Never Let me Go

 We don’t know what to expect coming into a world that you know nothing about as a newborn baby. But as you grow older, you are pursuing your purpose for coming into the world. You live, you learn, and you experience things some may be good, some may be bad. So, you have to make the most of it and live life with no regrets. Memories make life what it be and they are very important for understanding a person’s past, and the path of their life because they can impact decision making. Memories will never fade no matter the challenges of life, which is what is so fascinating about the experiences and memories of Kathy. In the novel: Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro demonstrates that Kathy lived a pretty decent life.

Throughout the novel Kathy is recollecting moments from her school years at Hailsham and to her more adventurous days at the Cottages. We are watching Kathy watch herself grow up. Kathy narration is happening years later after Tommy and Ruth’s donations. In the novel Never Let Me Go, Kathy looks back on the past so heavily because that is all she has. All of her friends are gone, so she is only stuck with the memories and times that they shared. From personal experience, I still share lots of memories of my loved ones that are still alive and that are no longer living. It was hard to see at the time, but memories are strong. They are something that one could use as motivation to push through hard times, and sometimes, gives life a purpose. Memories helps people realize the importance of life and making every second count, which could be viewed in the form of a “token controversy”. 

According to dictionary.com a memory is known as the “brain's ability to collect, connect, and create information, images, and emotions which is, in most instances, used as coping mechanisms”. After doing research, according to Transitional Literature “Ishiguro is known for novels focusing deeply on memory and memory played a big role throughout the novel.” This explains the connection between the title and the overall theme, which throughout the novel show that memories will never fade. As you read the novel, you discover that Kathy is referring to either time or the memories that are being made between the characters in the story which is shown by several flashbacks to Hailsham days or just times they shared together also proving that recollections of certain past events trigger certain emotions, which influences certain behaviors. Such as “driving around the country now, I still see things that will remind me of Hailsham. I might pass the corner of a misty field, or see part of a large house in the distance as I come down the side of a valley, even a particular arrangement of popular trees up on a hillside, and I'll think: "Maybe that's it! I've found it! This actually is Hailsham!”. Kathy shows that she is excited because she has found her roots of Hailsham.

They grew up a little different but somewhat similar to everyone else, they were clones trying to prove they were just like everyone else. At Hailsham they felt as if they were creative they were human, so they used art to prove that they had souls. Hailsham was the building blocks of Kathy’s friendships with Ruth and Tommy. The friendships in Never Let Me Go are just like the ones in real life. The friendships are very complicated, but they're also very realistic. In the novel, friends fight, make up, have misunderstandings, support one another, and accidentally or purposefully hurt each other's feelings. Similar to the Malone’s football team, we came together from different parts of the world to be a part of the team. Over the course of the year we built this unbreakable bond that we will share for a lifetime. The moments we share weren’t always pretty, like throughout the novel: we fought, we made up, supported each other no matter what, and had lots of misunderstandings but throughout that. We remained a family and built strong friendships. Kathy states “But in the end I managed it, and the instant I saw her again, at that recovery centre in Dover, all our differences—while they didn't exactly vanish—seemed not nearly as important as all the other things: like the fact that we'd grown up together at Hailsham, the fact that we knew and remembered things no one else did” (). The quote stated is the beginning of Ruth’s and Kathy’s relationship, the relationship is very iffy, but they share the memory of Hailsham together and that’s what keeping them together. As an adult Kathy looked back on her flashbacks about Ruth and Tommy show us the ups and downs of friendship, but they also remind us just how enduring friendships can be.

Friendships are very beautiful, it’s like you always have people in your corner that you’ve grown to know and make many memories with. Kathy states “I was talking to one of my donors a few days ago who was complaining about how memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don't go along with that. The memories I value most, I don't see them ever fading. I lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy, but I won't lose my memories of them” (286). Kathy accepted the fact her friends were gone or as stated in the novel “completed”.

I could personally relate to Kathy because throughout my life I’ve made a good number of people I could rely on and I just love dearly but I have one friend that was taken from me May 28th, 2018. I met him my junior year at Cedar Grove High School in Atlanta, Georgia. We didn’t know each other for a long time but it’s like when we met we clicked together, from the time we met we made many memories that will never fade away. Even though it may hurt that he is not physically with us, every day I would think of him, and a great time that we shared. Ishiguro displays that emotion of acceptance when Kathy states “I’m glad that’s the way it’ll be. It’s like with my memories of Tommy and of Ruth ... I’ll have Hailsham with me, safely in my head, and that’ll be something no one can take away” (281).

Love is defined as “encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest pleasure” as stated by dictionary.com. Throughout the novel Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro makes the lines between love, sex, and friendship are often not clear. Kathy's love for Tommy blossoms at Hailsham, where students become sexually active in their teens, but Tommy dates Ruth instead.” Kathy stated "It's really good you're telling me this," I said eventually. "I probably am the best person. Talking to Tommy and all that." I agree because it’s like a big love triangle forms, somewhat similar to the previous novel Twelfth Nights with Orsino, Viola, and Olivia. I say that because Kathy wants Tommy but she doesn’t do it because Tommy is in a relationship with Ruth and she doesn’t want to break her promise with Ruth. In comparison to Twelfth Nights Ruth was the Viola (Cesario) of Never Let Me Go in a way.

Forgiving is defined as the “intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, let’s go of negative emotions”, according to dictionary.com. Have you ever heard the saying “forgive and forget”? Forgiving someone is sometimes the hardest thing to do but it is the right thing to do. Just because you forgive them don’t mean you forgot what they’ve done to you or put you through. Even though it’s the right thing to do I have a hard time forgiving for people for what they’ve done. I feel as if they did it once, they’ll do it again. Since a kid, my mom will tell me that I should forgive others but growing up every time I forgive someone the same thing happens continuously. 

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