Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
In Never Let Me Go, Kathy H. recounts her life and experiences in a reality were humans are cloned in order to cure diseases such as cancer. The book is split into three parts. The first section deals with Kathy's childhood at Hailsham, a school where cloned children are reared separated from the rest of society. Kathy speaks reminiscently of her time here, her best friends Ruth and Tommy, and the Guardians who teach the children to be creative and cultured. The second section details Kathy's period from leaving Hailsham through her job as a "Carer." A Carer is a person who comforts those clones who are now "Doners." The third and final section tells of Kathy's role as a Carer for Ruth and then Tommy when they are called to be Donors.
Although I enjoyed this book, the book is quite disturbing when you begin to think about the ramifications and the questions that are not explicitly asked nor answered by the text. I was left felling a bit depressed after reading this book. This book is very thought provoking and I recommend it highly.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW:
The ethics of cloning is a hot topic in today's society where we have successfully cloned animals. Ishiguro touches on this indirectly his novel by letting the reader see just enough to be appalled by the reality he's created. However, Never Let Me Go is less about the ethics of cloning and more about the state of a person who knows they have a very short time to find out about his or her self.
At Hailshem, the students are "told but not told." This applies to the reading of this book and probably why I found it disturbing. Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy are raised knowing but not acknowledging their ultimate fate which is to "complete," a euphemism for dying after hopefully several "donations." While reading Kathy recount her upbringing, I kept asking myself why bother teaching these children anything if their ultimate fate was to provide organs for the rest of society. This is the same question that Kathy asks but doesn't ask throughout her recollections. While at Hailsham, the students are encouraged to create art and poetry and the best of the best get taken by Madam, an older woman who the students perceive as the head of the school, to a special "gallery." The students question this but are told that it's a "privilege and honor" and are never told the truth. Only after Kathy and Tommy find Madam later does the truth come out. The staff at Hailsham were trying to prove the clones students had souls in order to keep funding for the schools. You find out also that Hailsham, along with two other schools, was special in the way it raised the children. Normally the clones were raised in "deplorable conditions" as the book described it.
Ultimately, Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy resign to their fate. Ruth is first only living though one donation and dying on her second. She is the reason that Kathy and Tommy visit the Madam. While younger, Ruth and Tommy were a couple but ultimately grew apart. However, Ruth knew that Kathy really liked Tommy and apologizes for getting between them. Rumored among Carers and Donors are stories of couples who have gotten deferrals if they can prove they are in love. Ruth gives Tommy Madams address and keeps on Kathy to go. Kathy agrees on her deathbed and becomes Tommy's Carer. At this Point, Tommy has given his third donation. They go see Madam and find not only the truth about Hailsham but that the deferrals were a hoax. On their drive back to the center where Tommy is staying, Tommy asks Kathy to stop. Thinking that he was getting carsick, she complies. It's dark and as he moves away from the car and out of sight she begins to hear him scream repeatedly. I thought this was one of the most moving parts of the book, especially when Kathy goes to him and they hold each other until he calms down. Of course, Tommy dies during his forth donation and the book ends with an image of Kathy standing at a barb-wire fence looking out across a plowed field. The wind is blowing trash and the pieces are getting stuck in the fence. She imagines that this is were all lost things eventually turn up. Thinking of Tommy, she walks back to her car with tears in her eyes and "goes wherever it is she's supposed to be."
What disturbed me is that no one in the book tries to stop this practice. Even the founders of Hailsham state that they couldn't ask society to give up their cures and only wanted to provide cloned children with a better upbringing. There is no real rebellion from the clones as they accept fate. None commit suicide or simply refuse. Much can be drawn from this book and may comparisons to history could be made. I think Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go will rank with the likes of Orwell's 1984 in time.