Chapter 20 onwards

Points I found interesting...

"You could only look out by standing on a chair and holding open the pane, and then you only got a view down onto the dense shrubbery." - Metaphor for the fact that the Kathy and Tommy had to physically search for the truth, the other students could see anything because they did not realise there was a window they could look out of/did not want to know/it was too difficult("the only window had frosted glass and was really high up"... no-one wanted to make it easy for them to find out)? Foreshadows that when Kathy and tommy are to take action they will still not perhaps understand everything as it is too "dense", they have been living in such an enclosed environment. 

"The way the sun came in through the frosted glass so that even in early summer, it felt like autumn light." Ishiguro seems to keep putting in these subliminal hints as to the inevitable ending; no matter how much they want to be together, they are "tinged with sadness" as even though they hope for a 'deferral' they know deep down, like the reader, their ending has already been written, much like the "star cross'd lovers". Ishiguro gives such a small and improbable hope that makes the reader want it more - if we know it ends well we want be bothered. 

The idea of asking for a deferral is a "shameful secret" for them, adding to the improbability and the semi-subconcious realisation that it is false. This added to kathy's quote "it was just like detective stuff" keeps the feeling of innocence within the characters, they are still in a 'playground' way of thinking, they haven't been taught to deal with this situation properly they have only their child instincts. This is supported by her language: "like" "stuff" and "bit scary" etc.

"the road was completely straight... the setting sun was falling all the way down to the end" more foreshadowed inevitability. 

"Tommy, afterwards, said he thought she was about to burst into song, and... there'd be this big stage set", continuation of earlier references to the student's lives being like a piece that has been scripted for them, they never really have this total grip on reality.

The revelation with Madame and Miss Emily in chapters 21 and 22 is quite different from the rest of the novel, as the reader seems much more to be finding out the information with Kathy as she relives it instead of saying things like 'i'll come back to that bit later' for which Ishiguro states that she is 'in the know'. After the repeated description of darkness and narrowness (are they to lose their identity because of this new information?), the reader and Kathy and Tommy are illuminated to the outside world's perceptions, however they cannot fully comprehend - "What was this Morningdale scandal you keep mentioning, Miss Emily?" - and their future still has a dark ending. The difference for the reader is perhaps Ishiguro's technique of suddenly bringing you out into the open to seeing the wider implications after being so caught up in the intricacies of their relationships, it is difficult to adjust so suddenly and so the readers sympathies remain with the students.  

Perhaps Ishiguro's overall references to how the students think their donations are far in the future but soon realise they have run out of time is a magnification of how all human life acts?

Finally, I would just like to comment that the image of the balloons being cut-off is obviously a very important point bout identity, and shows how Kathy perhaps feels that the factors that make up her identity are reduced merely to that one thing hailsham, and without it she shall become lost. She also then clings on to Tommy as she fears she will blow away in the wind, identity is extremely important to her as she clambers to find one; similar to Offred who's identity is slowly taken away from her as she loses her job, her money, her child, her spouse etc. however Kathy never had this kind of identity in the first place and seeks one rather than having one unwillingly forced upon her...

 

'Never let me go' finale. DREARY!

As i neared the end of this novel, my feeling of dreariness over the whole situation and what Ishiguro was heading towards in the conclusion became greater. I think this is because via Kathy's close narration which is very personal and almost diary-like at times, the reader becomes very close to her and Tommy but more significantly to them and the idea of them gaining a deferral and finally being together instead of remaining as an odd item casualy talking and having sex in an 'L' shaped room.
Because of the reader becoming almost part of what is happening via Kathy's narration to them like in a diary, the reader expects the same outcome as Kathy and Tommy. I believe Ishiguro purposely exploits this effect of the novel on the reader by writing the conlusion as it is.It does make for far more personal reading than if everything had been positive as there is the relentless sense of hope which the reader shares with Kathy and Tommy which drives the reader to the end. Also, the conlusion matches the entire novel in tone as in the back of Tommy and Kathy's mind as well as the readers, we know that they will both complete without any sort of deferral. it is a typical convention in novels of this sort for the end to meet the readers secret expectations which they prefer to ignore but which squeezes the tears out of girls and shrugs out of (most) boys.

