Never Let Me Go Homework Assignment

#1.

• One of many tragedies that Ishiguro incorporated into his novel Never Let Me Go was the cloning of human kind and how these clones were treated like outcasts and were misinformed their entire lives. The children never found out what their purposes were in life until they were all grown up. The children in Ishiguro's novel lived their lives based on the unknown. They were always curious as to what their purposes were in life but were always too afraid to ask because of the adults that they were brought up by. Another part of the tragedy is the fact that the children were clones and had no idea of their origins. The children did not have parents or family, all they had were themselves and each other. The children did not have any role models to look up to, they only had the teachers who barely gave them any attention. Also, another sad part of this tragedy was the children's actual purposes. The only reason they were originally brought into the world was to grow up to be an adult and donate their vital organs. The fact that the children weren't aware that this was their only purpose in life is very sad. Ishiguro incorporated many tragedy's into his novel and those tragedies become clear at the very beginning of the novel.

• Ishiguro might have chosen to present Kathy, Tommy, and their friends as fully resigned to their early deaths because Ishiguro wanted to show that the children really were misinformed about their fates and that they really did not have a clue as to what their real purposes were until they were fully grown up. Kathy, Tommy, and the others never tried to escape their ultimate fates because they didn't want to face what they were really up against. The children didn't want to believe what they heard and they always held on to the hope that there would be a way out that didn't involve escaping such as a deferral. The children wanted to believe that they were brought into the world for more than just their vital organs and the only way they could do that was to not face the truth. Ishiguro wanted the children to have hope despite what they heard and what the truth was. He wanted the characters to try their bests to lead normal lives until they were sent off for donations. He did just that by never making the children try to escape and always giving them things to hope for.

• In the final paragraph of Never Let Me Go, Kathy shows that she is in somewhat of a denial state. She has just lost her best friend Tommy, whom she has been close with her entire life and she is finding it hard to believe that he is finally gone. Kathy realized at that moment that she is completely alone in the world and has no one. She feels like all of her childhood memories are there in that field with the barbed wire because it is where all of the rubbish was stopped from blowing in the wind. This spot is where Kathy realizes that it is finally her time to stop "blowing in the wind" and face her true fate. Though Kathy is showing denial in this final paragraph, she is also showing courage. Now that she has seen one of her closest friends pass on due to his donations, she is ready to face her own fate. Tommy's death gives Kathy the courage to go on with her donations and end up the same way all of the other clones do. This field with the barbed wire is a turning point in Kathy's life. She sees all of her memories in this spot and finally feels like it is her time.

• Ishiguo's remarks in his interview relate to my own ideas about Never Let Me Go because I interpreted from the novel that Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth were all figuring out what really mattered to them the most towards the end of their lives. Ishiguro says in his interview that "Most of the things that concern them concern us all, but with them it is concertinaed into this relatively short period of time". I agree with his statement because the clones really didn't have a long time to figure out what they really cared about in the world because before they knew it, they were donating their organs. In my opinion, the children had to grow up very quickly in order to get a full understanding of their purposes. Otherwise, they wouldn't have enough time to understand and appreciate what was dear to them. I feel like I have plenty of time to figure out what's important to me because I've never had a reason to grow up fast. But in the clones case, they had to quickly figure out what was important to them, or else they wouldn't get much out of their short lives.