“I have developed a kind of instinct around donors. I know when to hang around and comfort them, when to leave them to themselves; when to listen to everything they have to say, and when just to shrug and tell them to snap out of it.” (pg.3)

“There’s no way I could gone on for as long as I have if I’d stopped feeling for my donors every step of the way. And anyway, if I’d never started choosing, how would I ever have got close again to Ruth and Tommy after all those years?” (pg. 4)

“I spot them all over the country, standing on the far side of playing fields, little white prefab buildings with a row of windows unnaturally high up, tucked almost under the eaves.” (pg. 6)

Examples of major themes:

A theme presented is the world of children vs. world of adults because Kathy begins by talking about how she is a carer and taking care of donors. Then she goes on to tell a simple story about her childhood while she was in school. The complexity of donating organs as an adult differs from the simplicity of a school day as a child. 

Character development:

Kathy is 31 years old and she has been a carer for eleven years but is finishing at the end of the year. She went to school at Hailsham as a child. She gets to choose her donors and she cares for them. 

Ruth is one of the donors Kathy chose. 
Conflict:

Kathy vs. school girls- The girls at school are making fun of Tommy and Kathy feels bad for him.

Kathy vs. other people- They accuse her of only picking donors of her own kind. 

“Looking back now, I can see why the Exchange became so important to us. For a start, they were only our means, aside from sales of building up a collection of personal possessions.” (pg. 16)

“If you think about it, being dependent on each other to produce the stuff that might become your private treasures- that’s bound to do things to your relationships.” (pg. 16)

“I could see he was bewildered and crestfallen, but after the months I’d spent worrying about him, I felt betrayed, and didn’t care how he felt.” (pg. 24)

Examples of major themes: 

World of children vs. world of adults is presented again with the simple life of kids at school. 

Character development: 

Kathy feels like the school boys are being mean to Tommy but the other school girls think Tommy has brought it upon himself. 

Tommy felt so pressured to be creative that it was ruining his life. He was told he doesn’t have to be creative and he feels a lot better. 

Conflict: 

Kathy vs. Tommy- Tommy apologizes for hitting Kathy and she gets mad at him because she thinks he is lying about not being creative anymore

"No, I don't think she meant that. What she was talking about was, you know, about us. What's going to happen to us one day. Donations and all that." "But we have been taught about all that," I said. "I wonder what she meant. Does she think there are things we haven't been told yet?" (pg. 29)

“Certainly, it hadn’t been from the guardians: they never mentioned the Gallery, and there was an unspoken rule that we should never even raise the subject in their presence.” (pg. 31)

“The first time you glimpse yourself through the eyes of a person like that, its a cold moment. It’s like walking past a mirror you’ve walked past ever day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange.” (pg. 36) 

Examples of major themes:

World of children vs world of adults: obviously the kids are oblivious to how different they are because an adult is scared of them 

Character development:

The children feel as though they are very different from kids outside of Hailsham and seeing the way Madame is scared of them proved that. 

Madame has a gallery where she puts Hailsham student’s best artwork. She is scared of the kids. 

Mrs. Lucy is a very kind teacher who reassures Tommy that it’s okay not to be creative. 

Conflict:

Madame vs. Hailsham girls: Madame is scared of the girls 

Hailsham students vs. rest of world: The students are very different from other people

“I won’t be a carer anymore come the end of the year, and though I’ve gotten a lot out of it, I have to admit I’ll welcome the chance to rest-to stop and think and remember.” (pg. 37)

“After that day, mention of Madame became, while not taboo exactly, pretty rare among us. And this was something that soon spread beyond our little group to just about all the students in out year. We were, I’d say, as curious as ever about her, but we all sensed that to probe any further-about what she did without work, whether there really was a gallery-would get us into territory we weren’t ready for.” (pg.37)

Examples of major themes: 

World of children vs. world of adults: The adults know things about the Hailsham kids that those kids do not. 

