The End

"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 leg go, drift apart. That's how I think 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." pg 282

The ending of this book is really sad. Kathy loses both of her closest friends and she herself becomes a donor. Overall, this book had the ongoing theme of the importance of the past and how hard it can be to let go. Tommy's quote above conveys the entirety of really any relationship between the students at Hailsham. They all try to hold onto their past, but in the end, they cannot keep that grasp forever, because science tears it apart. Ishiguro is telling us that the past has a powerful place in all of our lives--it makes us into who we are today. But, sometimes, we need to let go of past things, whether good or bad, because everything comes to an end at some point.

As this is my second time reading this book, I still liked it. In comparison to Brave New World, I would say that Never Let Me Go was a way less extreme version of the utopia. Both of the books had depressing endings though, that dealt with death. Though the novels were very different, they shared the same message: Science has the ability to control a human being's life, so it should be monitored carefully.

Revelations

"We took away your art because we thought it would reveal you souls. Or to put it more freely, we did it to prove you had souls at all." pg 260

Chapter twenty-two is just full of revelations to the reader. First of all, we know for sure that deferrals do not exist. They were simply just a rumor that Hailsham students made up somewhere along the line, because it gave them hope. Secondly, the Gallery and artwork was emphasized at Hailsham because it proved the students had souls (above quote). The people outside of Hailsham believed that the children there had no souls, because they were clones raised to donate organs, and Madame and Miss Emily worked to prove them wrong by creating the Gallery.

We also learn that Hailsham closed because of James Morningdale, a man who tried to create an entire generation of genetically engineered children (sounds a lot like Brave New World...)--which was a little too far for the public to accept. Also, Miss Lucy left because her views were too different from the other guardians- she wanted to let the children know everything while the other guardians wanted them to be sheltered. And finally, Madame said she cried when seeing Kathy dancing to "Never Let Me Go" because she imagined a young girl holding onto the world, never wanting to let it go.

This entire chapter would be considered the falling action in the story because everything is revealed to the reader, and most of the mysteries from early on are solved. Everything falls into place, even if it's not the way that Tommy and Kathy expected it would.

Time To Go

"Okay," I said. Then I stood up and stretched out my arms. "Maybe we'll take more. Fifteen, twenty even. Yeah we'll go see her. What can she do to us? We'll go and talk to her." pg 245

Kathy and Tommy are finally seeking Madame for some answers to the questions they've been theorizing over the entire novel. I know I've read this book before, but I've forgotten every detail, so this part is still suspenseful for me. Ishiguro creates suspense by creating mysteries early on in the book--such as the Gallery, artwork, and concept of deferrals. The reader waits the entire book until Kathy and Tommy leave to find the answers they've been searching for for so long. A few clues are placed along the way, but not very many. Then in the last chapters, everything will be explained! The ending of this book will be pretty similar to A Brave New World, because they both explain the reasoning behind the science experiments occurring.

So right now, I've just finished chapter twenty-one, when Kathy and Tommy have entered Madame's house and spoken briefly with her. Nothing is for certain yet, but Madame is treating Kathy and Tommy like they are a bit nuts. Madame's attitude foreshadows that Kathy and Tommy may be in a for a bit of a surprise.

Apologies

"The main thing is, I kept you and Tommy apart." Her voice had dropped again, almost to a whisper. "That was the worst thing I did." pg 232

Ruth finally apologizes for all her past actions, but one in particular: keeping Kathy and Tommy apart. It's about time!! She decides to admit her wrongdoings mainly because she is close to 'completing.' I'm glad she tells the truth, because it shows Ruth isn't totally evil. She does care about other people, she just seems to have a hard time of showing it. And so since she cannot ever life the life she dreamed of (working in a office, or anything beyond that), she convinces Kathy to be Tommy's carer, so they can later get a deferral...maybe.