Another part of the end which stood out to me (mainly because its mishaped form in the plot) is where the hopeful couple got to see miss lucy and emily.A lot of the content in this section was irrelevent and just bored me, and like hannah said, it seems to be put in by ishiguro just to tie up lose ends. There is also the reference to miss emily and her 'mechanical sounds' which thoroughly confused me.i think by this point, dreariness had taken over even ishiguro and he abruptly ended the novel shortly after the revellation of the myth of deferral!

Last Part of the book Chapter 20 =>

Generally I was personally quite upset about the end - I expected Kathy and Tommy to have at least a few months together of deferred time. However, I guess this was a bit much to ask seeing as Kathy's extended (in they eyes of other donars who are her peers) time as a carer that this would be too good to be true.

When the door closes this seems to be the end of a chapter of Kathy and Tommy's lives - the end of niavity. The darkness of the house however, indicates that the next chapter will not be opne that begins with happiness and joy ... this could also indicate that The two ladies (Miss Emily and Madame) have connected with the students on a personal level as they too have done into the shadows just as the public want the students to be out of sight and in the shadows.They do have to be in the shadows for their own safety but this simply strengthens my point about how connected they are to the students.

Kathy's feelings that things were too late foreshadows the disappointment that comes when they meet with Madame and Miss Emily (unexpected) adn find that the deferral is simply a rumour.

The manner in which they conducted the meeting was quite strange as Miss Emily was hidden in the darkness listening to the conversation with Madame ... Her (Miss Emily) voice is described as being mechanic or like a machine ... (look-up) this indicates that she too have been dehumanised - could she too be a clone? Is this what has driven her/them to prove that the students have souls?

Miss Emily's Nigerian carer is the only time tha race/ nationality is mentioned within the novel ... and the fact that this carer had a good look at Kathy - does this mean that there are physical differences in appearance of the clones?

Madame placing Kathy's hand on her face ... an act that reminded me of a story of a white man fighting back the urge to wipe his hand after shaking the hand of a black man .... both blacks and clones are seen as less than human - blacks in our history and to an extent even today and clones within the novel ... if this were to happen they would indeed be considered less than human...

Margaret Atwood on "The Handmaids Tale"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml
Margaret Atwood speaks about "the handmaids tale" on BBC World Book Club.
There is also one by Kazuo Ishiguro on "the remains of the day."

Chapter 20 and onward.

Chapter 20 - Kathy becomes Tommys carer and they begin a relationship. They decide to visit Madame for a deferal.

• Tommy's animals - "something was definately gone,...almost like they'd been copied" The new animals are inferior to their originals. Is this in some way a reflection on the students - are they less human than their models as they are copied, do they too lose something of their humanity?
• Their behaviour at Kingsfield is similar to that at the cottages - "chatting, having sex, reading aloud and drawing" - refer to earlier point about them still being the children of Hailsham.

Chapter 21 - They visit Madame

• Reminded of "the day we followed Ruth's possible" - hope of a new life. Also reminds reader that they are the same people as they were before - see earlier ref.
• "But the houses on our side continued without a change" - their lives continue with their fates unaltered.
• "you could se her stiffen - as if a pair of large spiders was set to crawl towards her" - phobia, fear. She is as scared of them as many people are scared of spiders - a common fear for the readers to identify with.
• Ishiguro presents a sense of inevitability - "everything got pretty dark" - reader is prepared for the deferals to be a rumour.
• "Kathy H. and Tommy D." the mention of the names as identity. How are they named?
• "this big stage set" - their lives are scripted for them by someone else, their fate is inevitable.
• Madame seems surprised at their humanity, their ability to love.
• "poor creatures" Madame uses this term often to refer to Kathy and Tommy. Lack of humanity.

Chapter 22 - Miss Emily appears. Explains deferals and gallery. Kathy and Tommy travel back to Kingsfield.

