Never Let Me Go is a story steeped in loss. Kazuo Ishiguro considers it one of his happiest books, however, many readers may not agree. Kathy starts the novel having lost her friends, her school, and her childhood. She has no hope of living much longer than a few years. Some might say she’s lost everything and is left with nothing. However, I believe Kathy herself would disagree with this. In the world of Never Let Me Go, the most important possession any character can have is their memories. Because Kathy still has her memories, Kathy isn’t paralyzed by grief or depression, and able to face her future.
Early in the novel, Kathy discusses her life as a carer and how it may soon come to an end. She looks forward to using her time as a donor to “order all these old memories” (37). This is before the reader truly knows the implications of being a donor, so the power of this quote doesn’t sink in on a first reading. Kathy is going to be a patient who undergoes surgery after surgery until she dies. This is a fate she’s already watched her two closest friends go through. Yet she doesn’t approach this with fear. She looks at this as a chance to spend time with her memories. In this dystopia where clones have nothing to their names, Kathy still has her memories- and because she still has her memories, she isn’t scared to become a donor.
One of the most impactful events to Kathy is the closing of Hailsham. She’s at first struck quite deeply by loss- telling the readers how she stayed up at night, thinking of her and other students as balloons who were cut free to drift off aimlessly. However, in the final pages of the novel, she changes how she describes the loss of Hailsham. She takes comfort in the fact that “whichever centre they send me to, I’ll have Hailsham with me, safely in my head, and that’ll be something no one can take away” (286-287). She’s no longer mourning her childhood, instead comforted by the memory she still has of it.
Ishiguro describes the novel as his happiest. Many readers disagree with this. After all, the novel ends with all of Kathy’s friends dead, the only kind school closed, and her knowing she’ll soon join them. However, Kathy isn’t scared, or steeped in grief from all she’s lost. When considering her loss, she says, “I lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy, but I won’t lose my memories of them” (286). The ending of the novel certainly isn’t happy or cheerful, but Kathy hasn’t lost everything. She has her memories. Her ability to hold onto and appreciate the past is why Never Let Me Go isn’t hopelessly depressing. The story ends with a character who- in the face of a world who sees her as less than human and undeserving of basic rights- can stay comforted by her memories of the past.
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ReplyDeleteThe power of memory is a prominent theme in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go. The novel’s title emphasizes Kathy’s desire and need to hold on to precious memories of Ruth, Tommy, and Hailsham itself – people and places who have brought her joy in spite of inevitable loss. This blog post does an excellent job of highlighting how Kathy desperately clings to her memories in the absence of those they remember. By holding on to these memories, Kathy has hope for the future that awaits her, and she can cope with the losses in her past. Upon finishing the novel, I find that Ishiguro utilizes another theme within Never Let Me Go: the acceptance and peace that comes with letting go. Tommy eventually lets go of Kathy by requesting a new carer for his final procedure. Ruth eventually lets go by admitting that she stood in the way of Kathy and Tommy at the Cottages. Finally, Kathy lets go of Tommy by standing in the field and imagining him coming up the hill and waving goodbye to her. Within the novel, Kathy states, “I half-closed my eyes…and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, maybe even call. The fantasy never got beyond that – I didn't let it…I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be” (Ishiguro 287). This final sentence in the novel illustrates that Kathy can let go of those who brought her so much joy in life, and she can accept her fate as a donor.
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