Even though I was not really a fan of Ruth, it was still very sad when she died. She had to face an inevitable fate, like all the other students at Hailsham, but it seemed to be especially hard for her. I'm glad she finally came to terms with her past actions, and said sorry though. I'm sure neither Tommy or Kathy will forget Ruth, because in a way, she has brought them together, because she convinced them to finally be with one another.

The End of an Era

"I thought about Hailsham closing, and how it was like someone coming along with a pair of shears and snipping the balloon strings just where they entwined above the man's fist." pg 213

Ishiguro makes a really good comparison of Hailsham closing to letting balloons go. When you let a group of balloons go, they all separate and go different ways, just like Hailsham students will grow apart because their connections to the school have been broken since it has closed. I want to know why Hailsham closed. Ishiguro does not really make it clear as to why the school closed. Was it the guardians? the students? Did they realize that forcing organ donation upon people was cruel? Maybe it's not important.

At the end of chapter eighteen, Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth all plan a get together. This should be interesting, since the three of them have not been together since their Cottage days. I'm sure things have changed between the three of them. No matter what, they are all still linked by Hailsham, even if it has closed.

Closing Time- Semisonic

It relates

Moving On

"What you've got to understand, though, is that he thinks the world of you. He really does." pg 201

Ruth definitely just gave Kathy approval of her dating Tommy. But unfortunately, Kathy totally ignores Ruth's request, and leaves the Cottages without a proper goodbye to either Ruth or Tommy.

While talking outside of the Cottages, Ruth makes Kathy mad by once again 'forgetting' one of Kathy's Hailsham references to the rhubarb patch. This conversation shows how differently the two regard their past. Ruth wants to forget most of the Hailsham things--which is most likely why she believes Tommy's drawings for the Gallery theory are ridiculous and foolish. Kathy, on the other hand, constantly reminisces about Hailsham, and brings up references to it quite often. I don't really understand why Ruth is wanting to forget Hailsham--she must remember the things Kathy brings up, but she refuses to acknowledge what Kathy is talking about. Why does she want to forget all of it so much? When Kathy talks about the more recent times, it appears they discussed Hailsham thorougly at hospitals. So why the change in attitude? The Cottages have really messed with Ruth's mind or something.

I imagine the scene of
 Kathy leaving to look like this,
only the girl is the one walking away

I think that Ruth's insistence to let the past go triggers Kathy to sign up to be a carer. When Ruth said, "Why does it matter anyway? What's the rhubarb patch got to do with anything? Just get on with what you were saying," Kathy realized that things had changed between them. She wants to get away from the Cottages, and move on to the real world, even if it's without her Hailsham friends.

Now onto the final part of the book!

Motivation

"He'd then persuaded Keffers to give him one of the little balck notebooks he scribbled his figures in, and since then, Tommy had finished at least a dozen of his fantastic creatures." pg 178

Tommy has a lot of theories. He's still very interested in all the mysteries at Hailsham, and this quote proves that he hasn't forgotten about the art Gallery. Tommy's motivation for drawing pictures is the deferral, I believe. Tommy thinks that the deferral and art are linked--Somehow the art reveals your soul and who you are inside, which gives you a better chance of getting a deferral or something like that. What I don't understand is how Tommy thinks he is going to submit his artwork. It is not like Madame comes to the Cottages to collect things for the Gallery. Those days are over. So I don't really understand Tommy's logic completely.

I almost cannot believe that Tommy is still so concerned and obsessed with the Gallery idea. I mean, does it really matter anymore? I'm pretty sure now that they are at the Cottages, their time with Hailsham is officially over. Yet Tommy does not let it go, he still has theories, and he wants the mysteries to be solved. I guess this reflects the title Never Let Me Go, because these teens have a hard time letting anything go. I can't really blame him though I guess, I'd be confused if I were him too..

Sigh, at this point in the book, all I really want is for Tommy and Kathy to be together. I am pretty sure chapter 15 just screams that they are meant for each other.

