Never Let Me Go - Theme Essay Flashcards
The experience of Kathy’s donors
“My donors have always tended to do much better than expected. Their recovery times have been impressive, and hardly any of them have been classified as ‘agitated’, even after the fourth donation.”
“My donors have always tended to do much better than expected. Their recovery times have been impressive, and hardly any of them have been classified as ‘agitated’, even after the fourth donation.”
Kathy has been a carer for a very long time. Over this time she has acquired a lot of skill and the ability to pick her own donors. With this she is able to provide the best care for her patients. Donors go through four major donations of their vital organs but many complete before the fourth, some not even surviving the first. The experience of donors shows just how cruel and inhumane the donation process is because it is unavoidable for clones and causing their deaths. The donation process is extremely difficult and unthinkable in our world, but knowing how harsh it is we find it slightly unbelievable that Kathy is so good at her job that she is able to make that better for her patients.
Narrator memory
“This was all a long time ago so I might have some of it wrong.”
“This was all a long time ago so I might have some of it wrong.”
‘Never Let Me Go’ is a novel which follows the recollection of Kathy’s memories, starting from her time as a child at Hailsham. She admits to us in the early parts of the novel that she could be remembering some of the occurrences wrong, and this comes up other times when she and Ruth or Tommy remember things different. There is a reoccurring theme of dishonesty in the novel, and although she claims it is due to memory and time, we can never be truly sure is Kathy was being truthful about this. At points we find Kathy being sly and so cannot cross off the idea of her changing stories to change the perception of the ‘victim’ in the situation.
Medicals at Hailsham
“I don’t know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham we had to have some form of medical almost every week-“
“I don’t know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham we had to have some form of medical almost every week-“
At Hailsham, students are treated very different from how they are in schools in our world. Medicals are only really common when you are young and in important growth and development stages but at Hailsham these medicals are for all ages. The importance of health at Hailsham makes us put into perspective the treatment of clones due to their purpose. Due to them being created for organ harvesting, ‘normal’ humans are very strict on keeping them healthy so go to extensive lengths for such an inhumane cause that they have resorted to thinking of clones as anything but human and sometimes even excuse that they are real. In contrast to how important the clones are they are treated horrible, and that makes us feel terrible injustice for our main characters as they are forced into programmes of organ donating that saves peoples lives and are still treated horrendously.
Creativity at Hailsham
“A lot of the time, how you were regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at ‘creating’.”
“A lot of the time, how you were regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at ‘creating’.”
Priorities at Hailsham are far different to the schools we are used to. They see higher importance in creativity than they do education, and that isn’t only within the school system but with the children as well. If you are creative and good at producing things with it, people like you and respect you. We see the opposite with Tommy in the beginning of the novel when he focuses on art yet isn’t great at it and is a bully victim by his peers, being left out from football among other things - this is the cause of many of his anger outbursts. The differences in our schools to clone schools helps us to see the different treatments of them to ‘normal’ people. It is further proven when later in the novel the reason for Hailsham encouraging creativity and collecting what they produced was revealed. They did this to prove that clones had souls. This solidifies the idea that clones are treated differently because the public has decided that they are soulless beings when in fact they are just as human as ‘real’ humans which is proven through their actions and reactions, how they crave love and intimacy, and show raw human emotion.
Tommy doesn’t need to be creative
“What she said was that if I didn’t want to be creative, if I really didn’t feel like it, that was perfectly all right. Nothing wrong with it, she said.”
“What she said was that if I didn’t want to be creative, if I really didn’t feel like it, that was perfectly all right. Nothing wrong with it, she said.”
Tommy’s talk with Miss Lucy is a massive turning point for him. She tells him that creating doesn’t have to be a priority for him and that he shouldn’t worry about it. The effect this has on Tommy is extremely positive, initially it does have a slow effect but his perspective seems to change a lot. Tommy has fewer rages and learns to control his temper and that causes students to lose interest in picking on him because they no longer get the reaction they are looking for. From that point on Tommy had a better school life. Even though this is positive, it takes a turn when it nears the end of their school life because Miss Lucy panics and takes back what she told Tommy, urging him to focus on creating. This reminds us just how important creating is for Hailsham and makes us question a there being a deeper meaning it’s importance. It is revealed that they used their art to reveal if clones even had souls at all, and this creates a cruel atmosphere linger over Hailsham that was considered the ‘shining beacon’ of the clone world.
Madame’s reaction to the clones
“And I can still see it now, the shudder she seemed to be suppressing, the real dread that one of us would accidentally brush up against her… But she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders.”
“And I can still see it now, the shudder she seemed to be suppressing, the real dread that one of us would accidentally brush up against her… But she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders.”
Kathy, Ruth and a few of their friends make a plan to swarm Madame the next time she comes to visit Hailsham. They prepared perfectly and executed their plan just as they wanted to, but when they saw her reaction to them it knocked their confidence. She avoided touching any of them, acting disgusted by their being as she squeezed past them. We get to know our main characters who are clones so cannot imagine being so disgusted by them, but seeing the reaction of the people who created them makes us sick. Their ignorance towards the humanity of the clones due to their shame of the purpose of their existence emphasises the poor treatment of these vital beings in the survival of a sickness ridden world. Clones were created to help those with illnesses, it gave a cure to cancer and they were not willing to undo these inhumane measures because of the humanity of clones so instead chose to act as if they were alien, soulless beings who deserves nothing less than to be shut away from the world they were saving.
