Introductory stimulus for Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go.

We might start this document by considering the genre of the writing. Is it Science-fiction? Or Dystopian literature in which a parallel world is developed which focuses on negative stereotyping and is the opposite of a Utopia (look them up -it's part of learning!). Or is it something else again?

I argue that it is not science fiction despite subject matter. Cloning has been treated before - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley being the obvious example, but Sci-Fi is interested in the mechanics of the issue and the story usually involves rebellion. Consider all such texts, from popular sci fi to more literary works such as 1984 (Orwell). In most cases dystopia meets sci-fi and all of them hinge on rebellion and the need to make a moral judgement.

They often utilise a first person narrative and we have same here, but we will need to look at Kathy H. carefully. She speaks to us as though to an equal - consider the technical lexis used in the opening page -carer, donation, donor, "agitated" and so on. We are clones and we understand her. Often the sense of dialogue is enhanced by use of 2nd person - "if you're one of them…" to reinforce this sense of a relationship between writer and reader.

Right from the opening sentence which is short, " My name is Kathy H." questions arise. Why is there no surname? As we read on the questions multiply - since in actual fact we are not clones, much of the technical lexis is strange to us. We are engaged and probably begin to provide answers for our questions as we read. The more we read, the more we can assess the accuracy of our assumptions.

There is also set up an "us and them" idea - "...not because they think I am fantastic" - who are they? In fact we never meet them - even Madame and the guardians are employees of them. Ishiguro does not dwell on this question. In "real Sci fi" this would be the conflict central to the narrative. We take it for granted and do not question it, just as Kathy and her friends do. Ishiguro has settled on this narrative device for a number of reasons, but the most obvious is that we are meant to engage with Kathy and her friends as characters and not become distracted by external events/descriptions.

In this, setting is vital. As early as the second paragraph Kathy uses Hailsham as an identifier. We have no idea at this stage what Hailsham is, but we are sufficiently open to such places in a post-Harry Potter age, that we do not question the boarding school setting. Even when the narrative moves to "the cottages" we accept that this peculiar form of 6th form study centre is a natural progression. The characters are never allowed to wonder or reflect on a "normal" upbringing or education - it is utterly irrelevant to their consideration of the world they inhabit. This should not come as a surprise. Ishiguro does not dwell on the mechanics of baby storage and rearing, but it is evident that the world of Hailsham is totally closed from the outside world. Indeed, so thorough is this process that the mature students do not even know where it is! They have geography lessons that prepare them for the bleak emptiness of life as a carer - we see Kathy crossing the country in her car, but not engaging in any way with a real world- but are not required to put their own existence into any context. They have no parents, yet never comment on this lack of a family. The whole education process develops a sense of belonging to a group. These are not outsiders, but members of a group which itself stands outside society. Note alos, in this context, that real 1990s Britain is never alluded to - boom and bust recessions and the first Gulf War are nowhere to be found in these pages.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Hailsham seems to prepare them for a future that is destined to end early. They are not encouraged to have ambition and it is a central part of the dismissal of Miss Lucy that they are kept deliberately in the dark about their lives. Ishiguro never allows this to develop into real opposition. Indeed it is only Tommy who seems to rebel, but even he rebels on a personal level and then returns placidly to face his fourth donation. They have no real belongings - all they own are either pieces of work made by a colleague or a small range of material possessions provided on a strictly limited account by the outside world. Again the mechanisms by which this happens form no part of the story and the characters seem happy with what they have.

Having no parents or parental role models has starved the clones of affection and love and prevented them from exploring their emotional development. Most of the characters can be seen craving some form of love or affection. We will need to trace this within the novel. Moreover, when Kathy is confused by the sexual feelings associated with normal pubertal development, she has no parent to ask for guidance. The responses from Ruth which we later see to be deliberately misleading simply increase her sense of worthlessness and either provoke or encourage her search for a "possible" in the pages of pornographic magazines.

I have mentioned the lack of rebellion evident. Consider the title for a moment. Never let me go, regardless of the interpretation placed on the phrase by Kathy, with its emotional content, implies a wish to remain within the status quo. Whilst it might be the seen as representing the words of a lover wishing to remain in the arms of their beloved, it also can reflect the words of a prisoner who is opting to remain trapped. We should not overlook this idea as we read on. The clones are accepting of their lives. Indeed the response to news of Chrissie's "completion" is not grief per se, but sadness that she did not make four donations. In their world, the clones have become accepting of their brief lives and see fulfilment in their roles as donors. At the end of the novel, we notice how Kathy looks forward to a period when she can have time to write and reflect after being a carer. This is the present of the novel and we should be aware that if Kathy is not a carer, then by definition she must be being slowly butchered for the benefit of human society.

There is much in the novel to enjoy. We will look at the usual aspects of narrative investigated for analysis at GCSE and beyond - narrative voice, literary style and effect, setting, character and so on. You ned to read the text before the start of the Autumn term in September. Hopefully this document will help to provoke some thoughts as you read.

Mr Peel, 13/06/2011

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

NOTES AND FOCI:

Never let me go ch 1

I want to write about Kathy as a character – and the way in which Ishiguro presents her, before moving into a discussion of Chapter 1 as a whole. The opening is something like a confession or a police statement – is she about to give a witness statement? If so, how reliable is she?

Few first person narrators are totally reliable, but Kathy is written in a way that moves away from the conventional unreliable narrator, since she obviously knows that she is unreliable: “ Okay, maybe I am boasting now” on 3.5 shows this clearly. It is the first of many instances of her acknowledging the reader and anticipating that the reader might not see her has reliable. Consequently, whilst we read her thoughts and ideas, we accept her as fallible. In a curious way we begin to trust her more because of this fallibility.

Kathy sees us as her equal. There is no need to elaborate on her missing surname (a device used by several authors to give either a sense of anonymity or a lack of true individuality to their creations). She is, actually, a clone, certainly not an individual in any sense commonly understood. We do not know this in Chapter 1 and she has no need to explain. Instead, as the narrative moves from first to second person – “If you’re one of them…” we realise that the narrator assumes that the reader is part of the same group as she.

This assumption leads to one of the features of the language of this book, the establishment of a technical lexis suited to the dystopian world inhabited by the characters. This lexis, or semantic field, sets up a pattern using common words to denote a slightly different meaning from that which is expected. “Carer, donor, agitated, donation, calm, completion, guardians” dominate the language of the opening, where the world of the novel is introduced to us. As we read there is an assumption that we understand the terms as they are used in Kathy’s world. At the same time we recognise a complex group of euphemisms being created: Carers have a job that is intended to make people healthy enough to be killed; donors give of their free will, but there really is no other option; guardians replace parents but the military sense of the word is more apt than the caring sense; agitated and calm are both put into inverted commas, presumably to show that they are technical terms, rather than simple suggestions of mood; completion is the most eerie – the clones never die, they complete the task they were meant to perform!

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Ishiguro uses all these terms as a fundamental part of Kathy’s narration and we accept them and become familiar – carer appears several times in the first two paragraphs – and realise that they are a significant part of her character emerging. Kathy is a “good carer”. That is, she looks after people who are dying and helps them recover enough strength to go through the process 4 times. She is rewarded for this and has relative freedom which, she feels, might inspire jealousy: “ I can understand how you might get resentful”. Despite this, she knows and accepts that her time as a carer is coming to an end. In front of her is donation, but she is not frightened about this, not does she seem to wish to alter this fate: “they want me to go on for another eight months…” she suggests both some outside force controlling her fate and an end to this life, but seems in no way upset. In fact her main consideration is that she doesn’t upset other good carers who do not get this preferential treatment.

As her change in life approaches, she offers us a look back through her life. Perhaps she is bearing witness, perhaps she is simply remembering; as we read on we need to decide these things for ourselves. She defines herself as a “Hailsham student” and from this point on Hailsham will be the focal point of the novel, even when the students(?) have left, it continues to define them. She is proud of this background and the school will play the role of the parental line in this way throughout the book. It is as if Hailsham students are the aristocracy of the clones. (You might like to consider how different the flashbacks in the novel might be had Ishiguro decided to set the novel in some of the more abusive regimes such as “Morningdale” referred to towards the end of the novel.).

Her upbringing has given her a privileged position in life, but just as we have no choice over our parents – the accident of birth idea –neither has she. She is a good carer and seems to be happy to devote herself to this work. Indeed she becomes defensive, as though threatened, in the paragraph that opens: “And why shouldn’t they? Carers aren’t machines.” Here she suggests that there is negative criticism, presumably from donors of those in the caring role and at the same time lands on the very centre of the argument relating to cloning in the first place. Machines have no souls and are products of human ingenuity. In what way are clones different? This question will eventually be addressed by Ishiguro as the novel closes, but here, and as we read on, the reader might begin to ask the same question. As we enter the flashback world, time and time again we see her caring credentials – she cares enough to intervene with Tommy; she seems to care for and want to be cared for by her peers and in the incident which gives us the title of this book, she is shown to be caring, in the sense of having an ability to empathise, even if the comprehension she has of the song is “wrong”, it is deeply personal.

The setting of the novel increases the sense of isolation around the characters. Even in Chapter 1, Kathy drives all over the country and thinks “maybe I’ve found it” as she sees a building in the distance that might be Hailsham. Ishiguro describes these visions in a very poetic manner – glimpsed through early morning mist for example, which adds to the sense of magic when they are seen. The brutal fact that is hidden by Kathy is that she has no idea where this wonderful place is. Hailsham as a name alone calms donors (pg5) and stories have the same effect as fairy tales told to young children at bed time, yet the “offspring” of Hailsham have no knowledge of its location. They might as well be orphans. The events referred to in flashback, however, are concrete and

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 have substance in a carefully defined local geography. Even in the first chapter we should take note of how little relevance the outside world has to Kathy’s view of the events she narrates.

Focus is first drawn to the sports pavilion and by telling us that Kathy is constantly imagining herself to be seeing the real Hailsham pavilion, Ishiguro prepares us for the shift from narrative in the present to narrative reflecting the past. Kathy is careful with her description of the girls and the sense of being party to a conversation is again strong. Incidental information is given in the form of asides: “-there’d be five or six of us if Jenny B. came along-” in a manner that increases the informality of the narration and helps us to become engaged with Kathy as a narrator.

And so we meet the trio who will be the focus of the novel. Kathy will narrate most of the novel and we must remember that Ruth and Tommy are seen through her eyes. That said, she is often at pains to remind us of this fact by drawing our attention to the possible inconsistencies in her discussions: “ “Or maybe I remember it wrong…” In this we see our narrator as an empathic girl but one who is very keen that she shouldn’t alienate her readers. You might want to consider this in the light of her role as a carer. She creates an image of a group of girl-friends that one might find in any conventional school based narrative. The group gather to observe the boys and there is a detached cruelty in their actions. So far, so teenage. The flashbacks carry little of the loaded lexicon of the “present”. We are in the world of developing adolescents receiving and assimilating information and ideas relative to their age. Ruth emerges as the leader of this group. Her name is mentioned five or six tie sin the space of three paragraphs, usually as the leader of any discussions taking place. She leads the discussion and Kathy is happy tell us that this was detached and lacking in malice. She seems confused about her role: “… and the chances are that’s how it was for me too.” In this moment she seems to be showing her fallibility and possibly questioning her carer’s credentials. The conversation focuses on Tommy, usually “he”, a figure of fun due to his violent temper tantrums. He is isolated by both genders and it is significant that Kathy-the-carer will respond to him in the way that she does. As the torment continues, the girls lose interest and begin to look elsewhere. Only Kathy is concerned, and she is concerned about his shirt. It seems that she can engage with emotions that the others do not feel. The exchange throws up the notion of “being creative” which is unexplored at this stage. There is a feeling that Tommy “deserved everything he got” by his reluctance to conform to the needs of creativity, and little more is said. Ishiguro is foreshadowing not only Tommy’s major character development, but also the central theme of the novel at this point. We do not realise it as we read chapter 1, but this will become the central question of the penultimate chapter. We do see that Tommy is unsuspecting of his treatment at the hands of his peers despite the fact that this is a regular occurrence. However when he is approached by Kathy, his response is given in some detail.