It's Not Possible

"She had on a half-smile, the sort a mother might have in an ordinary family, weighing things up while the children jumped and screamed around her asking her to say, yes, they could do whatever." pg 159

This quote just about sums up Ruth's mood in chapter fourteen. Basically, she is not happy with the current situation, but she doesn't exactly show it. The analogy ^ accurately conveys the situation to us. Ruth gives the impression to Chrissie, Rodney, Kathy, and Tommy that the situation is fine, but deep down a thousand thoughts are running through her mind--like a mother caught in between her thoughts and her children nagging at her to allow them to play something.

In reality, after discovering her possible is anything but similar to her, she feels foolishly mistaken. Since things turned out opposite of what she expected, she got mad and started talking 'rubbish.' She claimed that they were all just "modelled from trash." I think that reasoning may be a bit extreme. I don't think they would model organ donators out of complete rubbish--Just saying. Well, mainly this chapter reveals more about Ruth's character. I think she acts this way because she is honestly just bitter about her life. Being an organ donator seems to be the last thing she wants to do with her life.

The Privileged

"What they were saying was that some Hailsham students in the past, in special circumstances, had managed to get a deferral. That this was something you could do if you were a Hailsham student." pg 153

This deferral business can only lead to more problems. Now that this idea is revealed to Ruth, it's only a matter of time before she acts upon it. I find the prospect of a deferral is interesting...Why is it only Hailsham that is [maybe] allowing this to occur?  What makes Hailsham so special? Ishiguro mentions that Chrissie often questions the teens from Hailsham about their time there--Is this why? Because she is trying to dig deeper into the deferral and reasoning behind it?

Also, this makes me wonder what other 'organ donator' schools besides Hailsham are like. Are they similar to Hailsham? Do they have guardians? Are the rules as strict? Are the rules less strict? How many of these 'organ donor' boarding schools exist? Do the other boarding schools go more in depth about the organ donations, or are they vague like Hailsham?

I know the truth behind the deferrals actually, since I've read the book before. All I'm going to say is that they are a scam. And no one ever talked about them at Hailsham, so Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are just wasting their time contemplating the idea. That is all.

Possibles

"Since each of us was copied at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life. This meant, in theory, you'd be able to find the person you were modelled from." pg 139

Ishiguro only seems to hint about how exactly these students were created. He reveals that all the students were apparently modelled after someone else, similar to a clone. It must be an advanced world in the England in the 1990s if cloning is going on...

Anyway, it makes sense that the teens at the Cottages contemplate who they are modelled from. If they can seek out their 'possible,' then it gives them a sort of connection to their past life, and possibly can give them a, "glimpse of your future" according to Kathy. Ruth's possible, who works at an office according to the veteran couple, shows us how much the teens long to live a normal life. Ruth goes on about how exciting it would be to work in a nice, clean and organized office. Ishiguro may be trying to make a point here. We should not take our lives for granted--we have so many great things ahead of us, while these teens have one path: organ donation. We have the chance to be a doctor, lawyer, police officer, singer, or anything that we set our mind to. But it's not like that for these teens, and it seems as they grow older they grasp this concept more and more. Ruth wants to see her possible so bad, because she wants to have a glimpse of what could be, how her life may have been if she wasn't a Hailsham student. Ruth wants to know some meaning behind her life, so she doesn't give up on the idea of seeking her possible.

Crazy Ruth

"In those first months at the Cottages, our friendship had stayed intact because, on my side at least, I'd had this notion there were two quite separate Ruths." pg 129

So, chapter eleven was interesting. I'm finding it a bit difficult to find something to blog about, because a large portion of the chapter was centered around porn--and I cannot exactly decide why it was significant, so I will talk about Ruth's character.

I would have to agree with Kathy, that there were 'two quite separate Ruths.' Ruth can be very two-faced and I've seen this all throughout the novel so far. I think Ruth does have this notion that she's better than everyone else. She's the one with the relationship with Tommy, the approval of the veterans, the one everyone seems to turn to for advice, even Kathy herself. Part of me thinks that Ruth is only dating Tommy, to just be dating someone. It's like a status symbol--if you're dating someone, people sometimes look up to you differently. And this makes me frustrated. Ruth cares too much about what other people think. Why does she so desperately crave the veterans approval? I don't understand it. Also, I'd rather have Kathy and Tommy together because they actually understand each other, and they're always talking and collaborating about ideas and Hailsham things. Though Ruth is Kathy's 'best friend,' sometimes I wish she would just go away, and let Kathy and Tommy finally be together.