Character development: 

Ruth: Kathy’s friend, invites Kathy to ride one of her imaginary horses 

Mrs. Lucy: seems like she is hiding information from the kids 

Conflict:

Mrs. Lucy vs. Children: she is not able to tell the kids the whole truth about the gallery 

Miss Emily vs. children: she intimidates them 

“Anyway, the point is, there was a gap in Miss Emily’s calendar collection:none of them had a single picture of Norfolk.” (pg. 65)

“Because at Hailsham, we had our own lost corner up on the third floor, where lost property was kept.” (pg. 65)

“What was important to us...was that when we lost something precious, and we’d looked and looked and still couldn’t find it, then we didn’t have to be completely heartbroken.” (pg. 66)

“I don’t know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham the guardians were really strict about smoking.” (pg. 67)

“You’ve been told about it. You’re students. You’re... special.” (pg. 68)

“We certainly know-though not in any deep sense-that we were different from out guardians, and also from the normal people outside; we perhaps even know that long way down the line there were donations waiting for us. But we didn’t really know what that meant.” (pg. 69) 

“By then of course, we all knew something I hadn’t known back then, which was that none of us could have babies.” (pg. 72-73)

“We didn’t do things like hug each other much at Hailsham.” (pg. 76)

Major themes: 

Idea of Human Cloning: the kids are not allowed to smoke because they would not be able to harvest their lungs. The kids cannot have babies. 

Character Development: 

Kathy is being nice to make up for what she’d done to Ruth. 

Kathy is obsessed with this tape that plays the song “Never Let Me Go”

Madame mysteriously watched Kathy dance and sing and started crying. 

Conflict: 

Kathy vs. Madame- Madame mysteriously watched Kathy dance and sing and started crying. The tape went missing shortly after 

Kathy vs. Ruth- they were fighting but now they are doing nice things for each other 

“By the time I joined the guard, Ruth and the others had already known for ages about the plot to kidnap Miss Geraldine.. We didn’t know when the abduction would take place, but one thing we felt convinced about was that the woods would come into it.”(pg. 49-50)

“The woods played on out imaginations the most after dark, in our dorms as we were trying to fall asleep.” (pg. 50)

“Even after I’d seen the pencil case, the idea of a guardian giving a present like that was so beyond the bounds, I hadn’t seen it coming at all.” (pg. 57)

Examples of major themes:

The word of children vs. the world of adults: the way the kids look at Miss Geraldine 

Character development: 

Miss Geraldine favors Ruth 

Miss Geraldine: the best guardian in Hailsham 

Kathy made an entire plan to bust the lie Ruth had told and it upset Ruth, making Kathy feel bad. 

Conflict: 

Kathy vs. self- why was she so hostile towards moira b.

Kathy vs. Ruth- Kathy busted Ruth about her lie with the pencil case and made Ruth sad

Children vs. the woods- the woods represent fear and bad things 

“Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-ages, you’ll start to donate your vital organs.” (pg. 81)

“Tommy thought the guardians had timed it so carefully and deliberately everything they told us, so that we were always just too young to understand properly the latest piece of information.” (pg. 82)

“You’d be able to just unzip a bit of yourself, a kidney or something would slide out, and you’d hand it over.” (pg. 88)

Examples of Major Themes:

Idea of human cloning- the kids are only alive in order to donate their organs.

How you spend the limited amount of time you have on earth- the kids were talking about what they wanted to do with their lives and Miss Lucy said they already have their lives planned out for them. 

Character Development:

Miss Lucy continues to be sensitive about the reason the kids are alive. She wants them to understand what is going on and what the kid’s actual purposes are.

Kathy and Tommy become suspicious about the whole system and Kathy becomes very observant of Miss Lucy. 

Conflict:

Tommy vs. Kids- they tease him about the gash on his arm 

Miss Lucy vs the system- she believes they are not telling the kids the whole truth

Kathy vs. Miss Lucy- Kathy becomes very suspicious and observant of Miss Lucy 

“That’s why they were so odd about it; for them, sex was for when you wanted babies, and even though they knew, intellectually, that we couldn’t have babies, they still felt uneasy about us doing it because deep down they couldn’t quite believe we wouldn’t end up with babies.” (pg. 96-97)

Major Themes: 

The limited number of years we have on earth and how you spend them- The student are not allowed to have babies, therefore sex was all for pleasure. 

Character Development:

Kathy felt as though she needed to have sex to get experience for later in life, 

Guardians did not want to catch student having sex, but were teaching them all about it. 