She is aware that his hitting her is partly her own fault. Indeed she is at pains to explore the idea - “I suppose that Tommy wasn’t used to being disturbed…” and makes an excuse for him which is slightly self-critical in focus, if not in tone before he “sheepishly” looks at her to apologise. She has rejoined her group of girls by this stage and the apology has to wait. The final sentence of the chapter is interesting, however. When Ruth says “mad animal” is she referring to Tommy or to Kathy? As we read on, we also notice that she has used the term “animal”. At this stage we think nothing of it, but

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 in a novel in which Madame will refer to the clones as “creatures” in an echo of Frankenstein, the denial of humanity is important. If these children are animals then they are not human. If clones are not human, then they can have no souls and can be treated by humanity without reference to the ethical rules by which life is generally organised.

The opening chapter raises questions which will be addressed throughout the novel and introduces us to our narrator – our equal, our friend –Kathy. We are introduced to the themes relating to setting and a lack of “home” and to the odd world that the protagonists inhabit. The writing is chatty and informative, helping to create a world in which the children seem to be very nearly part of a familiar world. This is not science fiction; there is no creation of an obviously alien world. Instead this is a subtle rendering of a parallel world and is much more believable for that reason.

Use of setting Chapter focus ch 2 NLMG.

How Setting is used in the novel could be a focus as students read ch 2&3 and then revisited once other settings are introduced. Students should be aware that setting is a result of careful choices and decisions all of which have a relevance to the development of character.

Focus questions to be used to stimulate discussion:

 How does Ishiguro create the sense of a normal boarding school?  Look back at Chapter 1. How does the Hailsham described in chapter 1 suggest that it is not the centre of a typical boarding school novel?  The centre in Dover is one of Kathy’s “favourites”. What appeals to her and what is the significance of this?  “The cottages” are mentioned. What does this name imply? When you get to Chapter 10, consider whether the reality matches your ideas.  Consider the description of the lunch queue and the pond (ch 3), what is the significance of the quotation: “`quiet’ places were often the worst because there was always someone likely to be passing within earshot.”? What impression does this give of the children’s lives?

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

 Look at the opening of ch 3. Apart from a place of beauty, what does Kathy focus on in her description?  On p 34, Hailsham is described. What do you notice about its location as described?

The chapter opens with the hurly-burly of the school – narrow staircases and echoing corridors. The children seem to be characters in a typical school- fiction based novel. The room in which “crow-face” is hidden implies a building of great size. The central staircase is used and crowds of children move around in a relatively ordered fashion. Interestingly, as we read on we find that this staircase is quite a god place for a conversation even though Tommy seems oblivious of the throng around him. The conversation leads naturally to the discussion in the “dorm” – the typical location for gossip and intrigue. This room is as near as the children come to having their own area in which to live and store belongings, and it is here that we become aware for the first time of Ruth’s significance as a character: “everyone was waiting for Ruth’s response”. She rules the room and the other students are reluctant to comment without her lead. Her role as the leader and organiser is laid out here for all to see. The narrative also takes the opportunity here to enlarge upon the “exchanges” by which the students gain material possessions.

The centre in Dover is one of Kathy’s favourites and we are shown a little of her life and outlook. The impression given at once reminds the reader that she travels endlessly around the country with no real sense of her own home. The description given draws attention to the sterile cleanliness of the building. There’s even a very distant sea view! But it is interesting to realise that her ideal dwelling contains little that most people would wish for – there is no evident comfort here and the idea that every movement is mirrored faintly in the walls seems rather unsettling to us. It is almost as if this mirroring is designed to reflect the role that the clones play in society as a whole. We do not se Kingsfield until much later in the novel and so this is our only centre – the impression is of a scrupulously clean private hospital, but there is no soul to the place.

Soul may be found in the cottages, but as yet these are a mystery. Ishiguro is looking ahead to the next stage of the grooming of the clones. The implication is probably of twee domestic charm. When students get to Ch 10 they should consider why Ishiguro chose this name and how the cottages continue many of the ideas started in the early chapters.

Kathy is nervous at the lunch queue and the pond and the quotation given is not the first time that the fear of being overheard is expressed. It is almost as if the children are aware of the threat of being spied upon in such a closed community. Interestingly, when we first meet Tommy, the girls are spying on him, as they are later from the windows. The fear seems real and is not surprising when one considers tha the children never leave the confines of Hailsham. The idea that the “quiet” places should be dangerous also seems to reflect the idea of a world in which the abnormal seems normal.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

In the opening description the beauty - “tranquil atmosphere… ducks…” is undercut both by the rather tortuous route taken to reach the pond. A route which involves evading the “guardians” (safety or policing?) and finding a route through the mysterious undergrowth. Once this has been done, the pond is not seen as a “good” place to be. The language reflects espionage and furtive behaviour – “clearly seen, eavesdrop, sound travelled across water…”. There seems to be a lack of privacy at Hailsham and for all that she loves the place, Kathy is aware of it.

Finally as we consider Setting, Hailsham is described. In Ch 1 we get little description beyond the very generalised and notice that Kathy knows sufficiently little about the place that she can not find it as she drives around. Now we see its location and realise that the sense of isolation is complete. It is hidden from prying eyes and “from almost any of the classroom windows…” there is an excellent vantage point to check up on prying eyes. In short, an ideal secret-research centre. Kathy does not dwell on this at this point and later, in ch 5 we will learn that it is surrounded by woods and that the stories related to these are similar to all fairy stories and revolve around potential danger if one strays from the chosen path. Whether real or invented, the affect is to keep the students from wandering too far from the school. They are virtual prisoners.

 What is the significance of the Madame episode in ch 3?

Kathy has introduced the reader to life at Hailsham by means of the exchanges and the references to the “guardians”. The guardians seem to have an ambivalence- half prison warder, half parent and the description of Miss Lucy on p26 does little to dispel the former. Student should consider the adjectives chosen in this short paragraph and their affect on the reader: “squat, bulldoggy, chunky, strong, fit.” To the gurdians is added “madame” in this chapter. The Frenchified title gives an air of sophistication to the character, but also conjures up the image of the brothel keeper – living off immorality. The Gallery is going to surface regualarly and the significance will come out at the end of the novel, but here it is not the main focus of the action, it serves to introduce the story of the “swarm” of children. Naturally, in Kathy’s telling, it is Ruth who has the idea and instigates the plan and it is now that Ishiguro chooses to show the reader something of the reality of the situation at Hailsham. After the descriptors of violent distaste (“froze and waited, shudder, real dread”), Ishiguro writes two similes. One relates to the pathetic fallacy of the scene – students should notice the generally “happy” weather at the opening of the book – “into chilly shade” and the other, “in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders” together with Kathy’s admission that the had never wondered how “we would feel… being the spiders”. The choice of simile, focusing on the horror of non-human things draws our attention to the clones and their lack of humanity. We are not thinking of Kathy and her friends as anything other than human. Suddenly this illusion is shattered and Kathy relates the shock that the girls feel as reality hits home. As the chapter ends, Kathy can look back at this time and realise that this was the epiphany that started the

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 growing up process – “The first time you glimpse yourself through the eyes of a person like that it’s a cold moment”. The sun has begun to go in on these children.

Other foci:

Narrative voice, conversational narrative and reliability.

The guardians and their characters.

Tommy’s tantrums – why does he have them and how does the reaction change?

Why is “creativity” so important?

4&5 will look at Ruth and her relationship with Kathy. She seems controlling and manipulative but also to be craving something. Love?

NEVER LET ME GO CH 4:

 What do we learn of Kathy's character from the opening paragraph of ch 4?

We have already noted that Kathy is an unreliable narrator, and also that she is aware of this and that she apologises to the reader for her perceived shortcomings. In the paragraph she gives a suggestion of her motive in writing the story of her life: "To stop and think and remember… to get straight all the things that happened…" There is a sense here of someone putting their affairs in order before death and we notice that despite her relative youth, Kathy is facing the next stage of her life - certain, painful death - with a calmness and equanimity rather than any hint of anger. She refers to the events of her adult life as coming "out of our time at Hailsham" in the same way that one might refer to parental influence. There is also a slight sense of her being apologetic or ingratiating - "I have to admit, I'll welcome the chance to rest". We need to remain aware that this "rest" is of course a series of operations leading to death. Kathy seems to accept the process under which she lives with no sense of unfairness or injustice.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

 How is the end of paragraph 3 typical of Ishiguro's narrative style?

Kathy leads the reader into her story by a variety of techniques, but the "cliff hanger" is most common. We are reminded that her memory is not faultless and then offered a tempter - "and then it came back to me…" Once she has hooked the reader, her narrative is full of little digressions and hesitations. The sense is of a conversation. In this case we are given all sorts of irrelevant details -" the tokens controversy" which make the character more believable as a young interlocutor since we are being invited to partake of the Hailsham atmosphere ourselves.

 Comment on the structure of the chapter after this point.

The narrative moves through the "tokens controversy" and as is natural in speech, links are made which distract from the original point under discussion. This phrase itself leads into a discussion which sheds light on the "collections" kept by the children and then onto the attempt by the children to alter practices within the school (one of the very few moments of rebellion in the novel). Again, Kathy regularly addresses the reader (you) and builds the sense that we are also clones and party to an understanding of her world. This in turn leads to the gallery, until eventually Kathy refers back to the opening of the chapter and what has been "tugging at her mind". At once she loses the thread and moves back to the tokens. It is only now, 6 pages into the chapter, that Ruth is mentioned and we realise that this discussion is one that the two girls have had together in Dover. They disagree and Kathy willingly gives way to Ruth. At this point she apologises and moves to the matters that she "really…want(s) to talk about just now". Ruth herself. As she recalls their first meeting the tense moves to the present and the memory becomes vivid. The sun is out and all is well as they meet. Their game is sweet, yet with the imaginary horses, Ruth is controlling and Kathy remembers that she has passed some form of test. This will lead to the secret guard comment and the chapter ends on a cliff-hanger.

 How is Ruth portrayed?

