Never Let Me Go Themes

Question 1

What are the 7 key themes of NLMG?

Answer 1

Friendship, identity, the past, free will, hopes/dreams, lies/deceit and fear

Question 2

What are the 2 key friendships that Kazuo explores in the novel?

Answer 2

Tommy and Kathy’s friendship

Ruth and Kathy’s friendship

Question 3

What is the key symbol/ physical token of Kathy and Ruth’s friendship ?

Answer 3

The tape Ruth bought when Kathy had lost her one in Chapter 6, despite it not being the same as the tape she lost

Question 4

Near the end of the novel, before Ruth has completed, what does she give Kathy to show that she was really sorry about her behaviour earlier in their life’s?

Answer 4

The address of Madame so that Kathy and Tommy can visit her, this obviously took a lot of effort to obtain

Question 5

Give an example of when Kathy I used the trust Tommy gave her

Answer 5

She doesn’t tell him the truth about his elbow, and that the ‘unzipping’ was all made up

Question 6

Is Kathy always true full to Tommy? How does the reader react to this?

Answer 6

Kathy isn’t always truthful, the reader wishes her to be more so

Question 7

In the way Kathy writes how do we know that she cares a lot about Ruth compared to others? Possibly even Tommy?

Answer 7

All the characters Kathy mentions having a letter for there surname, including Tommy D at the beginning. All except Ruth, demonstrating her closeness with her

Question 8

Give some key examples of lies and deceit in the novel

Answer 8

The guardians only drip fed them information, never the whole truth
Miss Lucy claimed they were ‘told but not told’
Miss Emily and Madame’s ‘plans and schemes’ gave the illusion of free will despite their lives already being planned for, it didn’t change the end results of life
When Ruth lied about the pencil case ‘Let’s just agree’
The clown in chapter 18 which represented Hailsham, masked, deceiving

Question 9

Talk about the symbol of the clown. When in the novel it was.

Answer 9

In chapter 18, Kathy sees a clown holding lots of balloons by their strings. This represents Hailsham as it was masked, keeping secrets. The balloons represent all the children being held tightly under Hailshams influence and control until it was time to let go, which was easily done, and never see them again

Question 10

Did the students at Hailsham have free will?

Answer 10

No it was not a concept for them, rather an allusion as their lives were already planned

Question 11

Give context to and unpack the quotation ‘none of you will work in supermarkets’ - Miss Lucy

Answer 11

Miss Lucy hears students talking about plans for the future but she knows that they don’t have those options rather a lack of free will so explains this to them in an emotional outburst. ‘Supermarkets’ is not an ambitious job but one that would give them independence

Question 12

Did the illusion of free will help the students?

Answer 12

Miss Emily claims they were ‘lucky pawns’ but still pawns all the same. It could be argued to have made the reality more hard for the students, or better as they had a better childhood

Question 13

What is the symbol nearer the end of the novel which represents no freedom/ the students?

Answer 13

The boat that Tommy, Kathy and Ruth go to see. It is stranded on the beach with no freedom, much like the students were

Question 14

When Kathy leaves Hailsham for the cottages what surprises her?

Answer 14

Her free will she gains, that she could drive a car as she never had expected to have that free will … ‘I’d have thought you were mad’

Question 15

What does the lack of surnames symbolise to the audience?

Answer 15

That they shouldn’t see any of the clones individualisier as important

Question 16

At the beginning of the novel what is expressed from Kathy as a key part of her identity? How is this significant?

Answer 16

That she is a carer, she feels it is significant because she is a clone and wants to feel different

Question 17

What does being part of the secret guard give to Kathy and other students involved?

Answer 17

A sense of belonging/ identity

Question 18

How does the quotation ‘none of us could have babies’ effect the students identity’s ?

Answer 18

It is a shocking fact and means that they will never be able to be a parent which can be a key part of someone’s identity

Question 19

Give some quotes to support that Hailsham is a key part of the students identity

Answer 19

‘ clinging to our essay’ ‘ last task from Hailsham’
‘affirming Hailsham’ Kathy and Laura
Kathy in general talks about it a lot and so do other clones

Question 20

Why were tokens important to the students?

