Never Let Me Go Themes Flashcards
Friendship
“Judy Bridgewater…….”
Judy Bridgewater. My old friend. Its like she’s never been away”
Friendship
“Those early months……”
“Those early months at the cottages had been a very strange time in our friendship. We were quarrelling over all kinds of little things, but at the same time we were confiding each other more than ever
Friendship
“I accepted….”
“I excepted the invisible rein she was holding out, then we were off, riding up and down fences “
Love
“If i waited…”
“If I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon, and gradually get larger until I see it was Tommy”
Love
“ we had…”
“We had loved each other all our lives”
Love
“we know you….”
“we know you must get tired of it, these couples coming to you claiming to be in love. Tommy and me, we never would have a come and bothered you if we weren’t really sure”
Loss
“I lost Ruth…”
“I lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy, but i wont lose my memories of them. I suppose I lost Hailsham too “
Loss
“I half closed…”
“I half closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I’d lost through my childhood had washed up..”
Loss
“A little girl…”
“A little girl, eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one she knew in her heart could not remain”
Death
“Your lives are…”
“Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you are old, before you are even middle-aged, you’ll start to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you was created to do “
Death
“If we are…”
Death
“If we are just going to give donations anyway, then die, why all those lessons? “
Death
I remember once…”
Death I remember once, she bought a life-size skeleton for the biology class demonstrate how it was done. We watched in complete astonishment as she put the skeleton through various contortions"
What is the name for symbols of death?
Memento mori
2 points to make about death
Denial of death
Is the novel about human attitudes to death?
2 points about friendship
Do kathys memories matter more to her than her friends?
How does hailsham bring friends together?
2 points about love
The love between families. How will they ever know what love is?
How does the novel present sex?
2 points about loss
What is not lost?
Is is better to have loved and lost or never loved at all? Tennyson
Context
Tennyson
Medical science
Critics
Fear
“She was..”
She was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders
Humanity
‘Poor..’
Poor creatures. What did we do to you with all our schemes and plans
Humanity
‘Rumours everyday…’
Rumours everyday of pranks… I thought sooner or later someone would start saying it had gone too far, but it just kept on
They have grown up thinking that to destroy someone is okay and so they think bullying is an okay thing to do
Foreshadows books major themes of humanity
Education
‘I don’t know how it was..’
What chapter?
I don’t know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham we had some form of medical almost every week’
Polarizing ending- people critisise tommy and kathy for not fighting back but ishiguro is trying to highlight that you dont know what they have been through
Chapter 2
What is a posher word for ‘taking’ their organs
Relinquishing their vital organs
Why does remains use vauge language
Indescribable
