The Ephemerality of Life in Never Let Me Go

`    Initially, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro seems to be a normal coming-of-age boarding school story. Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy grapple with familiar conflicts of bullying, friendship, love, and sex, and one can find many similarities between their own lives and those depicted in the book. As the story progresses, however, information is gradually revealed that makes it clear that this world is drastically different from our own. The audience learns that the adolescent characters are actually clones, and were made for the sole purpose of donating their organs in early adulthood, effectively guaranteeing them an early death. At the surface level, it would seem this revelation would make this story into a tragedy, where the energetic lives of our youthful characters are snuffed out by the callous hand of an exploitative society. But looking deeper, its clear that that wasn't the message that Ishiguro was trying to convey. Instead, the inevitability of our characters' early deaths emphasizes the vibrancy of the human experience, as well as highlighting the immateriality of one's remaining time on Earth if they fail to live in the moment. 

    Although the characters have to discover the truth about their fate just as the audience does, none of the seemingly devastating discoveries that they make seem to upset them all that much. Even when Miss Lucy bluntly informs them that "before you're even middle-aged, you'll start to donate your vital organs" (Ishiguro, 81), there is no desperate revolt by the characters against the system, no descent into nihilism. Instead, they continue living their lives in the exact same way that they had been before, maintaining their curiosity of the world, thirst for adventure, and love for each other, all as they hurtle ever closer to their early demise. While their rejection of sorrow seems unrealistic at first, that is the point that Ishiguro is trying to make: what difference does it make if your death will be in a year, ten years, or eighty years, should you live your life any less enthusiastically because of it? We all will die one day, and none of us know for sure what day that will be. A tragic life isn't one that ends earlier than expected, but one that isn't appreciated enough. Ishiguro writes "The memories I value most, I don't seem them ever fading. I lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy, but I won't lose my memories of them" (286). The characters in Never Let Me Go lead engaging lives that are creative, inquisitive, and most importantly, filled with love. What is so tragic about that?