Raechel
Hearth
What Makes Hailsham
Special
Hailsham
is always described as a special place in the book, especially in comparison to
other facilities in the novel. Eventually, Miss Emily explains to Kathy and
Tommy that Hailsham treats its students better than other facilities, “All
around the country, at this very moment, there are students being reared in
terrible conditions you Hailsham students could hardly imagine” (Ishiguro,
261). The students at other facilities are viewed simply as a means to an end.
To most people in the outside world, they are just vessels for the organs that
would be harvested later. Miss Emily describes these clones as, “Shadowy
objects in test tubes” (261). People saw
these clones as a means to an end, lacking souls, or characteristics found in “real
humans.”
Miss
Emily tells Kathy and Tommy that Hailsham wanted the children to create art in
order to prove that they had souls. Miss Emil says that at Hailsham, “We
demonstrated to the world that if students were reared in humane, cultivated environments,
it was possible for them to grow to be as sensitive and intelligent as any
ordinary human being” (261). Although despite Hailsham’s efforts, they never
able to gain enough support to stop donations. However, Hailsham was able to
give its students the best life possible under the current circumstances. As
Miss Emily explains:
You see we
were able to give you something, something which even now, no one will ever be
able to take away from you, and we were able to do that principally by
sheltering you. Hailsham wouldn’t have been Hailsham if we hadn’t. Very well,
sometimes that meant we kept things from you, lied to you. Yes, in many ways we
fooled you… But we sheltered you during those years, and we gave you your
childhoods (268).
This is what truly makes Hailsham
unique, and what makes it a success.
Miss Emily and Madame may not have been successful in proving to others
that their students were human, but they gave their students the opportunity to
have as close to a normal life as possible.
Hailsham students were able to make art, build friendships, fall in
love, and have enough independence to become their own people. Kathy never seems to doubt that she is human,
capable of all the emotions and empathy of her “real” counterparts. Kathy reflects upon her life as any person
would, remembering the friendships and experiences that shaped her life. Her ability to do this, and remember her life
fondly, shows that Hailsham was a success.
I agree that as an experiment, Hailsham is successful in showing that clones are not simply organ farms in the futuristic world of Never Let Me Go. As you stated, the head mistress of Hailsham, Miss Emily, eventually explains to Kathy and Tommy what the goal of Hailsham was before it closes. Kathy is surprised to hear about “students being reared in deplorable conditions,” and how most people view students as “shadowy objects in test tubes” (Ishiguro 261). By hiding this reality and slowly helping them realize the lives they must live, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy are able to enjoy life. It is in this way that Hailsham is successful.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I was left wondering what becomes of the students that are raised in the “deplorable conditions” which Miss Emily describes. Even when the students from Hailsham leave to the Cottages, none of the students there appear to be from such conditions either. Perhaps these described clones do not have any experience of life comparable to what Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy do in Hailsham and the cottages, and they instead are grown and raised to be donors without any consideration of their feelings. If this is the case, I would argue that what Hailsham does to allow its students to enjoy life before donations is the most moral thing to do for the clones.
I am interested in the way you bring up that Kathy never questions her being human. I think she perhaps understood she was not human but considered herself to possess human qualities. I see this in the scene where the children ambush Madame at Hailsham. When recalling the scene, Kathy says she can “still see it now, the shudder [Madame] seemed to be suppressing, the real dread that one of [them] would actually brush against her” (34). From this point on, Kathy references the Hailsham students as spiders in Madame’s eyes, pointing out that it had never occurred to the students “to wonder how [they] would feel, being seen like that, being the spiders” (34). Here, I think Kathy understands Madame would not have been so repulsed by them had they actually fully been humans. Later in the novel, when Kathy and Tommy go see Madame to ask for a deferral, Madame calls them “poor creatures” (254). I think Madame does so because she wants to emphasize to Kathy and Tommy that they are clones, so they don’t continue believing they are human enough to escape the donation system. Thus, I agree with your point to the extent that I think the students want to be considered human, I don’t necessarily believe Kathy saw herself as completely human throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteHailsham further stimulates a humane effort to the students by providing for the students a chance to live life as normal human beings. This is seen by the childhoods the main characters have and the interactions they share as well as their experiences.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first major examples comes with the “secret guard” led by Ruth. Kathy describes the large impact the group had when she reflects, “My guess is that it went on for about nine months, a year even, around when we were seven, going on eight” (Ishiguro 49). Ruth’s group was based on the theory that one of her favorite teachers was the target in a fake assassination plan. Ruth and her fellow members, such as Kate, use this group to let their imaginations go wild and work along side each other like real kids on a playground.
Human traits are also seen when Kathy plays her cassette featuring “Never Let Me Go”. As she plays the cassette, she imagines herself in a motherly position with a pillow. She reflects on the incident by stating, “I was doing this slow dance, my eyes closed, singing along softly each time those lines came around again…” (Ishiguro 71). Her possession of the tape allowed Kathy to develop intense feelings of emotion that would not have been felt had she grown up in another institution.
Hailsham’s allowing for children to express themselves and own collectibles exemplifies the humane reach the school makes to the clones.