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Never Let Me Go

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Kazuo Ishiguro: Japanese

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2005

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Science Fiction, 12+, and first-person

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Sadness, longing, and nostalgia

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The story takes place in many places including Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside, the Cottages, the Donation Center, and the towns of Norfolk, Dover, and Kingsfield. The narration takes place in the late 1990s, but memories reach back to the 1970s.

Since the story takes place in isolated places like Hailsham and the Cottages the characters are unable to find out the truth about themselves from the real world, which drives the plot.

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Kathy and her friends Ruth and Tommy are part of a state-sanctioned program of human cloning. The clones grow up outside of the real world in special institutions. Once they become young adults they have to donate their organs to people in the real world until they die. Before they start donating they are carers who take care of people in donation centers. Kathy has been a carer for twelve years and she looks back at memories of her Ruth, and Tommy at the exclusive boarding school, Hailsham, their time at the Cottages together, and their journey to discover the truth of what they are. She reflects on these memories to deal with the loss of Ruth and Tommy who have already “completed”.

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Narrator of the book

31 and has been a carer for 12 years

Looks back and recalls memories of those she has lost

Wanted to help Tommy and fulfill her job as a carer.

Quiet and guarded

No info was provided on physical appearance, picture is from the movie

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The cassette tape with the song “Never Let Me Go”

Kathy sings along and imagines the song is about a mother afraid of losing her child

Symbolizes human love and the fear of losing loved ones

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“There have been times over the years when I’ve tried to leave Hailsham behind when I’ve told myself I shouldn’t look back so much. But then there came a point when I just stopped resisting" (5).

Displays how it is in Kathy's nature to look back at the past and how she refuses to move forward with her life

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“The fantasy never got beyond that—I didn’t let it—and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn’t sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be" (288).

Expresses how loss is inevitable and that Kathy's desire to recapture the past is impossible

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Kathy’s close childhood friends whom Kathy hides romantic feelings from

Violent temper, chaotic, prideful, and trusting

Wants to find out the truth about Hailsham and who they are

No info was provided on physical appearance, picture is from the movie

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The Open-Plan Office

Is first seen in a magazine and Ruth decides that is her dream future

This is seen again when they visit Norfolk in search of Ruth's "possible" who works in the office

Once they realize the woman is not Ruth's "possible" her dream vanishes

Symbolizes the diminishing sense of possibility and dreams for the future.

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“‘We all know it. We’re modeled from trash. Junkies, prostitutes, winos, tramps. Convicts, maybe, just so long as they aren’t psychos. That’s what we come from. We all know it, so why don’t we say it’” (166).

Turning point where Ruth says what everybody is thinking about where they truly come from

Her possible could have never been modeled from a woman like the one they saw in the office

When she says this, it diminishes everyone's hope for a better future

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Though grieving will end, one will never truly get over the loss of a loved one.

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Kathy’s close childhood friend

Dates Tommy

Outspoken, hot-tempered, natural leader, and controlling

Foils Kathy

Belittles Tommy and wants Kathy and Tommy to have extra time together while she passes away

No info was provided on physical appearance, picture is from the movie

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Holding On

The cassette tape with the song “Never Let Me Go” that Kathy listens to and imagines herself holding on to a child

Kathy and Tommy hold each other in a field after learning that deferrals do not exist

Kathy is holding onto the past, which is what the entire book is

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Fantasies/Dreams

Students at Hailsham play make-believe games about the guardians

Ruth has a dream about working in an open-plan office

Rumors go around like the one about deferrals that do not really exist

Kath’s fantasy of Tommy at the field at the end of the book

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In the novel Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro uses the Marxist lens to illustrate the power dynamic of Ruth and Tommy's relationship; furthermore, displaying the idea that time passes by quickly and one should learn to appreciate the ones they love before they are gone. Foremost the character of Ruth demonstrates the negative consequences of unappreciating loved ones by treating Tommy horribly.

After learning that the woman in the office is not Ruth's "possible" Tommy attempts to cheer Ruth up and she responds by telling Tommy to "'shut up'" (166). Ruth telling Tommy to "shut up" belittles him and displays the power she has over him. She wants to impress the "veterans" and does so by putting her loved ones down. Later in the novel, Ruth discovers Tommy's theory about deferrals and his drawings and calls him "'sweety'" and asks him not to make a fool of himself (193). In this quote, Ruth uses "sweety" to downgrade him and treat him like a child. Adults have more power over adults and she wants to show that she has more power over him. Ultimately, through the Marxist lens, one learns that one should treat their loved ones well since one never knows when one will lose them