Since Kathy is a friend of Ruth's and since the narrative is drawn from a time after her death, we can expect Kathy to be sympathetic to Ruth. She is, but we can see Ruth's character clearly. She comes across as a knowing and controlling young girl, but one who seems to want to gather friends around her possibly as some form of replacement for the love that is missing in school. In ch 3 she is deferred to in the dorm conversation and her plan to swarm around Madame is adopted without question. Ruth is very firm - "Ruth insisted” and will stand no argument. In this chapter we move further back in time within the flashback and see that even as a very young girl, Ruth is dominant. Her horse game suggests both a wish to play with a friend and a wish to control and her knowing reticence once she has mentioned the secret guards show a calculating instinct. IN this section of the chapter, the flashback contains several different time periods - even hospital as adults, and here again we see Ruth dominating Kathy - her terse put down on the subject of Miss Emily is not challenged. Whether Kathy is weak or anxious not to make her donor "agitated" is not discussed.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

 Time to mention time?

The present in this book is hard to find. It opens the novel "My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty one years old…" but from here on the narrative moves back in time regularly. What is interesting and complex for some is that within the flashbacks themselves, Ishiguro will foreshadow events and refer back to events in the past. Within the narrative time, these foreshadowings look ahead, but within the "real timeframe" they refer to actions or event sin Kathy's past. Such proleptic analepsis helps to create the impression of a complex web of ideas superimposed on each other and the reader is actively involved in separating the strands and keeping track of the events described and their relationship to each other. A timeline activity might be fun here. It is only in the closing chapters that Kathy returns to her "present" for consistent narrative and thus the book is framed by the present whilst containing memories of the past that relate to each other and to the present in a complex and satisfying manner. Memories do not work in an organised fashion and ideas will spark off further unrelated ideas in us all. The technique is part of the development and presentation of Kathy as a narrator. She is not reliable, but she is believable.

NLMG chapter 5

 What is the narrative purpose of the “Secret Guards”?

The guards help to focus on Ruth as a character and in her usual roundabout way, Kathy is allowed to tell the story with a mixture of perspectives as her memory explores at a tangent to the tale she is trying to tell.

Ruth comes across as dominant to the point of bullying and prepared to be ruthless in her pursuit of her ideas. Early in the chapter “expulsion” from this secret group is mentioned and we need to be reminded in the opening paragraph that the children are only “seven going on eight” at this time. We also

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 notice that Kathy’s memory is particularly short on precise detail here. Is she protecting Ruth? If she is, the chess story presents another side to this girl – the need to dominate which causes her to lie and to inflate her abilities. Once Kathy realises that Ruth is lying about her ability and “storms off”, she has to be the next to be expelled, an action which duly happens in a fairly typical boarding school image of secretive whisperings and a cruel brush off from Ruth. She is able to acknowledge her hurt and yet, when Ruth is attacked by Moira ( pg 54), is surprised even now by the force with which she defends her betrayer. Childhood is a time of complex emotions and, removed from any real parental guidance, the children have to fall back on themselves to interpret the world around them. We will see at the cottages how hard this is once puberty has developed.

The chapter ends with the pencil case memory. Here Kathy challenges Ruth and we see another side of her. For Kathy-the-carer, Ruth’s overt upset is enough for her to lay off and to let the matter rest. The reader sees a vulnerability in Ruth. True she is controlling, but we realise that this come sin part from her own lack of self esteem causing her to lie and invent a lifestory of her own. Kathy seems still to question this part of her life, as though struggling to find order in a series of random events. She is fiercely “loyal” to Ruth and finds no blame to apportion as she looks back.

The book introduces a variety of approaches to love and a need to be loved. This chapter can be explored in the light of this.

 Guard and Guardian

Ishiguro makes us consider the full impact of the term guardian by introducing the “guards”. We have to consider the nature of this relationship here. The idea of external threats to Miss Geraldine mirrors the external threats faced by the clones as they grow and develop.

 The Wood

The external threat is depicted in this chapter by the wood. Used in fairy tale as a metaphor for growing up and often for repressed sexuality, the wood is an object of fear. The outside world is intruding and the children feel uncomfortable. The mechanism of scary stories is used to replicate the youth of the children, but the punishment of being forced by their peers to stare at the wood is curiously sadistic. The woods offer both a physical threat and help to create the illusion of belonging that Hailsham seems to require. This need to belong will become a focus of CH 6.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

NLMG CH 6

Chapter six not only gives the title to the book, but begins to look ahead.

 Norfolk.

As a “lost corner”, Norfolk will appear at key moments of the story. At this stage, the idea is charming and the reader reads little more into the tale of childish imagination. We do need to notice the appearance of the idea in the same chapter as the tape which will help to define Kathy and her relationship with Ruth, Tommy and Madame. We also notice the lack of specific detail in the teaching that the children receive.

 The tape.

The tape and the song, Never Let Me Go are symbolic of much, but here we might focus on the idea of unwanted freedom. We should consider the implication of those words when spoken by a variety of partners – wife to husband, child to parent, parent to child and so on. What we notice is that the sentiment is not “never let go of me” which might imply a need for love, but actually a wish to remain trapped. This idea runs throughout the text, whether in the reluctance of the clones to break out of their half of the dystopian world in which they live – indeed this would be ludicrously easy for the car-bound Kathy at almost any point, or in the bonds which grow between the clones as they “donate” and “complete”.

Within the song, Kathy focuses on the idea of “Baby” missing the point of the endearment and picking on the idea that is denied to her by her “birth”. The clones are infertile and Kathy seems to be projecting the sense of loss that this causes onto the song. There follows a double mis-interpretation based on a visual metaphor. To Kathy, the pillow represents her baby and the lyrics belong to a mother fearful of being left alone; to Madame the pillow represents the “old, kind world” (ch 22). In this vision, Kathy is aware of the impending closure of the Hailsham life and the harsh reality of all that awaits in the real world.

The tape will be a vital device as the plot unfolds, linking Tommy and Kathy, showing Ruth’s sympathy, helping to fracture the relationship between the trio, helping Norfolk to live up to its nickname and providing Kathy with solace as she drives around. She hopes that once she is no longer a carer, she will “be able to listen to it more often”. In this case it seems to be acting as some form of palliative to ensure that Kathy does not try to break away from the world in which she is trapped.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

The cover of the tape introduces clearly the idea that students need to be particularly careful over their health. Judy Bridgewater is smoking. Kathy uses this memory to explore briefly the obsessive need for the children to remain in peak health. Finally, when pushed by Marge K., Miss Lucy is forced to state “ you’re… special. So keeping yourselves… very healthy inside, that’s much more important for each of you than it is for me”. The children are aware of the difference between the guardians and themselves but do not want to explore the area for fear of what it might produce. It is for this that Marge is punished by staring at the wood in ch 6. Ishiguro is moving backwards and forwards within the flashback and the reader has to concentrate to ensure that the web is clearly untangled.

When the tape vanishes, Kathy does not explore the theft/loss but focuses on what she sees as Ruth’s attempt to thank her for support earlier on the matter of the pencil case. We have no idea where the tape went, but surely the idea that Ruth might have taken it when angry at Kathy is not beyond possibility. Still, Kathy does not venture into difficult territory, any more than the children want to discuss their need to remain healthy.

Finally we might consider her use of the second person to introduce narrative and the lack of any consideration/awareness of an outside world receiving her story and its link to the song on the tape. This is not the writing of someone bearing witness to the outside world in the manner of a Holocaust survivor, but the writing of someone who only sees to boundaries of her world and not beyond. Never let me go!

NLMG ch 7-9

 What is the effect of the opening pair of paragraphs of Ch 7?

Ishiguro presents Kathy addressing the reader almost in the manner of someone giving evidence. We are shown that she is carefully structuring her writing in order to address what she sees as key moments in her life to date. As usual she is chatty and quite informal in her manner and she introduces a shift in the narrative here. This end of the novel deals with “schooldays”. The children are still quite young and what she refers to as a “kind of golden time” refers back to early childhood – Ishiguro has written many scenes using sunshine to reflect this idea. As we move into chapter 7, Kathy feels that her memories are somehow “darker”. There is foreshadowing here of troubles to come. (We note, however, that we are reading memories – this foreshadowing does not look to the real future, but to a future that has already taken place). Thanks to Tommy at the pond ( ch 3), Kathy is beginning to ask questions and to seek answers. She is growing up. The chapters will be generally less in the model of the boarding school story and the ideas raised will not have such convenient answers. The clones are becoming teenagers.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

 Why is so much made of Miss Lucy?

The guardians are necessarily seen as “minor characters”. There is some attempt, however, to develop character, especially in these chapters. Lucy is already familiar to us from Tommy’s discussion and she has been used to raise questions about the nature of “creativity” in the lives of the children. She seems to be caring and she seems to have the students’ best interests at heart. Ishiguro now develops her character as a means of introducing several lines of narrative – the nature of the clones’ future, Tommy’s character and the role of the guardians, for example.

After drawing an obvious parallel between Hailsham and prison and raising the subject of suicide as a means of avoiding the inevitable (all of which is lost on the students), Ishiguro teases the reader by a passage which draws clear attention to the nature of the flashbacks “all of these incidents seem full of significance…” and foreshadows the serious nature of the forthcoming discussion. Pathetic fallacy is used to add gravitas and a threat to this situation.

After overhearing two boys discussing their careers Lucy “can’t listen to you any more and keep silent” She is compelled by her conscience to address the whole group who are sheltering from the rain ( rain=danger, shelter=safety… how does this idea fit in with what Lucy is about to “teach”?). She is openly critical of her colleagues and tells the students the truth. Short sentences and plenty of 2nd person build the sense of passion with which she speaks. To her it is wrong to pretend anything other than the truth – “you were brought into this world for a purpose…”. Kathy tells us this in some detail, and then, as we have come to expect, disagrees with Ruth when discussing the memory some time later. The point is that they had been “told and not told” about everything during their education. Interestingly a reader might feel exactly the same about Kathy’s narrative. The passage also introduces the first real instance of Tommy being seen as perceptive.

Tommy and she become entwined in these chapters. The order in which the story unfolds is confused, and the reader picks up the threads slowly. To realise the truth behind Kathy’s encounter with Miss Lucy we need to look in Chapter 9 and then Chapter 8. In 9 Tommy tells the story of his assisting Miss Lucy to dispose of the papers seen in Chapter 8. At this point Miss Lucy urges him to forget everything she had said to him (ch3) relating to creativity and begs him to remember that art “is important. And not just because it is evidence. But for your own sake.” The pair discuss this and although a link is made to Madame’s gallery, there is no real understanding – yet. Lucy prefigures the end of the novel by suggesting that Tommy might one day “try to find out”. She then shows a rare sign of affection and leaves the boy to ponder her words. Shortly after this she will leave Hailsham for good.

In chapter 8 Kathy has interrupted Miss Lucy as she destroys – what? – and gives vent to her anger and frustration. She also recognises that something has passed between Miss Lucy and Tommy which has utterly disoriented him. Ishiguro uses this prompt to digress into a discussion of Tommy’s character and we wait until chapter 9 to discover what has happened.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

In chapter three Miss Lucy was described in a series of masculine and powerful epithets. Later she introduces the topic of internal health through her admission that she smoked at one time. Now she is used to instigate serious discussion for the first time about the real nature of the lives the clones lead.

 TOMMY

Along with Miss Lucy, the dominant character in these three chapters is Tommy. As yet we have seen Tommy as a boy with a potentially violent temper who is shunned by some of the children because he is not seen as conforming to the group creativity ethic. We gradually see more of him here and discover perception and an awareness of the world around him.