Conflict: 

Kathy vs. Tommy- Tommy is now dating Ruth which made Kathy sad 

“I wasn’t in the best of moods because my own donor had just completed the night before.” (pg. 101)

“That she’d done me a big disservice telling me not to worry about being creative.” (pg. 107)

“Listen Tommy, your art is important. And not just because its evidence. But for your own sake. You’ll get a lot from it, just for yourself.” (pg. 108)

“Look, there are all kinds of things you don’t understand, Tommy, and I can’t tell you about them.” (pg. 108)

“Miss Emily had broken off from talking about Beethoven and announced that Miss Lucy had left Hailsham and wouldn’t be returning.” (pg. 111)

Themes:

The limited number of years we have on earth and how you spend them is shows with the importance of Tommy being creative. 

Character development:

Miss Lucy tells Tommy that being creative is actually important. 

Miss Lucy is not working at Hailsham anymore; Tommy and Kathy are sad. 

Tommy and Ruth get back together. 

Conflict: 

Kathy vs. Ruth- Ruth asks Kathy to help her and Tommy get back together. 

Miss Lucy vs. Tommy- Miss Lucy tells Tommy that being creative is important after all. 

“Just lately, I’ve even toyed with the idea of going back and working on it,  since I’m not a carer anymore and I’ve got a little time.” (pg. 116)

“Because somewhere underneath, a part of us  stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and-no matter how much we despise ourselves for it- unable to let each other go.” (pg. 120)

Themes:

The idea of nostalgia- Kathy thinks back on her essay 

Character development:

Keffer- a grumpy old guy who turned up two or three times a week in his muddy van to look over the Cottage 

Hailsham student move onto the Cottages because they are getting older. 

Conflict:

Kathy vs. Ruth- Kathy confronts Ruth about the things in her and Tommy’s relationship. Ruth makes fun of Kathy for not making many new friends. 

“I could see none of the veterans had collections. It was only us, it wasn’t normal.” (pg. 130)

“You were different. I remember. You were never embarrassed about your collection and you kept it. I wish now I’d done that too.” “What I’m saying is that we were all of us struggling to adjust to our new life, and I suppose we all did things back then we later regretted.” (pg. 131)

“Anothing thing I noticed was the big hush that would descend around certain veterans when they went off on “courses” -which even we knew had to do with becoming carers.” (pg. 132) 

Themes: 

The things you do with time on earth: the kids take pride in their collections but it was much different with the veterans 

Character development: 

Kathy and Ruth spend a lot of time talking with one another. They trust each other with their secrets. 

Conflict:

Ruth vs. Kathy-Ruth brings up something that Kathy had told her in secret and insults her with it. Breaks the trust they had. Kathy says that Ruth is just copying the veterans with the things she does with Tommy. 

“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.” (pg. 139)

“We, all of us, to varying degrees, believed that when you saw the person you were copied from, you’d get some insight into who you were deep down, and maybe too, you’d see something of what your life held in store.” (pg. 140)

“I suppose mainly it was us newcomers who talked about “dream futures” that winter, though a number of veterans did too.” (pg. 142) 

Themes: 

The idea of human cloning: the kids understand that they are clones of someone else 

Character development: 

Chrissie- a tall girl, always wore long skirts and little glasses, she was a veteran, very curious about the Hailsham kids 

Conflict:

Tommy vs. Kathy- Tommy catches Kathy reading a porn magazine but doesn’t understand why she’s looking at it, he wants to know the real reason. 

“And she talked a lot about how we weren’t exploring our freedom nearly enough since leaving Hailsham.” (pg. 146)

“We’re not supposed to visit carers.” (pg. 150)

“You could ask for your donations to be put back by three, even four years.” (pg. 153)

Themes: 

Idea of human cloning-if you fell in love with someone you were not able to spend your life with them or have babies because you have to become a carer and/or donor. 

Character Development:

Chrissie and Rodney are interested in the idea of students being deferred if they could prove they are properly in love. 

Kathy feels bad for yelling at Ruth and understands why she was doing what she was, for the good of the group. 

Conflict:

Ruth vs. Kathy-Kathy gets mad at Ruth for only talking to the veterans. Kathy then realizes she’s doing it to present the group, not just herself. 

Tommy vs. others- Tommy doesn’t know what they are talking about when mentioning lovers at Hailsham being deferred

“And the more we heard her and looked at her, the less she seemed like Ruth.” (pg. 163)

“This notion of their that there were all kinds of possibilities open to us Hailsham students that weren’t open to them.” (pg. 165)

“If you want to do it properly, then you look in the gutter. You look in rubbish bins. Look down the toilet, that’s where you’ll find where we all came from.” (pg. 166)

Themes: 

Cloning humans- the kids go look for their “possibles” 

Character development: 

Chrissie, Rodney, Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy go looking for Ruth’s possible. They are okay with breaking the rules to visit a carer. 

