Never Let Me Go

              Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro illustrates love and friendship in the face of mortality by examining these themes through the lens of a dystopian society. The narrative can be read as a sort of deathbed memoir, where main character Kathy recounts the events of her short life. Kathy, ever benevolent and forgiving, welcomes “the chance to rest—to stop and think and remember” as death approaches (Ishiguro 37). She does not resent the life she has lived, or rather has not lived, as a Hailsham student, carer, and donor. She looks back on her memories with fondness, as well as with the mature ability to analyze her past and admit to times when she may have been wrong. Kathy is presumably the most admirable character in the novel because, even as she comes to terms with the harsh realities of society both inside and outside of Hailsham, she gracefully accepts and appreciates her lot in life as it is given to her.

              This is not to say that Kathy does not still ask questions – of course she wants to learn more about the world around her, especially the “real” world outside of Hailsham. Growing up, “any place beyond Hailsham was like a fantasy land; we had only the haziest notions of the world outside and about what was and wasn’t possible there” (Ishiguro 66). She also wishes to learn more about herself and about her place in the world. The Hailsham guardians always tell their students just how special they are, yet none of them really seem to know what that means. “We certainly knew—though not in any deep sense—that we were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside; we perhaps even knew that a long way down the line there were donations waiting for us. But we didn’t really know what that meant” (Ishiguro 69). Later, it is confirmed that the students are human clones whose sole purpose in life is to donate their vital organs to ordinary citizens, until they “complete,” or die. Knowing, however vaguely, that this is their future and that they only have a limited amount of time together, Kathy and her friends Ruth and Tommy grow very close.

              The three of them are essentially a family during their time at Hailsham, but as life progresses and they move on to the Cottages, their friendship dynamics start to change. Ruth, who craves acceptance and a sense of belonging, starts to branch out and make friends with other non-Hailsham students. She seems more prepared to leave the memory of Hailsham behind and venture into that transitional phase between childhood and adulthood, while Kathy still cherishes her early memories. Ruth also makes obvious efforts to give up her Hailsham habits by imitating the veterans at the Cottages, who actually copy their gestures and mannerisms from what they see on television. This not only puts a strain on Kathy and Ruth’s friendship, but it also reflects how no one at Hailsham or the Cottages really knows what the “real world” is like, since their only models for how to act in the real world come from TV, books, and magazines – mere reflections of reality. Therefore, the students still tend to hold onto each other for the sense of community that Hailsham instilled in them; “maybe, in a way, we didn’t leave it behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and—no matter how much we despised ourselves for it—unable quite to let each other go” (Ishiguro 120).