Letting Go Is Hard To Do

"Because maybe, in a way, we didn't leave it behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and-no matter how much we despised ourselves for it-unable quite to let each other go." pg 120


I really like this quote. So far, I think it sums up the entire relationship of all the Hailsham students. They all secretly fear the future, and through their times together, they realize they are unable to cope without each other and just let go of that part of their life. I've noticed Kathy especially can't seem to "let go" of her past. This makes Ruth really mad, because Kathy never stops reminiscing about Hailsham. On the other hand, Ruth just wants her to move on, and live a separate life at the Cottages, because things are different there.


I am convinced that Kathy is a complicated character, so I am going to say she is a dynamic character. Or maybe the people she is close to are complicated. Maybe it's all of them. (Tommy included) But anyway, her relationship with Ruth is happy one minute, but then the next, they release all their pent up anger. Anywho, I enjoyed the analogy of the chess move/Ruth's temper. The comparison was that making a bad move in chess will soon lead to  disaster, just like Kathy accidentally saying something she didn't exactly mean to ended up in more anger/disaster from Ruth. At this point, I find Ruth and Kathy's arguments kinda immature. I find it a bit ironic that Ruth is telling Kathy to grow up, when Ruth is in fact the one still holding grudges over little things that Kathy points out to her. I guess after growing up with her for 16+ years, things get a bit tense between the two.

But What Does It Mean?

"'Listen, Tommy, your art, it is important. And not just because it's evidence. But for your own sake. You'll get a lot from it, just for yourself." pg 108

Though I have read this book before, I can honestly say I have forgotten the meaning behind the student's artwork. So, what is Miss Lucy saying? Why did she insist that Tommy should forget about trying to be good at art, but then turn around and decide that art was suddenly extremely important?  Though Miss Lucy is one of the few characters I like in the book, she just does not make sense sometimes. I'm now eager to get to the end of this book, because I know that's where all the answers are...(Maybe this will serve as motivation for me to get these blogs done faster..)

Also, Miss Lucy's disappearance at the end of part one is questionable. I'm pretty sure she fled because she could not take stand to watch the children go through their lives only to be used later for organ donations. I wouldn't doubt that it would be hard to watch innocent, good students have to give up their life for the sake of science. Poor kids. The only upside to this situation is that the students have the option to be a carer, though that doesn't always last long. Donation is sad concept really, because it benefits one person, while the other is left usually lifeless or fatally ill. (Unless it's like a kidney) But you cannot really save a life without losing one first in this situation. It's a hard life for organ donators.

One Big Happy Family

"When I found myself alone, I'd stop and look for a view...any view so long as there were no people in it. I did this so that I could, for a few seconds at least, create the illusion the place wasn't crawling with students, but that instead Hailsham was this quiet, tranquil house where I lived with just five or six others." pg 90

To escape Hailsham's confines, the students often seem to turn to fantasy type thoughts. Ruth made her 'secret guard' fantasy world, and Kathy in the above quote explains she too often imagined being somewhere else. Deep down, it looks like the kids just want to lead a normal childhood with a family. At this point, these children have no connections with their family or parents, if they even have one. Now that I think about it...Do these children even have parents? I never really thought about it before. I mean they must, right...? In A Brave New World they didn't because they were all genetically engineered, but Never Let Me Go doesn't seem to explain so in depth regarding their infant life. Interesting...

