Language ·  English

Time And Place Written ·  England, between 1990 and the early 2000s

Date Of First Publication ·  2005

Narrator ·  Kathy H.

Point Of View ·  The narrator (Kathy) speaks in the first person, so the reader only sees her point of view. Kathy describes her memories of characters and events subjectively, offering her own thoughts and reflections. She frequently makes assumptions about the thoughts and motivations of others.

Tone ·  Reflective, nostalgic, somber

Tense ·  Kathy speaks in the present tense, but switches to past tense when sharing memories of the past.

Setting (Time) ·  Late 1990s, although Kathy’s memories reach as far back as the early 1970s.

Setting (Place) ·  Various locations in England, including the (fictional) Hailsham school, the (also fictional) Cottages, and the towns of Norfolk, Dover, and Kingsfield.

Protagonist ·  Kathy H.

Major Conflict ·  Kathy wrestles with the loss of her childhood friends Ruth and Tommy by turning to her memories the past, recalling her complex relationship with each one and with the Hailsham school where they grew up together.

Rising Action ·  Kathy recalls growing up with Ruth and Tommy at Hailsham, where ambiguous references to their future as “donors” punctuate their idyllic childhood. As they become young adults, they hope in different ways for the possibility of changing or deferring this future.

Climax ·  Kathy and Tommy visit Madame’s house, where Miss Emily cuts off their last hope for more time together when she reveals that deferrals on donations do not exist.

Falling Action ·  Kathy spends a last few weeks with Tommy before he completes on his fourth donation, leaving her with her memories as she waits to become a donor herself.

Themes ·  The relentless passage of time and the inevitability of loss; the power of memory; the dignity of human life

Foreshadowing ·  The woods beyond Hailsham foreshadow the grim future awaiting the students when they leave; Tommy’s childhood tantrums foreshadow the grief that he and Kathy share in the aftermath of their visit to Madame; the loss of Kathy’s tape foreshadows the many losses that she will later experience as an adult.

 

Never Let Me Go takes place in a dystopian version of late 1990s England, where the lives of ordinary citizens are prolonged through a state-sanctioned program of human cloning. The clones, referred to as students, grow up in special institutions away from the outside world. As young adults, they begin to donate their vital organs. All “donors” receive care from designated “carers,” clones who have not yet begun the donation process. The clones continue to donate organs until they “complete,” which is a euphemism for death after the donation of three or four organs. However, this premise is not immediately apparent to the reader. At the start of the novel, narrator Kathy H. merely introduces herself as a thirty-one-year-old carer. She has been a carer for nearly twelve years, but will leave her role in a few months. Kathy explains that she wants to revisit her memories of Tommy and Ruth, two friends who grew up with her at the Hailsham school. Kathy does not explain the donation program, or mention that Hailsham students are clones.

Although Kathy’s narration is often nonlinear, the novel’s three parts roughly align with three stages in her life. In Part One, Kathy remembers her childhood at Hailsham. She describes her friendship with Ruth, whose temperamental personality contrasts with her own quiet demeanor. At Hailsham, Ruth often annoys Kathy by pretending to have special knowledge and privileges. Kathy also describes Tommy, a student known for throwing violent temper tantrums. Tommy is initially an outcast among his peers because he lacks artistic ability, which the Hailsham staff (part teacher, part parent figures known as “guardians”), and its students value highly. Kathy sympathizes with Tommy, and tries to calm him down during one of his tantrums. Tommy later learns to control his temper after a guardian named Miss Lucy assures him that it is not necessary for him to be creative.

Although the students learn vaguely about the donation program, their guardians shield them from a full understanding of their future. Miss Lucy disagrees with this indirect approach, and often exhibits strange behavior in front of the students as a result, in one instance telling them explicitly about their futures. After Miss Lucy speaks with Tommy about his artwork, he and Kathy theorize that creativity may be connected to donations. They speculate about Madame, a woman who visits Hailsham to collect the best student artwork. Madame is rumored to keep this art in a personal gallery. Kathy later encounters Madame in the girls’ dormitory, while Kathy dances to the song “Never Let Me Go.” The song is Kathy’s favorite track on Songs After Dark, a Judy Bridgewater album that is one of her most prized possessions. When the song ends, Kathy sees Madame crying in the doorway. Shortly afterwards, Kathy loses her tape. Tommy’s temper returns during their last summer at Hailsham. Kathy thinks he is upset about his recent breakup with Ruth, whom he has dated for six months. But Tommy is upset about Miss Lucy, who recently told him that she was wrong to dismiss the importance of creativity. Miss Lucy departs Hailsham abruptly, and Tommy mends his relationship with Ruth.

In Part Two, Kathy moves with Ruth and Tommy to a transitional housing facility known as the Cottages. They adjust to their new lives, becoming acquainted with the “veteran” students living there already. Ruth often ignores Tommy and Kathy in her efforts to blend in with the veterans, who are not from Hailsham. Kathy notices that the veterans regard the Hailsham students with awe. One couple, Chrissie and Rodney, are especially interested in Hailsham. They convince Ruth to go with them to Norfolk, where Rodney claims to have seen Ruth’s “possible” in an open-plan office (a “possible” is a human that resembles a specific clone and from whom that clone's DNA may have been copied). Kathy is skeptical of Rodney’s story, especially since it features Ruth’s “dream future” of working in an open-plan office. In the end, Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, Rodney, and Chrissie all drive to Norfolk.