The first story concerns the teasing around the area of wounds becoming “unzipped”. Here Tommy is shown to be naïve and gullible as he falls for the story completely. Kathy is shown in a poor light as she fails to tell him the truth and she feels guilty about this though she lets herself believe that she does not act because Tommy “was touched by all the concern”. The truth emerges and Tommy keeps control of his temper – a notable moment – an Ishiguro enlarges on the zipping idea to suggest a playful coping mechanism for the children as they look forward to adult life and donations. This story comes after the discussion with Miss Lucy and we are invited to relate the one to the other and see a moment when the children begin to grow. We see Tommy as naïve and desirous of love and begin to question the early image of the violent boy prone to tantrums. He seems increasingly vulnerable.

In Chapter 8 Kathy is distracted (again) by sex and Tommy fades from the narrative although Kathy does notice his “whole act fell apart that summer”. She is tactless on the subject of art and a link to Miss Lucy is made. In Chapter 9 it is followed up. Tommy, deeply sensitive to the teasing of his peers has coped with life because, as we learn in ch 3, Miss Lucy has told him that creativity is not important. Now she contradicts herself. In a passage full of emotions, Tommy is told that creativity is vital both as evidence and as some mark of self worth. Kathy is distracted from her “real reason” for talking to him and the reader sees Tommy beginning to question the existence that is so carefully constructed. He and Kathy are seen clearly as soul mates. Indeed as Kathy tries to wrap up the conversation with platitudes, she is surprised that she sees a side to Tommy that is “calm and considered – the side that was to emerge more and more in the years ahead.”. The reader is prepared for the development of the narrative here and we realise that Tommy, alongside Ruth is to be the vital third element in any discussion of this text. He is seen as a deep thinker – “we’ve got to think carefully” and our opinion of him shifts.

 So why all this sex?

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Kathy is distracted in chapter 8 by sex. Ishiguro writes at some length on this subject and will do so again in the second section. Why? And why in such mundane detail? As the children approach puberty it is brought home to us that they lack the support of parent with whom to discuss their development and a consequence of this is that the perfectly natural curiosity about sex and relationships is something that has to be questioned internally. We learn at the opening of chapter 8 that they are now 16 and the digression sparked by consideration of the change in Tommy’s behaviour seems to be natural and in character for a girl who cares so much and notices so much about those around her.

Tommy and Ruth have “ had a serious bust up” and Kathy moves from this information to a discussion about relationships and sex in general. She is not judgemental, apart from the comments about “stomach churning” displays of love, and is frank and relaxed when describing the nature of relationships at Hailsham. At the outset we are still in the world of the school – rules and stories of couples being caught “doing it” and the embarrassment of the guardians. From here, after a brief digression about gay sex which helps to remind us that it is immature children we are reading about (“umbrella sex”), Kathy questions the honesty of her classmates before discussing her own feelings on the matter.

It is unusual for Kathy to focus on herself to this extent and we should note what she says. We know that the clones know themselves to be infertile. Perhaps because of this and also because of a lack of genuine role models, sex is not seen as anything special – it is a simple animal function to be indulged for recreation or pleasure. We note that Kathy “chose” Harry C. and she comments on his experience and also that she didn’t find him “stomach churning”. Whilst there is deliberate humour here, it is worth noting that he has been chosen for practical reasons rather than emotional ones. Her description of the sex education and her response to I t is blunt and practical again – she discusses wetness with no embarrassment and talks of being “ripped apart” as though it is a natural process. There is no mystery to this action. Why would there be? These children are the products of sexless procreation and can not bear children themselves. The lack of emotion is carried on into chapter 9 where Kathy is talked of as the “natural successor” to Ruth, as though the whole process is some kind of conveyor belt of sexual partners. Kathy sees Tommy as a child and comments on his habit of adopting “correct facial expressions to mimic emotions – we will se this again in “the cottages” - and is persuaded to talk to him to get him and Ruth back together. That she succeeds has more to do with his realisation, outlined above, that “It’s not a game any more”. At the end of the section, each of the three seems happy enough in their position. Tommy and Ruth are together and Kathy is caring for her friends and ready to move on in life.

Section 1:

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

The clones develop and in a narrative that owes much to boarding school adventures we meet the three protagonists. We see the realisation of their position in life and notice that they begin to question their position, but never externally. Only Tommy seems to have an expression of outward rage that might be seen as a rebellion against the position, but this is not yet fully developed. Indeed the children are rather ordinary in their longings and anxieties and we see them put against the real world only rarely. At these times, the reaction of the real world – Madame, Miss Lucy – is vital for our understanding of the position in which the clones find themselves.

NLMG ch 10&11

 How is setting used in the opening of the second section?

As the second section opens, Kathy addresses the reader in the present and she describes her lonely peripatetic existence under the sky – “big and never changing, mile after mile” – which helps to create the image of a monotonous and ultimately empty existence. She digresses to discuss the “essay” before returning to establish the Cottages as the locus for part two of the novel. Just as at Hailsham the students are utterly isolated but now the conditions are terrible: “the remains of a farm that had gone out of business years before… virtually falling down… leaking gutters”. Again there is a sensation of being outside conventional society. Now that there are no guardians the children are alone. Keffers is grumpy and although Kathy does not note it as such, he is hostile: “he’d stare at you like you were mad”. The children live in this relative squalor and seem to do nothing about it. A reader might ask what the effect is of the children never having had a “home” and this, presumably, is the answer. There is no sense of an awareness that they have to take responsibility for their own comfort but they do work to Keffers' rota. They are removed from society and until the car is borrowed in ch 13, have no contact with the outside world at all. This lack of contact continues into adulthood where the nearest Kathy comes to contact is the tragic loneliness of the motorway service station.

 More sex and Kathy and porn!

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

In chapter 11 we find Kathy avidly, though secretly reading porn. She is interrupted by Tommy and the two discuss briefly the significance of this activity. The reality is not stated, but Ishiguro makes us aware that it will be during the Norfolk trip. This need to read pornography emerges at the end of a sequence of narrative focusing on sex that picks up the thread left at the end of part 1. In Chapter 11 Kathy comments that “sex was different at the cottages” and suggests a maturity of outlook. Apart from the absence of teasing however, the experience is far from romantic: “I think about doing it in freezing rooms in the pitch dark…”. Even the term “doing it” whilst often a common enough slang term amongst modern teenagers removes any hint that there is anything special about the act of love. Kathy is, as are most of the students, indulging her passion, but she is confused and chooses Ruth to discuss her burgeoning sexuality with. Ruth is not particularly helpful and puts her sex drive down to the “different food we’re eating here”. The humour of this moment for the reader covers the fact that Kathy is experiencing little out of the ordinary for a teenager, particularly one who has been starved of physical affection. Later in the novel Ruth will admit to lying in this exchange, but here we see her asserting her superiority over Kathy, not as a chess player, but as a young woman. She makes much of being in a “couple” and Reinforces Kathy’s sense of inferiority. This seems to be part of her punishment for Kathy after Kathy has (correctly) accused her of affectation in ch 10. Kathy is confused by her strong sex drive and looks at magazines left around, in part for gratification, but more for the unspecified reason, identified by Tommy, to “look at the faces”. He has recognised the look in her eyes as “sad” and suspects that there is some deeper reason for this behaviour. We will learn how right he is, but at this stage we concentrate on the narrative structure in which Kathy constantly drops hints at what is to come and teases the reader with the promise of further revelations yet to be revealed.

Once again Tommy is shown to be perceptive in surprising circumstances.

 Ruth and Tommy – relationships in general.

Relationships are common at the Cottages as the children grow up. Tommy and Ruth are accepted as a couple of long standing by the “veterans” (it is a nice irony that 18 year olds should have this nomenclature), and Ruth in particular tries to behave in the expected manner. Kathy notices that the veterans, and Ruth, are adopting mannerisms from TV shows rather than seeming to develop natural responses to given situations. In part 1 Tommy is said to pull faces to suggest emotion rather than to respond naturally and here we see the same idea. Whilst it is claimed that human babies can recognise 6 basic emotions, subtlety is learned behaviour. These clones have no one from whom to learn. The consequence is that TV becomes a reality for them. Indeed it is closer to reality than the outside world, now reduced to the occasional visits from Keffers. Kathy accuses Ruth of leaving Tommy in the lurch when she adopts these mannerisms, and the pair argue. It becomes evident from this conversation that Kathy is still firmly wedded to Hailsham despite having moved on. This becomes a frailty that Ruth seizes upon, replacing the parental figure in a “daddy’s girl” scenario. It is interesting that in the course of this discussion when Kathy makes her tactical error of involving Chrissie and Rodney, she refers to a chess match. Last time they played, Ruth was found lacking. This time she triumphs. She refers to Kathy as “baby sister” and refers to the “Hailsham bunch” sticking together. In this she draws us back to the

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 opening of the chapter and the description of the Hailsham students “looking pathetic” when dropped by the minibus. Even Ruth “looked daunted”. She has moved on and left Hailsham behind, even throwing away her collections.

This has a great significance. Ruth has destroyed any link to her early life. The clones have no family as such, but Hailsham is as close as they get. Ruth has severed this link deliberately, yet the story of the “possible” that now emerges will show how desperate she is for a feeling of belonging to someone, if not of love. Kathy holds onto the past, but her need for companionship is no less keen. The sensitive Kathy knows when she is being taunted and chapter 10 ends with the friends separated -“she did a laugh as though to say “we’re still friends aren’t we?” – and this separation will dominate much of the middle of the book.

 What is the purpose of the cottages?

The children can not stay at school for ever. The Cottages mimics a 6th form boarding school environment into which the keen children are poured with ideas of essay writing and continued study. There are no teachers and no real rules to their existence. We soon realise that they are marking time. They are well over half way through their lives at this point!

The removal of the guardians points to vulnerability and a need to fend for themselves. Of course one effect of this is to make the clones much more self reliant and to ensure that their group stays inward looking. All the locations for this stage are distant and remote. Integration is not an option.

It is at the cottages that the mature students will explore feelings and ideas that develop as they grow. Love is sought in a variety of ways – sex, friendship and even the “possible” and the apparent obsession with finding the “original” or parent point to a gaping hole at the heart of their emotional life. Friendship continues to blossom here between Kathy and Tommy, though the idea of them becoming a couple is not considered. Ruth’s character is developed in relation to strong figures from amongst the veterans and we note her strong need to be accepted into the society in which she lives.

They also introduce clones from other backgrounds and this can put Hailsham into perspective. Everyone seems to be jealous, or at least envious, of Hailsham. The place has a mysterious power to entrance, as Kathy has already told us in the opening chapter, and here we see that the fascination is not confined to those looking closely at death. Hailsham students are regarded with awe and we will see that many of the veterans ascribe special privileges to Hailsham students. This will be fully developed in part three.

Adult life intrudes and students attend courses “to do with becoming carers”, but little concrete is discussed at this stage. There is a sense of suspended animation to the Cottages. Everyone is waiting for the next stage of the process – adulthood and death.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

NLMG 12-14

There is much to write about in the Norfolk section of the novel. Characters and relationships deepen and develop and all is set against the bleak backdrop of Cromer in the early Spring. The section divides into pre and post “possible” and I will treat” pre-possible” here.