Even though the students don't have connections to their early life, they are still one big family at Hailsham.  The guardians are like the parents, and the students like the children in a way. Even though they don't have blood brothers and sisters surrounding them, they have great friends that support them throughout their time at Hailsham.  And Kathy often mentions Ruth and Tommy in her 'present' dialogue, so it shows that even through all the donations, and growing up, the kids all remain together...kinda like a family. They are always there for each other.  :)

The Truth Comes Out

"You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided." pg. 81

It's really no surprise that Miss Lucy is the one to break the news to the children that they are raised for organ donations, because it's just the way her character is. She often worries about the children because they do not seem to grasp that their lives are not normal, so she wants to warn the naive students of what is to come.

Also in this chapter, Ishiguro discusses the issues of Tommy's elbow and organ donations:
"Don't you know? If it's right on the elbow like that, it can unzip."
"The idea was that when the time came, you'd be able just to unzip a bit of yourself, a kidney or something would slide out, and you'd hand it over."

The unzipping gives an image of something being opened rather simply, without much effort. Kinda odd, but the zipping is like a euphemism. Instead of saying, cutting us open, they say unzipping. This word "unzipping" shows us the student's fear at this point. They are afraid to discuss the actual donations outright with everyone, so when they do, they joke about it to cover up their true feelings about what it is to come. It's much easier to talk about giving organs when it sounds as quick and easy as zipping a zipper.

Music

"What made the tape so special for me was this one particular song: track number three, 'Never Let Me Go.''' pg 70

The Judy Bridgewater tape seems to be a symbol for something else in the novel, possibly Kathy's childhood, since it triggers many memories. It particularly reminds Kathy of the scene with Madame, crying at the sight of her in the room, most likely because it was tragic that she cannot have children (as Tommy concludes). It appears to be a symbol of friendship as well  because Ruth was able to make up with Kathy over the lost tape incident. The tape also displays Kathy's childhood as it is in present times: Her childhood is gone like the tape, but the memories of both still remain in her mind. This chapter has a very emotional tone, because it makes us feel sorry for many of the students at Hailsham. The women are not allowed to bear children, and many of them are beginning to realize that their time to donate is going to come, because the guardians warn them of the dangers of smoking. Also, it seems that all the kids have pretty close relationships. At the end of chapter six, Kathy says, "now [that] Ruth has gone, it's become one of my most precious possessions." Kathy and Ruth, despite their constant altercations, will remain friends for a long time, until the death of Ruth. Also, Kathy just told us that Ruth dies, which is pretty depressing, usually books do not reveal that until the end!

Here's the song..It's not bad actually

Drama

"All this effort, all this planning, just to upset my dearest friend. So what if she'd fibbed a little about her pencil case? pg 60

Ruth and Kathy have girl drama all throughout chapters four and five. They fight over things like pencil cases and fantasy roleplaying, and they take a long time to get over their actions. Ruth is a frustrating character. She's the girl that everyone looks up to for advice and answers, and because of that she can be kind of snobby and she tends to hold grudges.

I just want to take this moment to say how different this novel is from Brave New World. Firstly, the children in this novel actually have a childhood, and they are not spending their time in a human factory. Secondly, human emotions exist at Hailsham, because we see Kathy get mad at Ruth, and Ruth mad at Kathy, and all that drama. In the utopia, the citizens had little emotion, and drank soma to get rid of unpleasant thoughts. Thirdly, the students at Hailsham are aware that there is something going on with their lives, they just don't seem to know all the details, unlike the citizens in Brave New World, who pretty much just accepted life the way it was, since they were conditioned. Aside from the differences, the two novels are similar because they raise humans for specific purposes. In this novel, they are raised for human donations, while in Brave New World, they are either Deltas, Gammas, Alphas, or robots for that matter, that succumbed into conformist thinking. I'm sure more differences, and possibly similarities for that matter, will arise as I read further.