In Norfolk, Chrissie and Rodney ask about a rumored exception allowing Hailsham couples in love to defer their donations. Ruth pretends to know something about deferrals, which surprises Kathy and Tommy. The students eventually find the open-plan office. Rodney points to a woman in the window, and they all agree that she could be Ruth’s legitimate possible. They follow her to an art gallery, where they realize that the woman does not actually resemble Ruth. In her disappointment, Ruth says that the students are modeled only on “trash.” Ruth goes off with Chrissie and Rodney. Meanwhile, Tommy and Kathy find a copy of Kathy’s lost tape in a secondhand store. Tommy tells Kathy that he has begun drawing pictures of imaginary animals. He thinks Madame uses the students’ artwork to determine if couples applying for deferrals are truly in love. After Norfolk, Ruth stops talking about her dream future. Tommy shows his drawings to Kathy, who finds them puzzling but captivating. Meanwhile, Kathy’s friendship with Ruth grows increasingly tense. Ruth reveals that she knows Kathy likes Tommy, but says that Tommy will never return Kathy’s feelings. Shortly afterwards, Kathy submits her application for carer training and departs.

Part Three focuses on Kathy’s time as carer. While Kathy is good at her job, the work is both difficult and lonely. She unexpectedly runs into a Hailsham friend named Laura, who is also a carer. They talk about Ruth, who had a bad first donation. They also talk about Hailsham, which has closed. Kathy becomes Ruth’s carer, but their relationship is strained and guarded. One day, Ruth expresses a desire to visit a beached fishing boat near Tommy’s recovery center. They pick up Tommy on the way to the boat, which they find bleached and crumbling in a marsh. The marsh reminds both Tommy and Ruth of Hailsham. They also discuss Chrissie, who completed on her second donation. On the return trip, Ruth apologizes for keeping Tommy and Kathy apart. She encourages them to pursue a deferral, revealing that she has discovered Madame’s home address. In the weeks that follow, Kathy and Ruth reminisce peacefully about Hailsham and the Cottages. Ruth also encourages Kathy to become Tommy’s carer.

Ruth completes after her second donation. Tommy gives his third donation, and Kathy becomes his carer. They spend their days reading and talking at his recovery center. Eventually, they also begin to have sex. Hoping to pursue a deferral, they go to visit Madame at the address Ruth provided. Madame invites them inside and listens to their request, after which Miss Emily appears from the next room. Miss Emily says that deferrals do not exist. She explains that Hailsham was part of a progressive movement committed to raising clones more humanely. Madame used to exhibit the students’ artwork to show the outside world that clones had souls. Although the movement once had many supporters, changing public opinion eventually forced Hailsham to close. On the drive back to his recovery center, Tommy asks Kathy to pull over. He walks into the woods and begins screaming. Kathy goes to Tommy and holds him. Soon after, Tommy gives his fourth donation and completes. Kathy drives to a field in Norfolk, where she allows herself to imagine Tommy on the horizon. Then she drives away.

Although she is only thirty-one at the start of the novel, Kathy has almost reached the end of her life. She has lost almost everyone she knew from Hailsham, holding onto them only in her memories. While Kathy’s retrospective narration shows the inevitability of loss, many of her memories reflect a desire slow the relentless march of time towards these losses. The deferral rumor clearly reflects this desire: in hoping for deferrals from donating organs, the students embody the deeply human wish for more time in the face of death. But even the idea of a deferral reinforces the inevitability of death and loss: a deferral is only a brief extension on life, a temporary hold that puts off the future instead of changing it. This same desire for more time ironically motivates the donation program, which depends on the students’ internal organs to extend the lives of people in the outside world.

Kathy copes with the losses in her life by turning to memories of the past. She preserves the memory of Hailsham long after it has closed, just as she preserves her memories of Tommy and Ruth long after their deaths. The novel’s title epitomizes this desire to hold on. The phrase “never let me go” is somewhere between a plea and a demand, reflecting a deeply human need to hold onto, and be held by, loved ones. Kathy’s memories are her way of holding onto everyone and everything she has lost. However, Kathy’s memory is also fragmented and somewhat incomplete. Her narrative is a process of recovery and an attempt to make sense of her memories. She admits to forgetting and misremembering details, showing that memory is just as fragile as it is powerful. Her first-person narration also highlights the absence of other characters’ memories. Ruth and Tommy only appear as reflected through Kathy’s memory, which means that their own thoughts and motivations remain somewhat ambiguous.

Kathy’s narrative is ultimately a testament to the dignity and humanity of the students whom she remembers. The students have less time than their counterparts in the outside world, but their lives are as rich with the hopes, joys, disappointments, and sorrows that define human experience. Kathy’s memories also ironize the efforts of Miss Emily and Madame to demonstrate the students’ humanity through their childhood artwork. Despite their good intentions, both Miss Emily and Madame feel revulsion towards the students whose lives they seek to improve. Kathy, meanwhile, shares the memories of her loved ones with quiet dignity and tenderness. Her narrative speaks for itself, showing the depths of her humanity in ways that Madame and Miss Emily are not capable of doing.

 

As a child at Hailsham, Kathy acquires a cassette tape of the Judy Bridgewater album Songs after Dark at one of the Sales. Her favorite track on the album, “Never Let Me Go,” gives the novel its title. The song symbolizes both the depths of human love and the fear of losing those whom one loves. This becomes clear in the story that Kathy invents to explain the song’s lyrics. Kathy imagines that the song is about a woman afraid of losing her baby. Holding tightly to the child, she sings a song that expresses her happiness as well as her fear of loss. This image of holding on recurs several times in the novel, most notably when Kathy and Tommy hold one another in the field after learning that deferrals do not exist. When the tape itself disappears, Kathy has her first experience of loss that presages the losses she will later experience on a much larger and more human scale.