 What is the significance of the “possible”?

Kathy draws the readers’ attention to the analeptic narrative at the opening of chapter 12 when she acknowledges the need to “go back a bit” before embarking on the description of the outing.

She remembers how Ruth approached her and wanted to discuss “what Chrissie and Rodney have been saying”. She teases Kathy who is aware that Ruth wants her to “drag it out of her” and we suspect that this might be another of Ruth’s devices to gain some form of superiority over Kathy. She describes a person “working there in this open plan office. And, well, you know. They reckon this person’s a possible for me”. She is unusually vague as she speaks and seems to be having trouble organising her thoughts and this suggests her excitement. The language of the exchange is interesting: Ruth talks of the students being “copied” from “normal” people and the lack of any real positivity regarding their position in life is telling. This is continued when the debate about possible ages is introduced. Many favour the idea of “normal parents” being used as vehicles for cloning. Again the stress is on the abnormality of the clones as a focus for their lives. This discussion is dropped as it meant that the students were “near territory we didn’t want to enter”. As usual the biggest questions remain unexplored.

This age issue seems to be a reflection of the nature/nurture debate which intrigues us all. Ruth is adamant that it does not matter, that they should be responsible for their own lives, or so she “claimed”. Kathy’s choice of verb is interesting as it prepares us for the reaction that Ruth will have later.

Kathy is also aware that Chrissie and Rodney seem to have presented a picture that correlates with Ruth’s “dream future”. We know from Hailsham and Miss Lucy that clones can have no future, but naturally they still imagine one. What is interesting about the “open-plan office” and “dynamic go-ahead people” that Ruth wishes to emulate is the sheer lack of ambition in the dream. The students argue about James Joyce, yet the only future even someone as driven as Ruth can envisage is that of an office bound employee. We must notice that Kathy suggests to us that the whole story might be a result of the awe with which other students view Hailsham.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Revelationis delayed by the discussion of the “rumour” which will dominate the rest of the novel and that will be looked at elsewhere. Ishiguro is continually foreshadowing and layering this text to introduce teasers and allow us to reflect upon ideas before they are fully developed – we are always being ”told and not told”. In Chapter 14 the group see the “possible” and follow her to an art gallery where the dream disintegrates. When they first see her their naivety is clear. Tommy comments that “ It’s their lunchbreak, but they don’t go out. Don’t blame them.” and we can see that to the clones, living in harsh squalor, this is luxury and that the sheer mundanity of the 9-5 office existence does not enter their heads at all. The worlds are colliding here and there is no real link. The workers, rather as animals in a zoo, are observed and respond with shy waves before the “spell is broken”.

When the children follow the “possible” to the gallery, Ishiguro picks up the theme of creativity but as seen through “normal” eyes. The pair of women are friends and we realise that this is possibly the release that the worker needs. One explanation of the gallery might be that it is simply somewhere to relax and chat with a friend – an older friend (possibly a mother figure, though apart from the silver hair there is no evidence for this at all) who is a similar age to Madame, whose gallery so mystifies the children at Hailsham. Once inside the children are nervous (Tommy) when approached and then react in the manner to which they have been conditioned by school – they listen attentively and give a collective sigh when the “teacher” finishes her lecture. What we do see is the ease with which the “normal” gallery owner accepts art and creativity as natural and the degree to which she is passionate about her friend’s work. In this the two worlds are very close indeed.

On leaving everything falls apart. Ruth’s reaction to the lack of possibility is savage and she focuses much of her frustration on Kathy who seems to be desperate to establish herself as the “real friend”: “ I too reached out and touched Ruth on the shoulder…”. She is rebuffed and Ruth seizes on an area that we know has been bothering Kathy. The explanation of the reading of the pornography begins to emerge – it is not developed yet, but the idea of the “prostitutes, tramps and winos” and the cry of “look down the toilet, that’s where you’ll find where we all came from” mirrors Kathy’s inner fears exactly. She is devastated and Ruth dashes home her advantage – “little miss” – as she takes the others off to find the former student. Only Tommy fails to behave as Ruth expects. He has already stated clearly his view that it is irrelevant where they come from and now chooses to stay with Kathy rather than follow the other three. Ruth is furious but Tommy has chosen and we see a new dynamic emerge – Ruth is now the singleton caught between two pairs. Tommy and Kathy are not a couple, they are friends.

 The rumour.

The rumour will fuel much of the plot of the novel. The idea of deferment again highlights the lack of ambition in the lives of the clones as well as engaging with the sentiment expressed by Miss Lucy in Chapter 9 when she talks to Tommy about “your place in the wider world”. In Chapter thirteen it is also used to highlight the divisions between Ruth and Tommy and to build on the idea that Hailsham really is a hugely privileged upbringing. This idea of Privileged

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Deprivation is interesting since it suggests one reason why the clones never rebel. They are used to the deprivation implied by their upbringing and never question the lack of a home away from “school” or freedom to organise their days as they see fit. Within this model, the obvious privilege of the Hailsham student over clones from other backgrounds serves to keep those students satisfied whilst offering the others a glimpse of a good life – the Hailsham life- to distract form the banal reality of their existence.

In practical terms, however, the deferral question is raised in response to the idea of the dream of the future discussed earlier. Naturally, the clones wish for the best future possible. They do not mix with the outside world but are exposed through television, for example, to all the temptations it presents. Their ambitions are not huge, but they exist. For these ambitions to flourish, they wish for a deferral system.

This highlights again the lack of a real wish to move away from the status quo (Never let me go…) since the deferral is most definitely not a cancellation of their fate. In chapter 13 the discussion centres on the idea that Hailsham students are able to access such a deferral and we are shown Ruth lying to the veterans to support their idea and strengthen her position as “leader” of the Hailsham group. Chrissie refers to an earlier conversation with Ruth – “ the one you told us about the other day” and we see that Ruth is clearly inventing a story to gain some form of kudos. Tommy is mystified and clearly is not in on the charade. “I’m keeping you, stupid” says Ruth and Ishiguro highlights for the reader the degree to which Ruth collects elements around her to produce her perfect life. Kathy leaps in to quiet Tommy, she is still trying to protect Ruth despite the latter’s attitude to her. As the conversation develops Kathy notices Ruth nodding “with a lot of authority” and realises that the other students view the privileged few with something bordering on awe. Even within the world of the clones, there seems to be an element of social superiority. The chapter ends with a flash of the old Tommy. He is genuinely hurt by Ruth’s unkind comments and his anger sparks. For Ruth, set on her path of discovery and desirous of the companionship of the veterans, this goes unnoticed in the hurry to leave the café.

 Setting: The café in Cromer.

A faded seaside town out of season seems a suitably monochrome place for the clones to visit. There is little here beyond nature to attract them and they are not forced into interaction with the real world to any great degree. The café is probably the first such encounter for Kathy and Ruth and their initial reaction is telling. A run of the mill café becomes a place of wonder – Kathy is entranced by the handwritten signs, but even she admits that she has “nothing to compare it with” at the time. The actual café with its fat servers, smoking in the public area and with the windows open to dispense with the small of frying does not sound inviting. For Ruth and Kathy it becomes a place where they can share a smile, at first. As we read the discussion we forget that the group are in public since no one enters or leaves. The town is quiet and seems to be left empty for the clones to explore.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

The café is a welcome release after the car. Here Ishiguro creates the sense of the family road-trip nightmare, with children cramped in back falling out over who has access to the adults. It is obvious that Ruth has no interest in Tommy or Kathy and is fixed on her “possible”. This obsession leads her to cut her friends out of conversation and ultimately ensures that the group arrive in a fractious state of mind.

Questions to engage discussion:

Why are the clones not encouraged to visit carers?

What does Keffers’ attitude to the heating oil tell us about the purpose of the Cottages?

Why might Kathy be drawn to shops like Woolworths?

Ask students to discuss the purpose of art and creativity in their lives.

NLMG Ch 15

It is worth noting that Kathy rarely apologises for her poor memory in this chapter, despite the complexity of the discussion and the maze-like route walked when finding the tape. Why might her memory be so clear here? How reliable is her narrative, bearing in mind the constant reminders of fallibility in the earlier chapters?

 Focus on the Tommy/Kathy relationship.

After the turmoil of ch 14, Kathy and Tommy are left alone and their friendship blossoms. It is worth noting that this is probably the first time they have been alone together with no likelihood off interruption in the whole lives and the scene which culminates in the second hand shop: “His voice was softer than usual… we were right at the back of the shop… mentally curtained (it) off”, suggests the depth of the emotion the pair are feeling. Tommy is trance- like and gentle and we learn of the care he has taken to try to locate the tape as a present. The pair seem unaffected and affectionate and their body language will move towards simple contact as Tommy gives comfort to Kathy. There is no sense here of the TV learnt body-language which so offends

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Kathy when she sees it in Ruth and the veterans. Tommy is seen as different and more on Kathy’s wavelength here. They discuss the gallery and Tommy’s theories relating to his discussion with Miss Lucy and the wider implication of his not having material in the gallery. This introduces the idea of his current art-work, created in secret as a way of overcoming this failing, should Ruth decide to pursue the idea of the deferral. As his excitement mounts, Kathy, ever the carer, is at pains not to build too much into what he is saying until it is Tommy who hits on what will be the final climax of the book – the visit to Madame. All is seen at this stage as something Ruth and Tommy will undertake. Kathy is an observer to this hypothetical scene, and the reader is prepared for the plot as they read into Part 3. Their new found emotional relationship enables Tommy to interpret Kathy’s pornography reading as the search for a possible – if clones come from trash, then where better to find the matches. As they discuss this, Tommy begins to offer the kind of support that is lacking for most of the clones by commenting that he sees Kathy’s urges as natural – “I get it too… I reckon everyone does, if they’re honest”. Later we will see that Ruth has not been honest to Kathy, but here we see Tommy as unaffected and open, supporting his friend and in no way judgemental.

As they return to their own world, the atmosphere lightens and Kathy is able to comment that “I didn’t want anything to come along to break that mood”. As this comment closes the chapter, we know that something will come along and are prepared for this by the reference to the silence maintained about the tape and Tommy’s buying of the present.

 Rediscovery of the tape

The tape is the focal point of the development of the clones at school and also the point central to any meeting with Madame. Kathy has adopted a personal, emotional response to the lyrics, wholly removed from the real sense, and in doing so has created an idea that will permeate the novel as a whole - the idea of unwanted freedom, discussed earlier. At the point of greatest freedom, the tape re-emerges, found by Kathy as a statement of the willingness to accept the status quo. Kathy was teased in CH 13/14 about her reluctance to visit Martin and break the rules. Here Ishiguro lets her find the item which symbolically reinforces her “captivity” in the world of the clones. Tommy is totally unaware of the significance of the tape and sees only the chance to make his friend happy – to repay her for past kindnesses, perhaps. The writing also help us to engage with the idea of Norfolk as the “lost corner” and serves as a metaphor for the human/clone relationship. The tape is found in a dark area, “like the old guy… had mentally curtained it off”. Clones are not considered by the humans – the subject is not one for discussion or thought. The little shop serves as a convenient metaphor for the life being led by all concerned.