• still refeers to them as "students" this is their identity according to her.
• A rumour is the "one thing that gets created from scratch over and over again" (Miss Emily) like a clone. Is there a link?
• References to "Morningdale" which the reader doesn't know of, and neither does Kathy. Allows an explanation for the reader.
• Gallery was "to prove you had souls" - prove that they are human in spirit as weel as species. Does Tommy's inability in art mean that he is any less human though.
• Miss Emily refers to the way they were "reared" like breeding animals.
• "govenrnment "homes"" not houses. Adds a little personality and humanity.
• "pawns in game" - their fates are not in their control. Madame says Kathy should "be on the stage"
• Their human nature is evident as they travel back to Kingsfield. They don't talk about the impportant thing but make small talk. Also Tommy doesn't want Kathy to see him in his rage - male pride. He is understandbly angry and reacts just as anyone else would.
• Kathy "felt the fight go out of him" - Ishiguro prepares the reader for Tommys death.

Chapter 23 - Kathy stops becoming Tommys carer. Tommy dies.

• "with the dark coming" - imminant death.
• Kathy speaks directly to the reader - "you'll have heard the same talk" about the fourth donation. Assumes reader is part of this society. Makes the reader more involved in the story and the events more personal.
• Behind the home is a "wasteland" with "the blank fog on the other side" - Their lives are like the wasteland and death awaits them.
• Tommy doesn't want Kathy to see him complete - shows human nature.
• After Tommy's death Kathy finds herself "on a road i'd never been on" she is now alone as both of her closest friends have died. She is lost and doesn't know where she's going. Makes a change to the focus on the ultimate destination.
• She thinks of trying to find Tommy in Norfolk as she has "lost" him. Reminder of childhood and her nature.
• "to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be" - sense of purpose. There is always something she is "supposed" to do.

As is usual for a distopian novel, society remains unchanged at the end. I found the chapters involving Madame and Miss Emily a little tedious as they seemed to be used purely for tying up loose ends like the gallery and Madames reaction to Kathy's dancing. Ishiguro does well in maintaining the humanity of his characters especially nearing the end of the novel. Ironically they become more human as they neat the end of their lives perhaps suggeting that death unites everyone wheter donar, carer or model.

Something I found interesting

http://www.stanford.edu/~jfearon/papers/iden1v2.pdf
A paper by James D. Fearon on "what is identity (as we now use the word).
I haven't read all of it but section 4 - social identity - and section 6 - personal identity - are quite thought provoking. Not sure if its really relavent but thought it might be interesting following on from the lesson today.

Chapter 19

Things to note about chapter 19

• Kingsfield used to be a "holiday camp" and Hailsham is being bought by a "hotel chain". The contrast between the purposes of Kingsfield and Hailsham vs the hotel and holiday camp. Also, the impression of the building is dependent on the people who are in it, much in the same way that your impression of a person is influenced by the people around you.
• "faint odour of something medical on him" - reader identifies with hospital smell.
• "Tommy and Ruth made their way to another tree trunk, hollow and more emaciated than mine" Reflects the health of the respective parties. Tommy and Ruth are more hollow due to the removal of organs.
• "what we're supposed to be doing" they are aware of the purpose of their creation. Perhaps this is why they never try to do anything about their fate. Whereas Offred was part of a transitional society, she had experienced the freedom of the society before, the students of Hailsham have no experience of another life and so wouldn't recognise that what is being done to them is as horrifying as it seems to the reader.
• Ruth dies - she becomes just like every other donar Kathy has seen. She still maintains her humanity - the fight for survival, the periods of lucidity. Kathy also acts as any person would and attempts to reassure her. It gives Ruth's existance a purpose greater than that which she was created for in that she has now bought Tommy and Ruth together. She has changed something and has left her legacy.
• Kathy mentions the "ghastly battles"of the donars which correspond to earlier points made about references top war and war imagery.
• Her death os not dignified. She twists and contorts in pain. Ishiguro could have left out the details of her death, however it is the details which make the reader realise just how human she was after all.
• It also highlights the reality of the procedure. Previously when talking about donars completing there was no intimacy. It was just a cold medical term which related to nothing in the readers mind, and probably meant nothing to the children at Hailsham either. Having followed the characters in such a personal way, when the reader is presented with a situation where completion is so recognisable, especially to those who have seen someone in a similar position, it becomes difficult to distance the society of the novel from the society in which we live.

Chapter 18

Things to note fron chapter 18

• The clown carrying balloons - "the balloons had faces and shaped ears" - the balloons are representative of the students at Hailsham, they have been moulded, manufactured, shaped.
• The balloons are all held by a firm grip, just as the students are held together by their history of Hailsham.
• When one of the balloons flies free - soul going to heaven, death of a donar.
• "they looked like a little tribe" - image of war
• Clown - image of childhood, yet haunting. A little like their twisted childhoods at Hailsham.
• Kathy identifies the centre were Ruth was at specifically, as if the reader will know it. Engages the reader and enhances reality.
• Elements of humanity - Kathy gets "the sense of something not being right" and "i suppose we all feel a bit vulnerrable after a shower"

Chapter 18 & 19

In these two chapters we as readers learn about the fact that Kathy has been able to live with the sight of donars and their ailments. she is emotionally stable enough to see this each day and understand that although this is uncomfortable it is inevitable an unfortnate fact of life that she and her fellow clones will too have to face. This seems to be quite a cold stance for someone like Kathy to take but in someways it is understandable. She appears to be more acute in her knowledge of the world that she has to live in but also the way in which others who are considered to be 'normal' have to live. so she is able to understand the importance of her being able to control her emotions so she can provide a high standard of care for the other donars she is expected to care for.

The way in which Kathy came about caring for Ruth is explained and we see how their friendship is much the same as it was before Kathy left the cottages after her first visit with Ruth. But this improves only after Ruth apologises for lying to Kathy about her "urges" where she reveals that she too had the same urges and was not completely faithful to Tommy. When she begins this apology it is as though a sense of deja vu is created as I immediately thought that this was a repeat performance of the bus stop incident however this encounter had in some ways a more positive outcome - it was not a sinister as the first.

Just before this - I was surprised at the way in which Kathy and Tommy were in some ways attacking Ruth about the advert she was showing them on the side of the road. I felt that this was below the moral standards that Kathy usually obtains and I was slightly disappointed. But some may chose to argue that she had a right to behave in such a vengeful manner.

I was also surprised that Ruth refused to apologise for keeping Kathy and Tommy apart eventhough she knew that they were supposed to be together.however this suggests that although what she did was wrong there is a possibility that Ruth genuinely possessed some feelings for Tommy. If this is not the case she was simply extremely jealous of Kathy.

Chapter 11

• the conversation Ruth and Kathy have about sex - having no-one to talk to, as she is not in a couple, Kathy turns to Ruth for comfort and reassurance. Ruth manipulates her position of trust. Her selfish nature is evident "I'm in a couple. So if I want to do it, I just do it with Tommy."
• She is put back in her place by Ishiguro, it is not noticed by the characters, when she claims "It's probably to do with the different food we're eating here." As this is a casual suggestion, it emphasises thier childlike state of mind and lack of experience of adult concepts. It almost humiliated Ruth as the reader knows now that she isn't the authority she claims to be, although this isn't recognised by Kathy.
• The shift in time to when Kathy is Ruth's carer presents some similarities to when they were in the Cottages - they sit on the bed in the evening and talk - maintaining that they have not changed a great deal - they are still the same people. If the reader thought the fate of the children shocking than they must surely translate that to the fate of the adults as they are so intrinsically similar.
• The "two veterans leaving for a course, and wandering if by the next spring or summer, they'd have gone altogether." Again this sounds as if they are going off to war, unsure if they'll return alive.
• Maintaining humanity - use of slang "dead against"
• Legacy - "Dave's stump" and "Steves magazines"
• Kathy looks at the magazine - she knows that they were copied from prostitutes etc so was looking for her possible. Could also be wishful, she knows she will not get to live a normal life.
• Reader is left in suspense as to what happened on the Norfolk trip.

Part 2: my observation

The most significant happening of part 2 i think is the development of Kathy and Tommy's friendship.

• Their time alone in norfolk for the hour when they look for the tape. Tommy wants to find it for her as he loves her and cares for her on a level that he can not ruth. Instead, kathy finds it and tommy is dissapointed.
• Tommy's 'theory' which he only tells kathy at first (ruth much later). Throughout their conversation on it, there is the blatant feeling that the reader gets of them being made for each other. Kathy notes later that there is no more mention of it until ruth says shes' been told.How she 'got it out of him i the end'. Furhter augments the feeling that he and ruth dont 'belong' and he and kathy do much more.
• Kathy and tommy in the goose hut.His drawings which he quietly wants her opinion of, and kathy knows this but does not give. Reader keeps getting the esence of these ;'missed chances' for the two to really bond emotionally.
• Ruth admitting to kathy that tommy really admires kathy and herself and tommy wont be together forever and kathy is the natural succession, but, he doesnt love her and see her like a girlfriend, just respects her.

This final point is perhaps why tommy prefers spending time with kathy as they connect on an emotional level whcih he and ruth do not, she does not have the ability to comfort and understand feelings.

Part 2 Chapter 17 - Quotes that I found significant

Listed below are some of the quotes that I highlighted because I found them to be significant in some way, shape or form:

• Pg 194 - "... it wasn't until a long time afterwards - long after I'd left the Cottages - That I realised just how significant our little encounter in the churchyard had been" - this quote causes the reader to feel anticipation and encourages us/ them to continue reading to find out what made the encounter in the churchyard "significant"


• "I had this idea at the time ... that if our sense of the essays being important was allowed to seep away, the so too would whatever bound us together as Hailsham students" - this is interesting because we wonder if there is any truth behind what she says ... What was the content of the essays? and why if they were at all so important in keeping Hailsham students together? And why specifically Hailsham students?


• Pg 195 - "I knew the well enough to see that they had grown quite distant from each other" - It's nearly as though Kathy has the ability to see into each of their souls - she knows both of them so well. She sees through their charade.


• "Anyway, talking to Tommy wasn't so easy anymore. On the surface... it was much like before, but we never mentioned the animals or what happened in the churchyard." - this shows that Tommy was genuinely hurt by the way in which Kathy had spoken about his animals behind his back. It can also be said to support the view that Kathy is able to see through Tommy she understands that although things may appear or even sound as they once were they are not truly that way - underneath Tommy has withdrawn his trust from her and so he does not confide in her about his feelings as they once did


• "Although something had come between me and Tommy, it hadn't quite got like that with Ruth - or at least that's what I'd thought..." - this can be considered in two ways 1. Kathy is a very forgiving person as although Ruth betrayed her trust in telling Tommy about the conversation about his animals she was able to overlook this 2. Kathy was too niave to identify the fact that she had been betrayed let a lone the change in her relationship with Ruth
• Pg 196 - The section near the beginning about the bus stop - this seems to saying that although people may seem to strip away pieces of you i.e your confidence you will still be you - you will still have the ability to stand

Part 2 of Never Let Me Go

The part that is still stuck firmly in my head because it seems to have had quite an impact on me is near the end of this section - in chapter 17. From page 197.

Synopsis: Ruth tells Kathy that Tommy does not like her as more than a friend.

I think that Ruth wanted to convince Kathy of this fact so that she would be able to destroy her relationship with Tommy completely. By doing so, she can herself attempt to convince Tommy that she is in love with him and somehow seek to apply for a deferred donation.

However, it is clear that Ruth does not genuinely chersih her relationship with Tommy. This is clear when she sauys, "...maybe me and Tommy, we might not be a couple for ever. That's no tradgedy."

Hannahs points to note about Part 2.
Chapter 10

• essay - one of the pointless tasks to fill up their time. Kathy's essay on Victorian Literature, as well as the general emphasis on literature in the Cottages, is a form of escape from the real world and their fates. Conversations on literature and philosophy show a more adult environment compared to the gossip of Hailsham. They live in fiction - "like they were in a play and he'd forgotten his lines" - their lives have been written for them, their fate is inevitable.
• The students live in the converted "barns, outhouses and stables" originally used to keep livestock.
• The older students are referred to as veterens. Even though they are still young they are in the latter stage of life. Also, could refer to a 'war' or fight?
• The hills are always distant - "we could see the hills in the distance that reminded us of the ones in the distance at Hailsham" - they are never really a part of real life, real society.
• They are so institutionalised that they cannot think for themselves outside of Hailsham. Copying behaviour from the TV in the same way children mimick the behaviour of their parents. This is also a current issue - children copying behaviour from violent TV programmes, for example, making this seem even more realistic.
• Ishiguro maintains the humanity of the characters as seen in the argument at the end of the chapter. Sarcasm adds to the realism.
• awareness of social hierarchy - Ruths need to fit in with the veterans may be the real reason for her relationship with Tommy.

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