Michelle Ward- "Never Let Me Go" Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go, is about a group of kids who are raised at a boarding school called Hailsham, which limits their experiences with the outside world. Hailsham requires all students to submit poetry or artwork at the end of each year. The three main characters in this novel are involved in a love triangle. At a young age, the children are asked the question, “What would you like to be when you grow up?” The kindergartners respond, just as one would expect them to, with the traditional fireman, policeman, astronaut and professional athlete. They are then told that thousands of kids all over the world will obtain those careers, but none of them will. They were put on this world for one purpose, to provide pure, vital organ donations to other humans. The text is separated into three sections, childhood, adulthood and donor. Each “clone” is to provide three donations before the die (“complete”). There are rumors around the halls of Hailsham that if your artwork is good enough, you can postpone your donations for at least a decade. There is another way that one can postpone donations, and that is through exhibiting true love. One can prove that they are in love, true love if their artwork displays extreme beauty and meaning. Kathy, Tommy and Ruth’s love triangle has hindered Kathy and Tommy’s true love to blossom. After they pass through their adulthood and into their years of being a donor, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth experience a reunion in which Ruth begs Kathy and Tommy to submit their art to the headmasters at Hailsham to save their lives. Ruth is guilty because she has tried to keep Kathy and Tommy apart due to jealous. Since Ruth is now onto her third and most likely last donation, her dying wish is to save Kathy and Tommy. Kathy and Tommy collect artwork from their lives and take it to the headmasters. Kathy and Tommy find out that all along these were just rumors at Hailsham, there are no postponement. The artwork was just used as a way to prove that the “clones” had souls, and that they weren’t just mindless drones. This novel emphasizes the importance of inner beauty and the importance of art for survival. Every soul is capable of two things, love and art.