The tape will be one of Kathy’s most prized possessions both affirming her friendship with Tommy and helping her to cope with the loneliness and potential depression of her adult life. She will be hurt when Tommy asks for her to pass him to another carer for his fourth donation. With this in mind, the tape might finally represent its “true” meaning – the wish for Tommy to hold on to Kathy for ever. At this point it brings back memories of Norfolk. Ambiguous at best, but we notice that the bad memories are all associated with wishes to “break” the system.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

 Norfolk as “lost corner”

“The lost corner of England”. In this chapter a link is made back to the world of Hailsham and to an earlier point in the narrative. In chapter 6 Kathy looks ahead in hew narrative to “that day when Tommy and I found another copy of that tape of mine…”. We have now reached that point. We are still in a flashback and this helps to see the complexity of the narrative timeline of this novel. The point that Kathy makes is that the pair felt the tug to an earlier age when discussing the lost corner and finding the tape. Miss Emily introduced the idea of the lost corner by drawing attention to Norfolk’s comparative isolation and the idea that no one needs to pass through it. The loneliness and isolation reflect the life at Hailsham which might be seen as a real “lost corner” in that once they leave, the students never find it again. They are left with memories. They even wonder if the tape is Kathy’s original – the true story of its disappearance is never explained – as they find it. Kathy is not surprised: “Then of course I found it”. If Norfolk somehow represents hope, then this further reveals how low the aspirations are that the students have. A repository for junk from which happiness can be found. This might also be represented by the Sales of childhood.

 Discussion of cloning/parent implications.

Tommy challenges Kathy to face her fear – that she is created from the lowest moral originals – pornographic models – and she is frank about her worries. The lack of any true identity is troubling for her, as one might expect of many children from broken homes. Tommy has kept her secret and obviously cares for her (this will make her denial of him in the next chapter doubly troubling). She opens up her secret fears and receives comfort of a sort. The reader is challenged here to sympathise with a damaged child who is struggling to address her, quite normal, sexuality as it emerges. Tommy repeats platitudes from the teachers, but the significant thing is that he is able to hug her and give comfort in this manner. Back in chapter 6 Kathy has commented how rare it was for children to hug at Hailsham. In this chapter, Tommy and Ruth can be seen to have a normal relationship based not on extreme urges or learned from television, but rather simply responding to the emotional needs of each other. This is the closest they come to being “real” humans, in a chapter which offers the possibility of escape from cloning yet which reintroduces the key symbol of reluctance to escape – the tape.

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The two chapters at the end of Part 2 bring Kathy’s childhood to an abrupt close. Hailsham has been an idyllic life for the young clones and The Cottages have been equally unthreatening location. As a result of the events set in motion in Norfolk, Kathy realises that it is time to move on.

 Tommy and his art – betrayal.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Tommy has hinted in ch 15 that he is working on something to go into the gallery to support his deferral. Here we see it. The work is unique to him and utterly unlike anything Kathy has seen before. The scene is introduced with a reminder of the childishness of the clones – the wellingtons with socks peeking out, and the feet that “poo a bit” helping to reveal Tommy as still a boy. Kathy is intrigued and we should notice the reference to “obsessive precision” in the drawings. They are likened to miniature mechanical diagrams rather than art and we should notice that they are not really proof of “creativity”, let alone of a “soul” for this reason. There is more than a hint of the drawings of an autistic mind – high on detail and low on imagination. That said, Kathy responds to the spontaneity of the creation and to Tommy’s description of the care he felt for each of his creations. Indeed he seems to feel about them in a paternal manner – “he worried… how they’d protect themselves or be able to reach and fetch things”. The clones create imaginary “children” in a similar manner to the scientists who create them. Sadly Kathy’s encouragement further fuels Ruth’s jealousy over his friendship with Kathy and acts as the catalyst for the ending of childhood. In the churchyard (graveyard?) Ruth manipulates Kathy to humiliate Tommy and in doing so ends any illusion Kathy might have held of the Hailsham students remaining together as friends. This is a calculated act and Kathy is acutely aware of her lack of integrity as she fails to stand up for Tommy. Kathy is still going over the scene as she looks back from the present. She falls victim to Ruth’s ability to dictate how her friends think and behave. She is unable to fight and instead, with a feeling “of a kind of lethargy” she gives in and, rather than confronting the issue, avoids it and decides on her path. She will leave. Tommy’s response is not anger – he is seen gazing in wonder “like I was a rare butterfly”. This is interesting since it suggests that his emotion is one of genuine surprise. He and Kathy are closer to being soul mates than he and Ruth seem to be, yet here he is betrayed by Kathy. He is not angry – simply amazed. Kathy, as the narrator, suggests a beautiful image – the butterfly – we only have her word for this. For Tommy, the reality may be far different.

 Kathy and Ruth

After Norfolk, Kathy and Ruth seem to be getting on well again until the tape is discovered. From this point, matters unravel. Ishiguro prefigures this at the close of chapter 15 and once the story begins, Ruth is in clear control of a sequence of events which will end the friendship and the innocence of childhood for ever. The narrative has a double flashback here – the bus shelter requires a further memory to fully understand the context. From the moment that the tape is found, Kathy questions her memory and her interpretation of events. She seems reluctant to clearly apportion blame on Ruth, but for the reader is seems quite clear. Ishiguro foreshadows regularly: “there was something about the way that Ruth put the tape back… that made me think it wasn’t finished with yet”. As the story develops Kathy recalls Ruth’s language with clarity. She is horribly saccharine in her friendship: “ Tommy, sweety…our dear Kathy” and the sense of pleasure she is getting rings through these words. There is little doubt that Tommy and Kathy are being punished for their lack of loyalty in Norfolk, just as happened to the secret guards at Hailsham. A friendly conversation is turned around as Kathy recognises “with a cold horror” that her words, spoken in fun and friendship, are about to be used against her. In chapter 17 Ruth delivers the final blow to the friendship. She has had a revenge

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 for the tape, now she gains it for the friendship. She implies that Tommy is “fussy” and in doing so suggests that Kathy’s promiscuity is such that Tommy would never really wish to be her friend. The reader knows this to be untrue, but in the closed world of the Cottages there is no option for Kathy but to leave. Her mind is a blank and Ruth and she reminisce about Hailsham until Kathy can stand Ruth’s pretence no longer. For Kathy, Hailsham and childhood are her roots; to Ruth they are something to leave behind and grow out of. The pair part “without our usual little touches on the arms and shoulders”. Another door closes.

 Memory

Memory is at the root of Kathy and Ruth falling out of friendship. For Kathy, Ruth’s inability to remember Hailsham is an act, put on to appear more mature than the others. At this stage we do not know if she is right – she controls the narrative – and we accept her reading. The whole section relies on Kathy’s precise memory and the sense of memories within memories is strong. We can look at this structure as one where a memory is often only rendered explicable by reference to a further memory. A timeline exists between the present and a time in the past (the memory) yet this time is coloured by a further memory that may be from either before or prior to the memory under consideration. Time and again – here in the bus shelter – Kathy requires a second memory to illuminate the first. We are reminded constantly of her awareness of her own unreliability. Indeed she is able to tell us that she remembers forgetting when looking back to childhood. “Remembered forgetting” must require an external prompt to bring the memory back. This is precisely the narrative voice developed by Kathy throughout the book – the reality of her memory is created by further cross referencing within her memories which might serve to render her a little more reliable than is often considered likely for a childish first person narrator.

 “None of them were from Hailsham”

This line is thrown into the narrative and can pass unnoticed as an irrelevant aside. I would ask students to recall it in the later chapters when Madame is talking about Hailsham and its demise. At this moment it helps to establish a fin de siècle atmosphere within these chapters and increases the isolation of the Hailsham students who are already viewed in awe by the others. For Kathy, this is a blow since no one will arrive who is willing to share her memories. For Ruth it is a stroke of luck – no one will contradict her. With hindsight, we can recognise the end of the Hailsham experiment here and see the clones as even more cut off than before. The link to their origin has been severed.

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 Kathy as an adult.

The section opens with Kathy reflecting on her adulthood. This is genuine reflection, weighing up her life experience and does not rely on memory to tell. Once again we see that she is finding positives despite the very low aspirations that seems to define these children – “I might go shopping for another lamp like that one - not to buy, but just to compare with my ones at home”. Her world is isolated and lonely as moves from location to location in her car, with even her sleeping places described as “overnights”, presumably not accommodation which would help her to mix with the outside world. Her life is one of arduous journeys and broken sleep.

The upbringing of the clones has not prepared them for a wide circle of acquaintances and Kathy is able to tell us that she has “learned to live with” the solitude and “actually quite like(s)” it. Solitude differs from loneliness by dint of often being sought. Here we see Kathy content in her own company – we will decide if we believe her as we read on. She is a good carer- unusually good – and is even able to request certain donors. For this reason she has been a carer for much longer than usual and is beginning to look forward to the peace of being a donor. She is not focusing on the pain and the certain death. The overweening feeling is tiredness as she relates her life and that of Laura “slumped at her steering wheel”.

The conversation with Laura revives memories of Ruth and also of Hailsham and Kathy recounts her dream of the balloons. Here we see the effect of the closure of Hailsham and we notice once again the role played by the school in forming the students. Kathy is feeling a similar loss of security and certainty as an orphan might when losing their parents. Her dream, with its images of silly balloons is an evocative piece of writing as she focuses not on individuals, but on the idea of separation and loss.

It is natural that this idea will develop into the renewal of her acquaintance with Ruth and eventually Tommy.

 Kathy and Ruth

Kathy becomes Ruth’s carer in the clinical surroundings of an unnamed centre near Dover. The relationship is complex and starts well – “better than I’d dared expect”. Ishiguro is preparing us for trouble ahead and the narrative unfolds. There is tension due to their parting as children but also due to the roles each plays in relation to the other – Ruth is proud of her donation and looks down on carers in general – “it’s what we’re supposed to be doing, isn’t it?” Kathy is ill at ease around her, as though waiting for something to happen. She reminds us in her dialogue that there are secrets in the story that will

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011 be revealed in good time. She addresses the reader directly and we are “told and not told” as the chapter (18) develops. For her part, the incident after the shower suggests that Ruth is equally nervous – we assume that she is waiting for Kathy to respond to her as she might have done to Kathy earlier in the book. She seems to have been waiting for Kathy to take revenge. Kathy begins to dread the meetings which take place in silence.

Having set up this tension, Ishiguro moves swiftly to the next chapter and the meeting with Tommy, as the three visit the boat, in a journey which mirrors the trip to Norfolk.

Ruth has been angling for a chance to see Tommy and she refers to him as “that boy” in a reference which helps to remind us of the relationship that the three had once shared.

