Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Liceo Respighi

5H

Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro

Arianna Bianco, Davide Orlandi, Sajmir Sheshi, Michelle Villa, Riccardo Zilocchi

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Index

Kazuo Ishiguro

Plot

Characters

Style

Themes

Symbols

Motifs

KAZUO ISHIGURO

• Born in Nagasaki (Japan) and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five.
• Well-versed in the arts, exercising his genius in both literature and music.
• 2017: Noble Prize award in Literature.

A world wide recognised English writer, a praised contemporary fiction author

The advantage of having a different point of view

• His first two novels (A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World) were characterized by their explorations of Japanese identity and their mournful tone.

• He, thereafter, explored other genres and settings, including science fiction and historical fiction.

Regarding this change in literary genre and the setting outside ofJapan, the words of Salman Rushdie concerning the book The Remains of the Day can sum up what makes Ishiguro one of the most influent writers:"He turned away from the Japanese settings of his first two novels and revealed that his sensibility was not rooted in any one place, but capable of travel and metamorphosis".

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"Never Let Me Go", a dystopian novel

• 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.

PLOT

• The story begins with Kathy, who describes herself as a carer, talking about looking after organ donors.
• She often reminisces about her time spent at Hailsham, a boarding school in England.
• The children are watched closely and are often told about the importance of producing art and of being healthy.
• Kathy develops a close friendship with two other students: Ruth and Tommy.
• Kathy develops a fondness for Tommy.
• Tommy and Ruth form a relationship.

• Miss Lucy, one of the guardians, tells the students that they are clones who were created to donate organs.

• After their donations, they will die young.

• Miss Lucy is removed from the school as a result of her disclosure, but the students passively accept their fate.

• Ruth, Tommy and Kathy move to the Cottages when they are 16 years old.

• It is the first time they are allowed in the outside world, but they keep to themselves most of the time.

• During a trip they find the tape of Songs After Dark by Judy Bridgewater, and Tommy shares with Kathy a theory that the reason Madame collected their art was to determine which couples were truly in love and cites a teacher who had said that their art revealed their souls.
• There is a rumour that a couple can have their donations deferred if they can prove that they are truly in love.
• They believe that the privilege is for Hailsham students only and so wrongly expect that the others know how to apply for it.

-When Ruth finds out about the tape and Tommy's theory, she takes an opportunity to drive a wedge between Tommy and Kathy. -She tells Kathy that even if Ruth and Tommy were to split up, Tommy would never enter into a relationship with Kathy because of her sexual history.

-A few weeks later, Kathy applies to become a carer, meaning that she will not see Ruth or Tommy for about ten years.-After that, Ruth's first donation goes badly and her health deteriorates. Kathy becomes Ruth's carer, and both are aware that Ruth's next donation will probably be her last.

-Ruth suggests that she and Kathy take a trip and take Tommy with them. -Ruth expresses regret for keeping Kathy and Tommy apart. -Attempting to make amends, Ruth hands them Madame's address, urging them to seek a deferra. -Ruth makes her second donation and completes, an implied euphemism for dying and donating their remaining organs. -Kathy becomes Tommy's carer, and they form a relationship. -They go to Madame's house to see if they can defer Tommy's fourth donation, taking Tommy's artwork with them to support their claim that they are truly in love. .

-They find Madame at her house, and also meet Miss Emily, their former headmistress, who lives with her. -The two women reveal that guardians tried to give the clones a humane education -It is revealed that the experiment failed -When Kathy and Tommy ask about the deferral they find out that it never existed. -Tommy, knowing that his next donation will end his life, confronts Kathy about her work as a carer. -Kathy resigns as Tommy's carer but still visits him. -The novel ends after Tommy's "completion", and Kathy drives up to Norfolk and briefly fantasizes about everything she remembers and everything she lost..

CHARACTERS

Kathy

• She is the protagonist of the novel: at the beginning she is a carer, then she become a donor.
• She recalls the memories of the people she has lost.
• She is an unreliable narrator: her tale is subjective and presents events only from her point of view.
• Her memories show her dependence on silence and indirection.
• She is a careful observer.

Ruth

• She is a Kathy's close childhood friend.
• She is outspoken and hot-tempered.
• She is a natural leader and authoritarian.
• She is an obstacle to Kathy's personality (source of tension).
• She leads her friends in make-believe games ("secret guard").
• She has a dominant personality (special privileges).
• She is driven by the desire to believe in hopeful possibilities and receive affection.
• Capricious and unkind vs generosity and thoughtfulness.

Tommy

• He is a Kathy's close childhood friend.
• He is an outcast (he lacks artistic abilities).
• He has a violent character (a rebel).
• He is anxious and self-conscius (his artworks as a secret).
• He derives pride and personal satisfaction from drawing.
• He is more direct than Kathy and Ruth (violent temper tantrums).
• He lacks emotional restraint.

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Other characters

Miss Lucy

Miss Geraldine

A lively and sympathetic guardian.

A kind and mild guardian.

Miss Emily

Madame

A distant and cold benefactor.

A strict head guardian.

STYLE

Narrative style

•Kazuo Ishiguro is known for his calm, measured, and introspective writing style. •Kathy's first-person narration creates a sense of intimacy and emotional involvement in the story. •Ishiguro uses delicate and descriptive prose to explore the thoughts and feelings of the characters, creating an atmosphere of melancholy and reflection.

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THEMES

Themes

The Relentless Passage of Time and the Inevitability of Loss

The Power of Memory

The Dignity of Human Life

SYMBOLS

The song "Never Let Me Go"

• Kathy acquires a cassette of songs (Songs after Dark, album of Judy Bridgewater);
• Her favorite song is “Never Let Me Go,” gives the novel its title;
• A woman, holding to her baby, afraid of losing him.
• Human love (happiness) VS fear of losing those whom one loves.

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MOTIFS

Copies

• Students are copied from models of the outside world;
• Students copy their actions from what they watch on television;
• They are living in imitation of the real world;

• Originality and individuality. They prove to have a personality and can feel love, that is what the experiment want to prove;
• Narration is a complex, deep and personal exposition of her experience.

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Pretending and Fantasy

• Hailsham is an act of pretending (“sham”);
• Hailsham guardians refuse to speak about donations to students to hide their future;
• Make-believe games from the childhood of Ruth;
• Shadow of reality: fears about lies, apparent protection, donation and future;
• These fantasies become increasingly limited as time goes on.

Lost and Found

• The description of Norfolk as a “lost corner” in which there are all the lost property found in England;
• The idea is a comfort to the students in their childhood: if loss is inevitable, what is lost can always be found again;
• However this certainty will be lost as they grow older and experience human loss;
• At the end of the novel Kathy returns to Norfolk because she only want to recover what she has lost;