Kathy is a rule follower. 

Conflict:

Ruth vs. the rest of them- She is very serious about looking for her possible but the others were not

“When I think of that moment now, standing with tommy in the little side-street about to begin our search, I feel a warmth welling up through me.” (pg. 171)

“Even then, it was mainly a nostalgia thing, and today, if I happen to get the tape out and look at it, it brings back memories of that afternoon in Norfolk every bit as much as it does our Hailsham days.” (pg. 173)

“She told Roy that things like pictures, poetry, all that kind of stuff, she said they revealed what you were like inside. She said they revealed your soul.” (pg. 175)

“The thing about Hailsham was that you had this special chance. And if you didn’t get stuff into Madame’s gallery, then you were as good as throwing that chance away.” (pg. 176)

“That might not be so easy. We don’t really know a thing about her. We don’t even know her name.” (pg. 179)

Themes: 

Human cloning- the children wonder if there is a way that they choose who is in love off of their creativity and artwork. 

Character development:

Ruth believes everything the veterans say about Hailsham even though they are not true. Kathy and Tommy do not agree that these rumors are true. 

Tommy has many theories about Hailsham and the creativity aspect. 

Ruth is nicer to Kathy on the way home and fills her in on everything that happened. 

Conflict:

Tommy vs. Hailsham- he has many theories on why creativity is such a big deal 

“Talk went around of students, somewhere else in the country, getting deferrals because they’d shown they were in love-and now, just sometimes, the talk was of students with no connections to Hailsham.” (pg. 185)

Theme:

Human cloning: the children are trying to find a way to extend their time before they have to become carers/donors 

Nostalgia: Kathy is looking back on memories at the cottages

Character development:

Ruth claims she doesn’t remember much about things that happened at Hailsham

Tommy takes pride in his “animals”

Conflict: 

Ruth and Kathy: Ruth exposes Kathy for thinking Tommy’s animals were a joke, Kathy thinks Ruth is lying about not remembering things from Hailsham 

“It never occured to me that our lives, until then so closely interwoven, could unravel and separate over a thing like that.” (pg. 197)

“For one thing, more and more students were going off to be carers, and among our old Hailsham crowd, there was a growing feeling this was the natural course to follow.” (pg. 197)

“I just got up one morning and told Keffers I wanted to start my training to become a carer.” (pg. 202)

Themes: 

Idea of human cloning- kathy starts training to become a carer 

Character development:

Kathy decided to start training to become a carer

Conflict:

Kathy vs. Ruth: Ruth tells Kathy that Tommy isn’t attracted to her, Ruth continues to deny remembering anything from Hailsham

Tommy vs. Kathy: Kathy says that after the churchyard encounter 

“For a while at least, you’re demoralized. Some of us learn pretty quick how to deal with it.” (pg. 207)

“No one to talk to about your worries, no one to have a laugh with.” (pg. 207)

“You’re always in a rush, or else you’re too exhausted to have a proper conversation.” (pg. 208)

“Maybe we both felt there was something dangerous about bringing up the old days, because for ages we avoided any mention of them.” (pg. 209) 

“I’d first started hearing rumors about Hailsham closing a year or so before that meeting with Laura in the car park” (pg. 211)

“I suppose, that a lot of things I’d always assumed I’d plenty of time to get round to doing, I might now have to act on pretty soon or else let them go forever.” (pg. 213)

“It made me realize Ruth didn’t trust me, and for all I know, maybe she herself hadn’t fully realized it until that moment.” (pg. 215)

Themes: 

Idea of human cloning- Kathy talks about her struggles as a carer 

Nostalgia- Kathy thinking about her time as a carer 

Character development:

Ruth and Tommy and Kathy have all grown apart 

Kathy is now a carer and she ends up being Ruth’s 

Conflict:

Ruth vs. Kathy- everytime they had a conversation it ended badly and Ruth almost stopped being her carer because of it 

“My heart had done a little leap, because in a single stroke with that little laugh of agreement, it felt as though Tommy and I had come close together again after all the years.” (pg. 222)