We are prepared for Ruth to show signs of weakness after her difficult first donation, but the alteration is clear. She is on the defensive much of the time and as the group approach the boat she is physically weak – scared of the wire and the possibility of pain and walking with difficulty. It is on the way home that the biggest change is shown, however. We have seen that she is much weaker physically and Kathy has already commented that when she and Tommy “gang up” on Ruth she simply takes it. The apology on the way home is something new again. Kathy is braced for an outburst having mentioned Madame, and the writing is designed to point the reader in this direction: “something like triumph…pointing a gun…a can’t-believe-my-luck expression…my panic”. In fact Ruth’s apology is heartfelt and moving. She is aware that she does not deserve to be forgiven and we learn much that sheds light on earlier events. Ruth has lied to Kathy over her sexual urges, fully knowing that she was failing to help her friend and also admits that the final separation, when she had described Tommy as “fussy” was a complete fabrication. She is intense and seems desperate to make her point. When she links this final idea to the need to try to get a deferral she is making her last attempt to control her friends. She has found Madame’s address and gives it to Tommy. She knows that Kathy will change her mind.

The confession has “drained” Ruth and cleared the air. The two can enjoy a peaceful and genuinely friendly last few days together. When Ruth completes after her second donation, we are shocked, but the chapters have set this up for the reader through the depiction of the weakened Ruth putting her house in order. She can not have known that death was so close – there is never any suggestion that donors know what they are about to donate, but the conversation between the three concerning Chrissie’s completion foreshadows Ruth’s death neatly and the signs are there. Hailsham is no more, many more clones are dying “early”, and Ruth is weak and wishes to seek forgiveness…

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Ruth’s death is painful and Kathy offers little real “care”. She thinks she receives a message to care for Tommy from Ruth and is able to justify her next decision based on Ruth’s wishes. There is no sense of mourning, rather a heavy atmosphere in which Ruth’s physical torment is clear to the helpless Kathy. Even when she addresses her friend she does so under her breath and tries to achieve some form of psychic link as she imparts her decision.

 Where is Tommy?

The Kingsfield centre is everything that the Dover centre is not. Ishiguro creates a threatening atmosphere from the first time we see the place – groups of young people lurk in the shadows and there is a lack of comfort. It is also a conversion. Rather as at the cottages, where the buses have long since stopped attending the bus shelter, there is a sense that the clones live on the borders of the human world, in areas long since deserted by humanity. In this case the pleasure pool has been concreted over but the steps remain - Kathy’s imagination associates this feature not with pleasure but with death. In this atmosphere Tommy is pictured as slightly unhealthy, overweight and poorly dressed with a “slight medical odour”. Kathy is unsettled and wishes to leave.

 The visit to the boat

Ishiguro is on record as stating that the boat does not signify “death” or anything quite so convenient – he simply felt that the image was needed. We have to address the apparent symbolism that the reader picks up, however. Misplacement, an alien presence, a world destroyed, futility of man’s attempts to tame nature and so forth. Readers must be free to follow their own idea here but to me I se links with the demise of Hailsham and a world in which a once grand idea is left to rot. There was a futility about the journey to Norfolk in part two. This futility is seen even more strongly in a visit to an unnamed location which is redolent of the fen lands or the landscape around the Medway estuary or Orfordness – no more than a couple of hours from Dover. The boat is stranded beyond woodland which frightens the three and recalls the environment around Hailsham. It is Tommy who makes the direct link with Hailsham. Ruth is literal and disagrees with him. She does, however share a recollection about Hailsham as part of her response. She lies no longer. Whether or not the boat is seen as a metaphor for the idea of Hailsham, the clones begin to discuss completion in its presence. We can not say with confidence what it is, but the sense of ill-omen is tangible.

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NLMG 20

In a short chapter Ishiguro allows Kathy and Tommy to finally discover the love that they had felt as children to blossom into an adult, physical relationship. The whole is tinged with sadness and a feeling of opportunities missed or of survivors clinging to the wreckage of life. This relationship is described in frank detail by Kathy and also shows that both of the clones seem to accept the idea of deferrals, indeed even referring to Ruth saying “she got it right”.

 Setting

We are in the Kingsfield but one year on, Kathy is able to find it growing on her. Tommy’s room is big but Spartan with more than a hint of the monk’s cell about it. Kathy suggests a life beyond this memory when she refers to people Assuming that she’d “fixed it for him”, but other than this, the narrative sits comfortably in the past, even to the extent of a past continuous usage – “get their own room” which suggests that the reader is quite close to the action and that the world described is still very much intact.

Generally the pair are found on the bed (clothed) or with Tommy sitting at his desk. There is little sense of genuine ennui evident, but we might question what it is the carers actually “do”. Kathy drives a great deal but seems to spend her time chatting, having sex and “catching up on my reports”.

Ishiguro creates a sense of time on the wane by referring to the light, even in the summer, as an “autumn light”. Time is running out and this idea will dominate the relationship between the two. Generally the weather is wet, particularly as Madame is discussed and this use of Pathetic Fallacy should be noticed as helping to prefigure the outcome of the meeting and to undercut the optimism of the pair. That said, Kathy’s “what can she do to us?” is hardly a statement of confidence!

 Kathy and Tommy

Kathy is the narrator of this section and is frank and open about the physical relationship that develops. Perhaps she is too biased, especially when discussing the initial sexual encounter which she initiates and to which Tommy does not respond “for a while”. She says that she knew he “was happy about it “, but his side of the story is not told. There is a sense of desperation in her sexual behaviour – “I had us going at it all stops out…” as she strives to keep the feeling of missed chances under control. This feeling will lie beneath the whole relationship, even tainting Tommy’s drawings.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

The drawings recall the Cottages and a more innocent and relaxed time in their lives. Tommy is drawing again as a tactic for meeting Madame (the sex is excused in this way too) but his new drawings do not impress in the same way: “something was definitely gone, and they looked laboured…”. In this as in all else the sense is of time running out. Kathy feels that there “was something ridiculous … about the way we were now thinking…”.

This tone in the narrative creates a sense of foreboding which will be carried into the close of the novel. Indeed Kathy is quick to claim that all was well at this time, but is obviously recalling a very difficult period. There is pleasure in the relationship, but also the knowledge that every day brought Tommy’s fourth donation and death closer. The sense of fighting the sands of time is evident on every page. With the light almost extinguished and the rain pouring the exhausted Kathy finally tells Tommy she has seen Madame. After a pause Tommy is touchingly concerned that her driving around will get her into trouble – he is considerate and possibly looking beyond his death to a time when Kathy might have to account for her actions. Acknowledging that the idea is scary, for the first time the two clones begin to believe the dream – it has become tangible. They share a childish fantasy about returning to their youth before planning more definitely – Kathy declaring that “maybe we’ll take more. Fifteen, twenty even. Yeah, we’ll go and see her”. There is a sense of Kathy finally letting go – her arms are opened wide - and genuinely beginning to believe in her future. Only her “what can she do to us?” suggests the reality. As clones they are outside society so are not going to be locked up by the police – they have no real freedom anyway.

NLMG 21&22

At this stage the story begins to link up. Madame and Miss Emily are interviewed and much of the formative education process is explained. Tommy and Kathy have to face reality and Tommy experiences his first uncontrolled emotional outburst for many years.

 Setting

For the first time Kathy enters the real world. It is fitting that the house is so unmemorable – little is exaggerated in this book and it is evident that Madame and Miss Emily have not made significant material gain from the cloning process. Ishiguro sets the whole section which suggests that nature is conspiring against the clones. Small events of ill-omen abound at the opening of chapter twenty one: the car had “played up”; Tommy had to re-do three of his tests; Tommy was feeling “woozy”; they have to keep stopping on the journey; they arrive in the evening and there is a sense of the day drawing to a close as their hopes and lives close also.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

When Madame is noticed she is walking neatly down a long straight road, a road full of cloned houses, which eventually begins to run out on one side. Madame turns at her door and lets the pair into the house.

Once inside the atmosphere is not particularly frightening but the description suggests the labyrinth of mythology – the darkness and the narrowing passage which seems to branch off – “even deeper into the house”. There are bumps from upstairs. The pair are sent to wait in the front room – mysteriously described by Kathy: “what must have been the front room of the house” – where all is musty and there is a feeling of age. The fire (warmth and homeliness) has been replaced by “a strange owl-like bird” and a picture of Hailsham hangs above. As the chapter ends, the sense of mystery is heightened again – Kathy realises Madame is addressing someone in the darkness, a mechanical sound is heard and the house “seemed to go much further back into the dark than I’d guessed. It is not only the physical nature of the house being discussed, but the house seems to be pulling back memories and thoughts from the past within its dark tunnels.

At the end of the scene the pair are almost reborn into humanity by leaving the hall after a long period of further discussion and set off on their strange journey home. Kathy seeks isolation by driving on “weird” roads and at one point Tommy has to leave the car, feeling ill.

Kathy hears screams and though her path is blocked in true fairy tale fashion by thickets and fences she reaches Tommy in a field where even the mud seems to be trying to reclaim the clones for the earth. They are being sucked down into the mud and have to fight to extricate themselves. Once they meet they lock in an embrace before Tommy breaks the spell with typical self-deprecating humour. This helps to lighten the scene, but not before we have noted the links with “man-made from clay” and other ideas. Was it for this the clay grew tall?

 Madame and Miss Emily

Nothing has been seen of the Haisham staff since the first section of the novel and now we meet the two principal players again. Madame, though rarely present was the principal figure in many of Kathy’s memories – the swarm and most vitally the pillow/baby. Miss Emily ran the school and had, in Ruth’s words “an intellect you could slice logs with”. She is not as closely involved with the students as Lucy or Geraldine and is usually found in authority.

When they meet, Ishiguro repeats the simile from the swarming incident – “like we were spiders”. This time AKthy is fully aware of this and notes that Madame recognises “What we were”. Madame retains her politeness, smiles and invites the children into her house –Hansel and Gretel come to Littlehampton? The interview begins with Madame opening a door to the darkness and Kathy notices how she “tucked her shoulders in” when passing between them. Ishiguro shows the tension by Kathy’s response and Tommy’s idea – apparently spoken later, that Madame was about to burst into song.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Once again the narrative looks forward within the flashback, here to release some tension as Kathy retells her story. The event is not narrated in “real time”.

Within the interview we have Kathy’s interpretation. Madame is clearly saddened and moved, but also mystified as to why she has been visited. To Kathy, she is asking a test question and she still holds the idea in her mind that the deferral is a possibility. As the questions move to the gallery, Ishiguro makes Madame stare at a spot past Kathy. At first this seems like an old lady staring into the past, but Kathy and the reader soon realise the obvious – there is someone else present, someone to whom Madame seems to be deferring. We are told the reasoning behind the gallery and for Hailsham itself. Miss Emily states clearly that it was to “prove you had souls at all”.

At this point the philosophy of the cloning experiment is laid bare. The Morningdale scandal is referred to several times before Kathy asks for clarification- for once she and the reader are on equal terms- and it seems that to many the clone should be kept as products of science and that Hailsham was an attempt to introduce humanity into the clones both in their treatment and into their personalities. Madame is clear when she calls them “poor creatures”, about the Frankenstein links at this stage.

Miss Emily is time-ravaged and wheel chair bound, looking ever more like the wicked witch figure of fairy tale, but despite her “eyes blazing” she hears the clones and is frank and honest in response. Her admission that the rumour is not a surprise and that she “ceased worried about it”, whilst Madame had not worried in the first place enables the interview to continue with an openness and honesty that it requires. She seems happy that they have turned out well – she has heard about Kathy it transpires – and recognises the seriousness of their quest at this point. As they discuss the deferral, the scene is punctuated from outside by more sounds of a world being dismantled. Ishiguro uses the removal men to comment gently on the passing of an era.