Answer 20

It gave them a means of ‘building up a collection’ of personal possessions from exchanges and sales. These were placed in their ‘chests’ under their beds and treated with care.

Question 21

What are the clones real identity which is inescapable?

Answer 21

Their possibles, who they were modelled from. They think and Ruth expresses they were ‘modelled on trash, junkies, winos and prostitutes’

Question 22

What are Hailsham students dreams like? Give some quotations to support this

Answer 22

They aren’t what a normal child might dream about alas they are conditioned to want little.
‘Gorgeous item like that wouldn’t have gone unnoticed’ when talking about Ruth’s pencil case, which isn’t a big thing normal people would think

Question 23

What is Kathy’s hope in Chapter 6?

Answer 23

When she is dancing to the song ‘Never Let Me Go’ with a pillow held to her pretending its a baby, a hope that will never come true as we know she cannot have children. ‘Holding an imaginary baby to my breast’

Question 24

What did they believe about their possibles?

Answer 24

That when you saw your possible you would get an ‘insight into who you were deep down’, ‘what your life held in store’ , students holding onto a small hope of what could have been

Question 25

What is many clone couples last hope?

Answer 25

The idea of deferrals, ‘a few years together before you begin your donations’

Question 26

When is the entire novel set? What does this suggest to the audience?

Answer 26

In the past from Kathy’s perspective, her memories of events, this always raises the question in the audiences mind why she is telling something in the way she is.

Question 27

What does the Album symbolise for Kathy?

Answer 27

All her last memories

Question 28

Give some quotations to demonstrate that Kathy is anecdotal, unreliable

Answer 28

‘Or maybe I’m remembering it wrong’
‘I think’
The novel is littered with these references

Question 29

Give 2 quotations from the novel which questions what it is to be normal, not clones

Answer 29

‘Mad animal’ Ruth claims to Kathy

‘Poor creatures’ Madame to Kathy and Tommy

Question 30

What did Madame see when she saw Kathy hugging the pillow in chapter 6?

Answer 30

‘A new world coming rapidly’ ‘ but a harsh cruel world’

She saw Kathy trying to cling onto the old kind world but she couldn’t

Question 31

Who are the 2 key ‘normals’ in the novel? Give some quotations to demonstrate their ‘normals’ views

Answer 31

Madame and Keffers
‘Madame was afraid of us’ ‘ in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders’
Keffers ‘shaking his head in disgust’

Question 32

What did normals prefer to think of the clones as?

Answer 32

‘Shadowy objects in test tubes’
‘Organs appeared from nowhere’ -this is like us with meat products, Ishiguro brings up the question what is right and wrong

Question 33

What did Miss Emily say normals were frightened of?

Answer 33

That the clones were ‘ superior to the rest of us’ ‘ that frightened people’

Question 34

How is the symbol of Norfolk linked to fear?

Answer 34

To them it’s ‘the lost corner of England’, displays their fear of losing memories

Question 35

What other fears do students have?

Answer 35

The fear of donations, the ‘unzipping’ (like when Tommy hurt his elbow- he was worried about this due to rumours) , when at cottages they never mentioned the ones who left, fear of future
Hailsham woods ‘cast a shadow over the who,e of Hailsham’

Question 36

What is the key symbol Memento Mori in NLMG?

Answer 36

The symbol of death, the inevitability of their death (like the use of skeleton - Miss Emily is sex Ed

Question 37

What does the Judy Bridgewater tape and Miss Emily’s bedside cabinet symbolise?

Answer 37

The need to let things go

Question 38

What does the the woods around Hailsham symbolise?

Answer 38

The threat of the outside world and the fact that the outside world want to keep them hidden

Question 39

What does Norfolk symbolise?

Answer 39

It is a symbol of loss, where lost items go. This started as they were never shown pictures/ Miss Emily had no pictures of Norfolk