Literary analysis - Never let me go PDF

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En litteraturanalys av boken "Never let me go" som redovisar många olika aspekter på hur man ska göra en litterär analys i engelska 6....

Description

Plot - Never let me go is about this distopian society where clones are raised up to become organ donators for “normal”-people. Kathy H. is the narrator and a clone who is raised in a school called “Hailsham” where the main focus is on students creativity although slowely the guardians reveal the students’ harsh and inevitable doom of dying during surgery. However this doesn’t stop the students hope for love and friendship. Character - The main character is Kathy H. who is the narrator of the book. She is, as described above, a clone and a student of Hailsham. Kathy is often described as a “down-to-earth” person and throughout the book tries to find a meaning to all of the Hailsham students lives. The way Kathy is telling the story creates the picture that she could be like any other person. It’s only when the book mentions the students as different from “normal”-people that you can understand that she is not like you and me. This intertwines with one recurring theme, “Xenophobia”, and I believe Kazuo Ishiguro write her perspective in that way to show how even the slightest difference can create alienation between people. Another character described in the book is Ruth who is one of Kathy's oldest friends and is described as a very realistic thinking girl that always speaks her mind. In the book she is described as any school friend that you may have in your school. The friendship between Ruth and Kathy is one that goes on and off from time to time. The last relevant character is Tommy who also is a older friend of Kathy but they have a different sort of relationship to each other than Kathy and Ruth, they are in love. This can be shown through the book but mainly takes into action in the end. Setting - At the start the story takes place in Hailsham which is the earlier mentioned school that exist on the countryside of England during the late 90’s. The setting isn’t particularly described as a dystopia, however there is an underlying feeling of hopelessness. Kazuo Ishiguro specifically chose to write it this book with this setting to add to the feeling of “isolation” and “exclusion” which also is a common theme in the book. The characters later travel to the “Cottages” where they stay to grow old enough to start their training as “carers” and then later become a “donor”. Themes - “Xenophobia” is one recurring theme that I believe the book addresses throughout the story. Everything from how “normal”-people treat the clones through placing them in schools far away from the larger cities. It is also portrayed through Madames way of reacting to seeing the students at Hailsham. The slightest difference between a clone and a human is that clones are not able to birth a child and based on this difference people treat them harshly and differently even though

Kathy and her friends all have souls, emotions and feelings such as love which normal people also have. Another common theme is “isolation” or “exclusion” which intertwines with the earlier mentioned theme. However this theme can be shown through the setting is, the school is on the countryside, students are not really being taught about the world and so on and so forth. It can also be found in the lives of every clone where they are “doomed” to not becoming anything other than an carer and then later a donor. To me this excludes the students from entering the real world and other opportunities. The previously mentioned point leads me to the next theme that I can find, “segregation”. It is never mentioned what sort of skin colour the clones have but one theory was put forward by a character named Ruth. She mentions that they are clones from people that are worse placed in the society, prostitutes, homeless people, etc. Another oppressed group during the late 1900’s, which is the time period the book plays out during, was just people of colour. Therefore it is not wrong to assume, combining Ruth’s theory and the facts, that the characters in the book can be of other racial and ethnic background than the “normal”-people living in England. Based on this fact that the students are cloned from poorly positioned people in society, they are also treated like that social group was being treated at the time. Comparison - The earlier mentioned theme, segregation, which is something that has happened in the real world. A dark time of our history is called “Imperialism” and was a period where a multitude of racial and ethnic groups were oppressed. The earlier mentioned parallel and theory that the clones could be of different skin colours, combined with the way they were treated could be compared with the imperialistic history. One clear theme is “love” and I can see a comparison between the problem love, in the book but also in real life. In the book love is something that is described as something rare but it is quite clear that Kathy and Tommy are in love. However the issue is that they only allow themselves to “be in love” when Tommy is going through donation and time is running out for them. The fact that the clones in the book have an inevitable doom of becoming a donator to later complete, die. I think there is a comparison here with love in real life. Numerous people search for love, however when they find the one there is only a limited amount of time to be together until the inevitable death come. Love is both something that is precious in the book and in real life and can be viewed as something luxurious even. What does the song mean to Kathy but also to the story? - The song “Never let me go” is a song that meant plenty to Kathy during her life. However the most meaningful part is the lines “never let me go...oh, baby, baby…. never let me go….”.