“I took an arm, Tommy supported her elbow on the other side, and we began gently guiding her towards the fence.” (pg. 223)

“After all, it’s what we’re supposed to be doing, isn’t it?” (pg. 227)

“The main thing is, I kept you and Tommy apart.” (pg. 232)

“You and Tommy, you’ve got to try and get a deferral.” (pg. 233)

“All the guardedness, all the suspicions between me and Ruth evaporated, and we seemed to remember everything we’d once meant to each other.” (pg. 235)

“It’s okay, I’m going to do it, Ruth. I’m going to become Tommy’s carer as soon as I can.” (pg. 236)

Themes: 

Human cloning: Ruth and tommy are donors, Ruth completes 

Limited time on earth- ruth, tommy, and kathy go see the ship even though ruth and tommy are donors 

Character development:

Ruth apologizes for keeping kathy and tommy apart their whole life 

The kids think it is normal to be donors. 

Kathy decides to be tommy’s carer

Conflict:

Ruth vs. Kathy- Ruth’s stories were boring tommy and kathy 

Ruth vs. death-Ruth is very weak and eventually dies after her second donation 

“I became Tommy’s carer almost a year to the day after that trip to see the boat.” (pg. 237)

“We’d been thinking about the deferrals, the theory about the gallery, all of it, for so long-and now, suddenly, here we were. It was definitely a bit scary.” (pg. 244)

Themes: 

What we do with our time on earth: kathy and tommy are trying to gain extra time together by proving they are in love

Character development:

Kathy and Tommy are now a couple thanks to Ruth and they are trying to get a deferral. They started having sex. 

Conflict: 

Tommy and Kathy vs. Deferrals: they need the deferral to have more time together 

“But without doubt, she saw and decided in a second what we were, because you could see her stiffen-as if a pair of large spiders was set to crawl towards her.” (pg 248)

“Madame now appeared to me like an intimate, someone much closer to us than anyone new we’d met over the recent years.” (pg.252)

“So you think you know what it was for, why we did it. Well that would be most interesting to hear. Because I have to say, it’s a question I ask myself all the time.” (pg. 253)”Your art will reveal your inner selves! That’s it, isn’t it? Because your art will display your souls!” (pg.254)

“Poor creatures. What did we do to you? Will all our schemes and plans?” (pg. 254)

Themes: 

What we do with time on earth: the kids are trying to gain more time together

Human cloning: madame reveals that they have basically destroyed these humans with their schemes 

Character development: 

Madame seems a lot more welcoming and friendly than she did in the past 

Conflict:

Tommy and Kathy vs. Deferrals: they need the deferral to have more time together 

“There’s no truth in the rumor. I’m sorry. I truly am.” (pg. 258)

“If we were just going ot give donations anyway, then die, why all those lessons?” (pg. 259)

“We did it to prove you had souls at all.” (pg. 260)

“Before that, all clones-or students, as we preferred to call you-existed only to supply medical science.” (pg. 261)

“Their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friends, did not die from cancer.” (pg. 263)

“And the knowledge that we’ve given you better lives than you would have had otherwise.” (pg. 265)

“Your life must now run the course that’s been set for it.” (pg. 266)

“Very well, sometimes that meant we kept things from you, lied to you. Yes, in many ways we fooled you.” (pg. 268)

“We’re all afraid of you.” (pg. 269)

“And I saw a little girl, her eyes closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never let her go.” (pg. 272)

“I was thinking, maybe the reason you got like that is because at some level you always knew.” (pg. 275)

Themes: 

Human cloning- see quotes

Character development:

Madame feels bad for the students and wishes she could help them.

Tommy has another tantrum. 

Miss. Emily thinks she helped them.

Conflict: 

Tommy and Kathy vs. Miss Emily- Miss. Emily tells them the rumor isn’t true and they cannot get deferrals 

“Tommy tended to identify himself with the other donors a the centre.” (pg. 276)

“It’s because they’re not sure they’ll really complete. If you knew for certain you’d complete, it would be easier. But they never tell us for sure.” (pg. 279) 

“Kath, sometimes you just don’t see it. You don’t see it because you are not a donor.” (pg. 281)

Character development:

Kathy stopped being Tommy’s carer  

Tommy completed 

“The memories I value most, I don’t see them ever fading.” (pg. 286)

Conflict: 

Tommy vs. Kathy- he doesn’t want Kathy as his carer anymore