Mysteries

"It may not help you much. But just you remember this. There's at least one person here at Hailsham who believes otherwise. At least one person who believes you're a very good student, as long as any she's ever come across, never mind how creative you are." pg 28

I like Miss Lucy. She is honest and she seems like the type that bends the rules a little bit for the student's sake...She's not supposed to support Tommy's art failure, but she admits that art isn't necessary to be great. She also tells Tommy there is more that she needs to tell them, that Hailsham hasn't taught them. Miss Lucy wants to prepare the children for what the real world is like, and for this reason I like her. She is like an insider that gives bits of information to the students to keep them wondering. So far, Tommy and Kathy are the ones that are trying to solve Hailsham's unspoken mysteries. They are both very curious of this place, and the reasoning behind all the things like the Gallery, art expression, and especially Madame's fear of the students. Their curiosity of everything at Hailsham may lead to trouble later.

I think I'm going to try to make a Harry Potter reference, but this will probably fail. But, I can compare Miss Lucy to Hagrid in a way. Miss Lucy seems to have a closer relationship with the students than any of the other guardians. She looks out the for the students, just like Hagrid looks out for Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Also they both seem to tend to reveal a bit too much information, Remember Hagrid with the Sorcerer's Stone? or how to calm Fluffy? or the Chamber of Secrets? Miss Lucy does the same kindof thing, just in a more discreet way.

Art

"A lot of the time, how you were regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at "creating." pg 16

Art is a big deal at Hailsham. If you are good at art, everyone loves you and looks up to you. If you aren't artistic or creative, then you are made fun of like Tommy. I feel bad for Tommy because it's not his fault he's not a great artist. You cannot exactly force someone to be great at something they are not. We also see the complicated relationship that is Tommy and Kathy. Kathy often feels bad for Tommy since he is made fun of, but then when Kathy talks with him herself, she just gets angry with him, and wonders why she cares. Tommy on the other hand seems to trust [only] Kathy, because he confides in her about what Miss Lucy said to him. The end of the chapter foreshadows that Kathy, thought often annoyed with him, is interested in what Tommy has to say; She admits she worries about him, and she wants to sneak off down to the pond with him. It's confusing.

Also, Kathy's stories are all very interesting, but they lack any sort of order. She starts talking about being nine years old, then switches to at least a decade later when it was a few months after Ruth's first donation. I think Kathy is maintaining a connection of her childhood to her present life. Moments from her childhood remind her of her adult life, like her conversations with Ruth at the hospital when they shared stories about Hailsham. She never forgets about Hailsham and everything that happened there, so the boarding school has a very significant role in the story.

Never Let Me Go: Here We Go Again

"My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years." pg. 3

So, I have actually read this book before. I started reading it last December and it actually took me about three months to get through it because I got distracted, and because it was just interesting enough to keep reading, but it didn't have enough action for me to finish it quickly. It was weird. I know how it ends and all that, so this will be interesting re-reading it and making blogs. Just thought I'd put that out there.

There is also a movie for this book.
I think I might watch it sometime

Okay, so
First off, Ishiguro is a lot more direct than Huxley was. The first sentence is already way different than A Brave New World. This book is a lot easier to read than A Brave New World too. Ishiguro directly characterizes Kathy by using the first person point of view, so there is not really any guessing about Kathy's actions because we get the firsthand account of all her thoughts and such. From the first chapter, it's obvious that the book is somewhat like a memoir. It's a collection of stories and Kathy is looking back on her past. Her relationships with Tommy and Ruth are unraveling and the rest of the novel will be focused on her past life at Hailsham, and life as a carer. (Spoilers)

Anyway, this novel kinda reminds me of a book I read in middle school called Running Out Of Time. In that book, a young girl, Jessie, lived a 1800s civilization lifestyle (similar to Connor Prairie), when it was actually 2010 in the world outside of her. She was just living in a museum exhibit, while children on field trips observed her and her family. The people living in the colony with her ended up contracting an illness, and so she was forced to look for medicine to save them. After discovering that she was living in an exhibit from her father, she was sent off to search for medicine in the real world. On the other hand, Kathy lives in a sheltered boarding school her entire life, and she gets a taste of reality when she leaves Hailsham. Never Let Me Go parallels Running Out Of Time in that both Kathy and Jessie are forced into the real world after being confined to one location all their life.