This part of the song means something extra for Kathy as she interprets the plot as it is about an infertile woman. Even though the woman was told she could not birth a child she still did and the lines “never let me go” is when the woman dances with her baby in her arms and singing this line. Kathy even pretends to be this woman and dances slowly around in her dorm with a pillow in her arms instead of a child. To me this symbolizes something greater of the plot. One fact that is mentioned in the book is that clones can not reproduce and therefore Kathy would not be able to have a child. The thought of having a child if you are infertile is impossible, and perhaps Kathy was reminded of being in love or having a child despite the odds being against her. To where it went missing I do not have a indefinite answer but my guesses are that Madame, who watched Kathy dance with the pillow baby that night, thought of the incident as so heartbreaking that she stole it to reduce Kathy of having any hopeless expectations of her life. What do you think about Kathy and Ruth’s relation? Is it destructive? - I believe the relationship between Kathy and Ruth never was something completely positive. There was always something going on between them that created a very toxic relationship. One example is at the Cottages when Ruth wants to be more alike the older students at the Cottages. She adapted various behaviours that pushed both Tommy, to whom she was together with, but also Kathy, away. Kathy did not react to this in a good way and expressed her frustrations through lashing out at her. Another perspective on why it is destructive, because yes I believe it is, is the middleman, Tommy. Tommy and Ruth got together towards the end of their time at Hailsham and continued their relationship til they left the Cottages. They took a break or temporarily broke up during a time before they left to the Cottages and plenty of people said the reason was because Kathy was the “natural successor”. This implies that there was some sparks between Kathy and Tommy, which we can see later in the book is correct. At the time it sounded ridiculous to Kathy but actually was more correct than she thought. Nothing between them happened at the time as Ruth and Tommy got back together but Ruth never forgot the rumours and this could have contributed to why Ruth’s and Kathy’s relationship was so destructive. Does the setting and the treatment of the student exaggerate the feeling of isolation from the outside world? - I do believe the setting plays a huge part in creating an isolated and excluded atmosphere. Especially the fact that Hailsham is placed on the countryside of England instead of in the city. The reason behind this is to exclude the students from the normal world and normal people. This theory is also confirmed later in the book when Tommy and Kathy visit Madame and Miss. Emily. Madame tell them that the idea behind the way they teach and did things at Hailsham was to isolate the students from what a normal person’s life looks like, so the students never know what they missed out. She also mentioned the teaching was constructed to isolate them from the harsh reality they lived, confirms Kathy’s

theory that “they were taught and not taught” about it. Another part that adds to the feeling of isolation is the horror story of the student that ran into the forest next to Hailsham and never came back, insinuating that he died. It is never mentioned but it is not wrong to speculate that the guardians started the rumour to put fear into the students to never dare escape Hailsham.

Literary analysis of “Never let me go” The book “Never let me go”, written by Kazuo Ishiguro, is a story about love and friendship in a dystopian world where clones grow up solely to become organ donors. Nevertheless, a recurring theme is the feeling of isolation, which is portrayed through the setting, plot, and characters. Firstly, the story mainly takes place in a school called “Hailsham” existing in the countryside of England during the late 1990s. The author specifically choose to let the story take place far away from the city where the majority of the British population lived during this part of history. In fact, the main character Kathy rarely encounter ordinary people. Consequently, this enhances the students’ confinement from the “normal” world. Similarly, the feeling of isolation is also put forward through horror stories that are told at the school, especially one during the sixth chapter. There are rumors at Hailsham describing how once there was a student that ran away from school. The student in question later returned but was denied to enter back and later died as a consequence. When Kathy got told the story she was frightened and the thought of leaving the school area, never crossed her mind. Furthermore, it is never revealed, but it is not wrong to assume that the guardians at Hailsham planted the rumors to scare the students from the outside world. Although the students did get taught numerous things, they were never really taught about their lives. This idea was put forward by the character Tommy, when he was discussing the topic with Kathy. The guardians at Hailsham told the students about their destiny but the information was intertwined with other things. Therefore, the students never fully registered the message. This was no coincidence and was later revealed by Madame, a founder of Hailsham, in the second last chapter. The main idea was to never let the students suffer from knowing their inevitable death through surgery as an organ donor. The truth was too depressing to reveal. As a result of the teaching, the students were isolated from the truth but also from what alternative lives there were for common folk. In conclusion, the book “Never let me go” is undoubtedly a heartbreaking story. It presents a dystopian reality where a specific group of people, get segregated from normal lives and people, based on them being different. Kazuo Ishiguro seems to suggest that isolation is a way deeper and broader issue in our society than what we believe....