Public reaction towards clones
“There are people out there, like Madame, who don’t hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you - of how you were brought into this world and why - and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs.”
“There are people out there, like Madame, who don’t hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you - of how you were brought into this world and why - and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs.”
The public choose to ignore clones and label them as anything but human, drain them of souls and isolate them because they cannot bare the fact they are doing something so dreadful, taking the life of one to save another, giving one no choice but to give up their life. Clones were created with the sole purpose of being raised healthy and never fully away so that their organs could be harvested and used to cure someone’s illness. Even with such importance people are disgusted by their existence and choose to shut them out of their minds because they cannot fathom the thought of what the reality of the situation really is.
Clone’s smoking
“But what you must understand is that for you, all of you, it’s much worse to smoke than it ever was for me.”
“But what you must understand is that for you, all of you, it’s much worse to smoke than it ever was for me.”
The importance of good health of the students at Hailsham is highlighted again with the strictness against smoking. Many people under the smoking age do smoke but this was particularly frowned upon at Hailsham because of how badly it affects your health. This is highlighted by how one of the guardians compares the risk of her smoking to the risk of the clones smoking, how it is much worse for them to smoke than it is for her. Organs from a smoker won’t be as healthy and appealing than completely healthy organs would be, so Hailsham make sure that their students are deterred away from touching cigarettes.
Told and not told
“The problem, as I see it, is that you’ve been told and not told. You’ve been told, but none of you really understand, and dare I say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”
“The problem, as I see it, is that you’ve been told and not told. You’ve been told, but none of you really understand, and dare I say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”
The theme of dishonesty is very prominent all throughout the novel, along with secrecy. At Hailsham they seemed to perfectly plan how they distributed information to their students about their purpose and carved out futures. They would tell them what they needed to know slightly too early so they took in the information but never truly understood it, so that when they came to the age wearer they could understand it was easier for them to accept and left them less likely to question it. Many people are happy with this because it gives them comfort in knowing there won’t be any clones rebellion because they don’t truly have an understanding of anything to want to rebel against the system. The cruel treatment of clones through being kept in the dark about almost everything about their lives makes us feel a strong sense of sympathy for our characters and strikes anger in us, the reader, because we want good long lives for characters we have grown to love instead of this injustice.
Future lives of clones
“Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you were created to do… You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided.”
“Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you were created to do… You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided.”
During a rainy day after overhearing some students fantasising about their future carers and life after Hailsham, Miss Lucy snaps and blurts out a lot to the students about her feelings about the clone situation and tries to explain to them the truth but they have been trained into not questioning it or even talking or thinking about it much either. There were a few unspoken topic at Hailsham such as their purpose and sex. Clones have their lives set up for them from before they are even created, each clone follows the same life pattern, one after the other, creation to completion, growing up and feeling just as humans, forming relationships and learning love, and then donating their vital organs until they die. It is the fact there is no escape to this life for clones that makes us feel so much anger for them because they do not get to live a full life, are regarded as soulless beings when they feel things some ‘real’ humans do not and yet clones are the ones that are shunned away and killed before they even reach middle age.
Ruth’s natural successor
“And Tommy, I knew it wouldn’t last with Ruth. Well, I suppose you’re the natural successor.”
“And Tommy. I knew it wouldn’t last with Ruth. Well, I suppose you’re the natural successor.”
After Tommy and Ruth’s break-up people begin to stir up a rumour that Kathy is Ruth’s ‘natural successor’ and is the next person for Tommy. The reference to Kathy being a ‘successor’ makes us think of a throne and makes the reader consider how differently relationships are treated in Hailsham. Relationships aren’t shunned and sex isn’t an untaught subject - Hailsham teaches it’s students about safe sex and avoiding diseases because they cannot risk them becoming unhealthy or ruining their organs - and both do happen, but sex isn’t spoken about at all, the students have made it out as a forbidden topic. The Guardians can’t stop the students from having sex but try and keep it an unfelt with issue whilst they are on school grounds. They bore information about keeping perfect health and having sex right so that they don’t contract a disease because all clones have to have perfect health so that they can be used in their organ recycling programme.
Ruth’s reaction to Kathy’s sexual urges
“What you’re saying does sound a bit weird, Kathy. But maybe it’ll calm down after a while… it does sound a bit weird. But it’ll probably go away. It’s probably just to do with the different food we’re eating here.”
“What you’re saying does sound a bit weird, Kathy. But maybe it’ll calm down after a while… it does sound a bit weird. But it’ll probably go away. It’s probably just to do with the different food we’re eating here.”
We get a real sense of how bad a friend Ruth is by how much she lied to Kathy, someone who was supposed to be like a sister to her. Kathy is going through a difficult time with understanding her strong sexual urges, and instead of being honest with Kathy, Ruth decides to lie to her and make it out as if this isn’t normal making her best friend far more paranoid than was ever necessary. There is a key theme of secrecy in this novel and one main example is the secrets kept between Ruth and Kathy. They are both responsible for keeping things from one another and causing this tension between them. Nearing the end of the novel Ruth comes to terms with how horrible she was as a person and apologises to Kathy, explaining that she isn’t expecting forgiveness. We see massive character development in Ruth but is that really enough to excuse horrible actions built up over years?
