NLMG topics Flashcards
Theme of memory and the past quotations
‘The golden years at Hailsham’- we know they weren’t the good years
‘I thought I saw a cricket field from Hailsham’ - K can’t let go of past
‘Or maybe I’m remembering it wrong’ - whenever it’s uncomfortable
At cottages the Hailsham lot try to look for ways of finding Hailsham for example through the veterans “i suppose we saw the veterans as a kind of guardian”
Parts get shorter as they go on
Kathy unreliable narrator -only says “clones” twice
“There have been times over the years when I’ve tried to leave Hailsham behind, when I’ve told myself I shouldn’t look back so much. But then there came a point when I just stopped resisting.”
Context about memory and the Past from Ishiguro
He liked the concept of memory as it makes the reader question the reliability of the narrator
Theme of memory and the past to do with structure
- Cottages is a much shorter chapter in comparison to others as K doesn’t have the fondest of memories there
- the novel is set in retrospective narrative
Tommy quotation to do with memories
The memories I value most, I don’t see them ever fading.”
Theme of memory and the past and friendship with Ruth
“I noticed there were 2 quite separate Ruth’s” - K
Ruth is trying to forget her past at Hailsham by pretending to be someone she is not
First realisation of her manipulations
Theme of freedom and confinement quotations and effect
- ‘We rarely stepped beyond the confines of the cottages’ - chapter 10 —> confined to their ways
- ‘you have to remember that until that point we’d never been beyond the grounds of Hailsham, and we were just bewildered’ - (C10)freedom is so restricted throughout a clone’s life hat when they reach the Cottages, they are almost rightened at the aspect of going out
- barbed wire in later chapters too - “then we came to a barbed wire fence […], [Ruth] came to an abrupt halt”
-the boat in the salt marsh- boat usually symbol of hope but this time not as stuck in salt marsh and surrounded by barbed wire - the forests designed to confine
“I drove off to wherever I was supposed to be” - not a typical ending to a dystopian novel - usually escapes the confinement in a dystopian novel
What is a constant theme throughout the book to do with freedom and confinement
Barbed wire
C22: ‘all sorts of rubbish had caught and tangled in it’ - barbed wire traps them and before R says to stop because of it. Confined to stay inside. They could easily escape but don’t. It’s when they are in Norfolk which is important to K. COULD SYMBOLISE THAT THEY ARE STUCK (lack of hope) as they see them selves as rubbish
2 symbols that support their idea of confinement
Barbed wire and the woods
Where are the students more free
In the cottages
Identity key quotations and effect
- “We all know it, we are all modelled from trash, junkies winos…” (C15)- first time they finally admit it- don’t think much of themselves
= K looking trough porn mags to find her “possible” - only bit of hope they have - only link they have with their true identity
“My name is Kathy H, I have been a carer now for…”
“How much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at creating” - create their identities through creativity CH2
“We did it to reveal if you had souls at all”
Kathy and tommy believe their artwork will get them a deferral
Hailsham is their identity - Kathy shows it off
“She looked at us the same way you might look at a spider”
“There have been times over the years when I’ve tried to leave Hailsham behind, when I’ve told myself I shouldn’t look back so much. But then there came a point when I just stopped resisting.” - establishes her relentless and characteristic impulse to look back on the past. The memory of Hailsham serves as a touchstone for all of Kathy’s recollections. Noticeably, Kathy is not looking ahead towards the future. Her attempt to hold onto Hailsham defines her life as a carer
- One of the reasons why the students at Hailsham treasure their collections so much is that each collection hints at their individuality and therefore their own identity. The wooden chests in which each student stores the items they have purchased at the Sales or picked up at the Exchanges are all individual to them and therefore highlight each student’s own particular preferences and choices. They become a motif of identity. Eg the Judy bridge water tape
How is the theme of identity shown in the novel
- the students’ keenness to find their possible
- the importance of the Collections in the students’ lives
- the need to have artistic talent as a way of projecting a unique identity
How is the structure and form used to show the clone’s identity
Unreliable narrator and ambiguity, for example ‘My name is Kathy H’ as K herself doesn’t know who she is
- this is structure and form as it is to do with the narrative voice
Theme of friendship with k and r
- ‘The worst thing i did, was keeping you and Tommy apart’ (C19) - in the end when faced with death she takes responsibility for manipulating k + t. She still has decency within. Although as she is faced with death, her desire to believe in the deferrals now lies with k+ t.
- “I accepted the invisible rein Ruth handed out” - symbolises how k is accepting r’s power
Rein has connotations of control which is accepted by k in the earliest flashback we are provided with - kathy values her friendship so much she is naïve to the manipulative nature of Ruth
“Oh look who’s upset now. Poor Kathy.” Demeaning and patronising language to manipulate Kathy. Rude and dismissive
“Two quite separate Ruth’s”
“Tommy and I were made for each other. You’ll do this for us won’t you Kathy?” Rhetorical question highlights how Ruth manipulates Kathy into feeling guilty
Key symbols in the novel about lack of hope
- The open-plan office - The open-plan office appears three times in the novel, and symbolizes the students’ gradually diminishing sense of possibility for the future. The open-plan office reappears in Norfolk, where the students search for Ruth’s “possible.” Here, the office signals the closing off of possibility.
- The song “never let me go” - first sign of loss, that k with later experience on a larger scale
- The crumbling boat in the marsh - inevitability of loss - reminds t+k of Hailsham, as tommy speculates that this is what H looks like now. But they find the boat beautiful which echoes their memories of H. Their visit has a sense of loss
Quotation that suggests k can’t let go
“There have been times over the years when I’ve tried to leave Hailsham behind, when I’ve told myself I shouldn’t look back so much. But then there came a point when I just stopped resisting It had to do with this particular donor I had once, in my third year as a carer; it was his reaction when I mentioned I was from Hailsham” - introducing herself in C1
- not looking ahead towards the future
- Veterans seen as guardians
- Her attempt to hold onto Hailsham defines her life as a carer, as she both revisits the school through her memories and seeks out donors who also attended Hailsham.
- this donor possibly had a traumatic childhood as a clone which represents how poorly ‘normal’ donors were treated
