One of the major themes of the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro considers the relationship between mortality and hope in the human experience. Although the students of Hailsham are created for the sole purpose of organ donation, their experiences and conversations appear to have a fragment of hope for a better and longer life.
After Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy arrive at the cottages, they seem to gain an understanding of what it means for them to be clones. Ruth’s revelation of what it means to have a future only consisting of becoming a carer and donor is presented as a narrative of their trip to Norfolk. Before going to Norfolk, Ruth and Kathy offer to go into the village to get ignitor fuel that was needed at the Cottages to fix their box heaters. Ruth finds a magazine on the ground and expresses her “dream future” as the image on the front of the magazine, working in an office and laughing alongside other “dynamic, go-ahead types.” As the discussion of Ruth’s goals continues, Kathy begins to wonder “if one day we might all of us move into a place like that and carry on our lives together” (Ishiguro 144). This conversation of the possibility of a future that does not involve carers and donors demonstrates that even though the clones know their purpose, they still have hopes for a longer, more rewarding life.
The trip to Norfolk further extends the importance of the characters thoughts about the possibility of the future. Chrissie and Rodney explain to Ruth that they had encountered a woman that had a promising appearance and life for being Ruth’s “possible.” Although Kathy has a bad feeling about going to Norfolk to determine whether this woman actually could have been the clone model for Ruth, they all take a trip to Norfolk to see. After they had been in Norfolk for a few hours, it was time to find the open-plan office, which had floor-to ceiling glass windows. After looking into the window of the work building, even Kathy noted that the women “has more than a hint of Ruth” (159). Due to Ruth’s incessant pleading on following her possible, the group continued to lag behind the woman until she ended up in an art store called the Portway Studios. However, after watching the interaction between the woman and another woman who was the owner of the store, the clones all came to the realization that this woman could not have really been Ruth’s “possible.”
In Ruth’s case, the adventure of both finding and losing the potential of her “possible” in one day played a large role in her realization that she could never actually have this future that she wanted so badly. In the conversation that occurred after this, Ruth expresses that she felt stupid for believing that the woman could have been her “possible,” and declared that they all knew they were “modelled from trash” (166). Ruth’s transition from excitement to hopelessness is presented in this narrative as she underwent the realization that she was a clone created for one purpose and could not ever have this future that she imagined. Her view of mortality is solidified by the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the office building, which symbolizes the idea that the clones may be able to observe their dream futures, but they will never be able to participate.
Your response to this theme is very clear and written well for this novel. I believe that hope and hopelessness are very large themes in this novel. It seems that all three characters are on a constant journey of having hope for a lovely life and trying to enjoy it, and then on the other hand just accepting their future. We see glimpses of hope for a lovely life in scenes like the one you described Ruth having. She wanted to see what she thought was her "possible" because she wanted to see what a future for her may be like. She sees joy in this type of life and wants to know more through her actions of going to Norfolk. However, the hopelessness rushes in when it really is not her "possible". It is almost like a switch for her---a switch to what reality actually looks like. This reminds me of how people often talk about the unfortunate circumstances of real life, saying that things "just are what they are". Ruth seems to act in this why after this realization because she seems to lose her motivation and spark for hope for a good life when she comes to terms with real life.
ReplyDeleteI think the overall message that we receive from exploring the themes of hope and hopelessness by the lives of every character is this: that the things that are truly important in life can come and develop in any time frame. This most importantly includes true friendship until the end, as we see with Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth.