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.