She seems fixated by the Hailsham experiment viewing the “success” of Kathy and Tommy as a success for the experiment rather than showing any concern for the inherent paradox that the more developed the clones are, the crueller is the fate they suffer. She puts the experiment into context – the end of the war leading to scientific discoveries so numerous that all people worried about was the outcome and the sense that once time had moved on it was too late to worry.

Miss Lucy is discussed and obviously made less of an impact on Miss Emily than on the students. She states that Lucy was dismissed as part of a philosophical disagreement hinged on how much the students should be protected from reality. She believes that the sheltered upbringing has resulted in happiness and mental development which would not have taken place had the truth been known from an early age. Emily becomes passionate in defence of Hailsham, asking the pair repeatedly to look at themselves as proof of success. As she becomes emotional, Madame in the corridor is equally stern when dealing with the removal men. At this point, however, Miss Emily drops all pretence and admits to her real feelings: “There were times when I’d look down at you all from my study window and I’d feel such revulsion…” Even to those who believe in the clones as individuals, this emotional response is strong.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Miss Emily states that “we’re all afraid of you” and this hits at the heart of the issue. Clones are alien-like, but with that most frightening of alien attributes – they look just like us.

The scene closes with a discussion of the pillow/baby. This has been discussed before, but to recap, Kathy brings up the moment when she saw Madame weeping as she danced with her pillow to the strains of “never let me go”. Kathy outlines her vision – the infertile woman with a miracle child praying that it should always be with her – a cry for motherhood and normality which she acknowledges has nothing to do with the true song title, and Madame gives hers: A child clinging to the “kind old world”. Neither is right according to the lyrics of the song, yet both are utterly plausible responses. Both are full of yearning and sorrow and both suggest the souls indicated by the gallery. The topic has been discussed in earlier sections here, but at this point we need to draw attention again to the dichotomy of meaning and the relevance of the title. This emotion which works so well both begs for protection, begs for the right to protect and begs for the voluntary entrapment which is indicated by the lack of revolution. Surely, if any moment should have pushed the clones to drive off into the wide world, this was it. Instead they return to their lives and drift apart.

 Tommy

On the way home Tommy runs into a field and covered in mud and cow shit screams to the heavens much as he had done as a child. An inarticulate screaming and raging which he learned to control as her grew up explodes here for the last time. At this stage the pair can discuss its significance. As ever, Tommy shrugs off the idea that he might be responding to an understanding of his fate, but does agree that, “maybe I did know somewhere deep down. Something the rest of you didn’t”. This idea hints at sensitivity in Tommy not immediately obvious in the earlier chapter, yet here we see how, despite Kathy’s concerns he does not break down or blurt out something stupid. Rather he is seen bringing a wry humour to much that has happened during the interview. Prior to this he has stated that he was a poor carer (though is proud of his abilities as a donor), yet he is seen as caring towards Kathy whenever he can be. We remember not only the tape in Norfolk, but also his understanding nature with regards to the porn at the Cottages. Indeed he is much more aware of her feelings and keen not to hurt them than Ruth would ever have been. It is obvious that even when very young the pair shared a wavelength – Kathy is worried about his T-shirt in the earliest memory and he chooses her to confide in about Miss Emily. As they stand soaked and filthy in the field they seem to experience genuine love – not the sex so graphically described – for one another and no words are needed. This cathartic moment punctures the tension of the interview and removes the need for the deferral altogether. The experience in that short moment all the love that no amount of deferred time might bring.

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 Kathy and Tommy – carer and donor.

Following the revelation and catharsis of the previous chapter, things are not the same. The relationship continues but Kathy senses a difference. Tommy has responded to the truth by “identify(ing) himself with the other donors”. Kathy is our narrator and we only hear her views and she begins to feel isolated. Tommy begins to lurk in the shadows with the other donors and begins to cut short her attempts to reminisce. To the reader, the obvious link is with his fourth donation and a sense of his impending death – he realises that we can never cheat our fate and therefore has begun to prepare for death by severing contact with painful emotion and the illusion of another choice –Kathy.

Just as Ruth had done before, Tommy makes plain that Kathy would understand, “if you were a donor” and the lines begin to be redrawn. Kathy’s status is certainly unusual since she has been a carer for so long – eleven years at the time of writing. She does not seem to be avoiding donation, but is not seeking it. Yet all around her are moving to this last phase of their lives before she does. It is natural that they might “savour” the company of their peers rather than her memory fuelled world and she is increasingly isolated as her friends die off one by one. Now Tommy tells her that he want s a new carer. He is sparing both of them unnecessary emotional upset, but Kathy is hurt and upset by this.

The pair have been discussing the donations and she has been allaying his fears of being left in a comatose state and she is “knocked off balance” by his request. As ever her narrative delays the facts here by digressing briefly about the grounds before stating his request for a new carer. The pair discuss the request in light of Ruth and her wishes for them to be together and Tommy focuses that wish on the deferral, rather than for a wish for Kathy to assist in his death. It is not the request that shocks her, however, the statement of separation between donor and carer is what causes her to walk off, mirroring the close of the second section of the book. When she returns to his room they discuss things gently and Tommy uses the water metaphor of the drowning couple to illustrate his wish. He ends with “we loved each other all our lives. But in the end we can’t stay together forever”. The emotion is somewhat undercut by the weakness of his closing words – the repetition of “it’s a shame”.

As they approach the end, Kathy’s memories are told in simple language with few digressions and the pair focus for the last time on Ruth. Here Kathy dwells on her thoughts and draws a clear interpretation change between the past and the present. She does wish that Ruth could have seen how her unkindness could not be simply undone by wishing for the best, and sees this with hindsight, not as mere vengeance on her part, but more because she wants no “difference” between the three friends or step-siblings(?) and sees “ a line with us on one side and Ruth on the other”.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

As they leave Tommy uses water as an image again, this time to show his joy at scoring a goal as a child. These water images leave an impression as we remember the trip to the boat and see the image of the decaying world, bereft of its natural medium – water. The farewell is utterly understated and Tommy joins the ranks of the donors-his final wave is vague and might not even be a wave – a gesture, weak and vague, of futility?

As the book ends, Kathy brings her memory up to date and comments on a discussion about the fallibility of memory. She is convinced that her most precious memories will be long lasting – her friends and Hailsham. She agrees that she is possibly looking for Hailsham and we have to wonder if the thing she is seeking is not a building but a state of mind – peace and happiness.

She is still a carer, giving of herself utterly and driving around with her world reduced to the interior of her little car. She ends her narrative by describing the “only indulgent” thing she does –another drive to Norfolk, where in an unfamiliar landscape and devoid of any company –human or clone – she looks at rubbish blown against a fence – a true “lost corner”- she imagines an image of Tommy arriving and waving – “maybe (he’d) even call”. She does not allow the fantasy to grow – a fantasy of a real life as a free human being – and returns to her car and “wherever it was I was supposed to be”.

There is no optimism at the end of this book. Kathy returns to her duty, her only rebellion being a small fantasy which she herself stops short. Ishiguro has commented that he wanted to write about the lack of complaint that most humans make in the face of fate – we acknowledge that our live shave a natural span and accept it, to varying degrees. Here, his creations have an unnaturally short span, yet they do not complain. We do not gain access to any discussion of “how” the clones exist – this is not Brave New World” and the only rebellion is a polite enquiry, an inarticulate cry and a brief fantasy.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

Year 11 NLMG: Michaelmas Term 1 (approximately 22 lessons)

LESSONS SKILL FOCUS ASSESSMENT Extension opportunities OBJECTIVES Literature 1-3 Reading for comprehension. Ch 1-3 development of Kathy as a character. Other AO1• Respond to texts Oral discussion on cloning and/or on genre Recognising narrative voice characters development via memory. critically and imaginatively; of science fiction and dystopian novels. select and evaluate relevant Familiarity with Role of reader as interpreter of narrator. textual characterisation techniques detail to illustrate and support interpretations 33.5% AO2• Explain how language, 4-7 Developing character. Ch 4-6 childhood – sales, Madame and secret structure and form contribute Written work on use of imagery – spiders, Symbols and images. guards. Development of Ruth as “anti-Kathy” to writers’ presentation of Create a cover for the song “never let me Increasing awareness of The TAPE: significance of title of novel and reason ideas, go” which reflects Kathy’s feelings. themes and settings analysis of language. for reaction… AO3&4 are not Empathic writing – rewrite scene from examined in this Madam’s POV (NB can be “checked at paper. completion” of novel). 8-10 Shift in time in narrative – Ch 7-9 Memory produces unreliable narrative – how Paired oral – memory of shared event. narrative structure of first does Kathy counter this for the reader? section – memory as reliable Purpose of layering in flashback witness. Characters. Purpose of Miss Emily. Puberty Setting 11-13 Use of setting Ch 11-14 The Cottages – description and function in Discuss the importance of our parents in Development of awareness of the narrative. the development of “us” – similar to the “my narrative voice and Characters of Kathy and Ruth culture” activities of previous years. foreshadowing techniques The “Dream future”. characterisation Sex and response.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

14-15 Tommy character CH 14&15 Possibles and ponography! Empathic response (Ruth) to possible Reading to infer (empathy) Development of Tommy as a character. Close analysis of passage on 169 (the of Use of imagery in writing in course I found it…) to 171 (well at least I shop/tape section can buy it for you). Images to reflect clones/humans, relationship K&T. 16 Creativity Ch 16-17, close of section. Look back at whole and Text quiz? Reading for check comprehension of plot line. Discuss reason comprehension/inference for Kathy’s behaviour and Tommy’s response. 17-18 Narrative voice Ch 18-20 Adult Kathy. Use of setting in Discuss description of boat visit – purpose Symbolism Kingsfield/Dover and effect? setting BOAT visit –symbolism.

19-20 Littlehampton and truth Ch 21&22 “was it for this the clay grew tall” idea – Setting Symbolism of Tommy’s response. discussion. Character of Madame and Why are they “all” afraid of the clones? Miss Emily Description of house as foreshadowing and Tommy’s response suggestive of character. Fairy tale? Quest? 21-22 Separation. Ch 23 Final assessment by exam essay: Kathy as character – reliable, Description of parting. NB used as passage for Either, (all do the same…) convincing? question in assessment material. (ii) Of the three central characters, Kathy, Reading to infer Donor/carer dichotomy Tommy and Ruth, with whom do you have the most sympathy and why? Show how Kazuo Ishiguro’s presentation of your chosen character creates sympathy for him or her. [20] Or, (iii) How effective a title is Never Let Me Go, in your opinion? Choose one for this task – the other to be set in the mock exam together with the passage question? **The idea is for each week to build on the skills taught in previous learning, so that by the assessment, all skills have been taught. **

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011

This will use about 8 weeks in all, given three lessons per week. It is quite a long text for many of these students and we should not rush, particularly at the opening. We do lose a week for work experience and we will need to factor this in. I see little need, however, to insist on completion by half term. We should aim to run a range of oral and creative activities to enrich the study and all can devise their own, suited to their particular students. I do not advise use of the film at this stage.

Jonathan Peel SGS 2011