unwind is similar to Never Let Me Go. Anyways, amazing job with this blog. I really enjoyed it!
Me: I think you did a very good job on this blog. Never Let Me Go was a weird read! High School was also the only time I engaged in reading science fiction and dystopian novels. This book is very sad I had no idea it was going to end up like this. When I chose this book I thought it might have been a Romance by the title, Never Let Me Go. Imagine your life having no purpose, but for one to harvest your organs. It was said to see that in the end Kathy and her friends ended up, “completed”.
Blog 4: Challenging the Inevitable
By: Rachel
When I was younger I loved to read. I loved The Hunger Games series and other stories in that genre. Essentially, I have a love for dystopian fiction and science fiction novels. They always piqued my interest. Even in high school my favorite book we read was George Orwell’s 1984, which is a fabulous dystopian society novel. Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go has shown to be no exception to my love of dystopian society fiction! As I started reading it I had a strong feeling that I would find it very interesting, and I was right. This novel was great to dissect, but it definitely was a bit of a challenge.
I felt that this novel was a bit of a challenge to read when I first began. Up until about a third of the way through the story, it seemed to be just a bunch of events happening. It felt as though it was just events going on that Kathy, the main character, was describing about her childhood. As you kept reading, the story began to connect and make sense. I became curious about the audience of the reader that Ishiguro was aiming for. To find out, I went to Peter Rabinowitz’s text Truth in Fiction to learn more about this. Rabinowitz describes the three basic audiences of a reading.
The first audience he describes is the actual audience. He described this as the “real” audience, “This consists of the flesh-and-blood who read the book,” (Rabinowitz 126). Essentially we are the actual audience. We are physically reading the book. These are the people who are real and actually reading the book. It is not a metaphorical audience, it is a physical audience.
The next audience he describes is the authorial audience. This is more hypothetical as Rabinowitz describes, “Second, the author of a novel designs his work rhetorically for a specific hypothetical audience,” (Rabinowitz 126). This reader is who the author intended the reading to be for. There is always a specific audience in mind when writing a book or writing anything. The authorial audience is the audience that the author had in mind for reading the book. I believe Ishiguro intended the authorial audience to be those who like to discover dystopian societies and hope they can be fixed. The reason people love to read The Hunger Games is because they want to see Katniss rebel and stand up against the capitol. This difference in this book is that the society is not fixed. The inevitable in the story is that all the clones are set up and raised to die to help save the other people. The end of the story is different because there is no positive ending. They just accept the inevitable.
In the end of the story, Kathy ends up sort of just accepting her fate. Her and Tommy found out more of the truth about what the teachers of Hailsham were trying to do, but then sort of just accepted it and Tommy died. He lets go and he dies after many donations. I began to question, why? Most novels like this tend to have a bit of a realization and try to change things. Why is this one different? In this one, the characters just accept the inevitable and do not even try changing things. The clones still are raised to die. They live so the others can live long happy lives. The last line of the novel just further proves the acceptance, “I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be,” (Ishiguro 288). This is the last line of the book. The fact that Kathy literally just drives away and accepts the fate of the clones. Ishiguro was truly challenging his readers with this text. His authorial audience seemed to be those who enjoy to read about dystopian societies and see the rebellion. The difference is that he gives his readers a bit of a surprise as the readers never get the rebellion they believe would come at the end.
As you read the end of the book, you wonder what happens next? My thoughts when I finished reading were what would become of the characters. I wonder if there ever was something that changed things. Readers want to feel a sense of conclusion when the novel closes. They want to feel as though nothing else needs to happen. With this novel, I still wonder what happens. I am curious if people ever treated clones as normal people and stopped raising them to die. I wonder who it was that did not accept the inevitable. Who challenged this inevitable and stood up to say they will not accept this fate. I found Ishiguro’s writing tactics to be quite impressive. He leaves the readers knowing that Kathy accepted this fate as she continued to drive to where she should be. He left them wondering. The author wants to give the readers a reason to keep thinking about a story. I think that Ishiguro’s plan for his authorial readers was to make them feel challenged as the characters accepted their inevitable fate rather than fight it.
Heather: Rachel, this is so well written! You dive right into discussing the audience from the beginning, referencing Rabinowitz’s text.I definitely agree that the text was a bit confusing, maybe you can include a quote or two from the novel and from Rabinowitz to directly connect it together. I really liked how you also referenced the Hunger Games and how there are similarities between the two societies and differences in how the people react. At the end of your blog, you also posed some really great questions for the reader. This novel did seem to be different from others, because the main character accepts her fate and “completes”, whereas most main characters in other books would fight to change their fate. Great job with this blog!
Me: Challenging the Inevitable was a perfect title. This was definitely an interesting read with a challenge. The inevitable in this story was all clones are made to die. I had a lot of questions still after reading this book also. Kathy accepted her fate and drove off to die. I am unsure if she drove off, because she felt like she had nothing else left to lose with her friends already gone. Did Kathy really believe that her only purpose was to be a clone and donate her life? In Never Let Me Go, who will not accept fate?
A Little Bookish 