Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
read: 2012
Time 100 Novels

WARNING: contains some spoilers

After the end of the version of Never Let Me Go I read, there are some study guide questions to help frame the reader's understanding of the story. One contains a quote from author Kazuo Ishiguro, who says of the students / clones who are the main characters, "How are they are trying to find their place in the world and make sense of their lives? How can they transcend their fate? ... Most of the things that concern them concern us all, but with them it is concertinaed into this relatively short period of time." I think this is the kind of thinking that the novel tries to provoke: when we think about why the major characters pursue love, sex, art, friendship, and meaning even though they are doomed to a life of donating their organs and ultimately dying, it is a short leap to note that our lives are finite in nature and wonder about the value of how we spend our time on this earth.

Beyond that, though, I think the book provides an answer in art. The students at Hailsham all are encouraged to produce art. They are competitive, trying to create works good enough to be placed in Madame's "Gallery." Art services as currency in the Hailsham society, as students barter with each other for their works in "exchanges." Once students have graduated they're encouraged to work on theses while they reside at the Cottages. Art is a core element of their curriculum. Why is art so important to the students? And how does that relate to art as a core theme in Never Let Me Go?

Art is a window to the soul. This point is made explicitly late in the story and is alluded to at other points throughout. It is very interesting that Ishiguro uses the word "soul," as the novel has very few explicitly religious elements. There is no real suggestion of an afterlife or a God. It seems like he is almost using it as a secular term, suggesting a transcendent emotional self and not necessary an immortal spiritual self. Still, it's clear that art created in the story or read or viewed by the characters in the story suggests a deeper meaning to the human experience.

Art is a pasttime. Kathy and the other characters rarely watch TV (and she describes television and its effects somewhat disdainfully), but they read, write, and draw quite a bit. Even towards the end of the story, when Kathy and Tommy have given up on art as a literal salvation, they still sit together with Kathy reading and Tommy drawing, simply because they enjoy the process of creating and the journey of discovering what others have created.

Art reinforces memory. Memory is a key element in Never Let Me Go; the whole story is told in flashbacks. Kathy's regrets often focus around art: a source of trauma is the loss of her favorite cassette, and she particularly laments the loss of a calendar with scenes of Hailsham that she had obtained at an exchange. Towards the end of the story, Tommy and Kathy see a painting on the wall at Madame's house and argue about whether it is a scene from Hailsham. It is a curious scene during a charged moment in the story, and it is telling that a piece of art is the focus of it. Lastly, we have the novel itself. It is never clear exactly to whom Kathy is narrating the story or for what purpose, but it seems to be an attempt to preserve her memories and make sure the legacies of Ruth, Tommy, and Hailsham live on.

Art provides a source of emotional communication. The characters in Never Let Me Go are not strong communicators, rarely addressing even matters of life-and-death directly. In art they find some outlet; it's no coincidence that Tommy, who is unable to produce art, has temper problems and is prone to outbursts. Art is seen as an emotional language most clearly when Kathy is listening to the song "Never Let Me Go" and dancing by herself. The interesting thing is that her interpretation (a mother singing to a baby) of the song doesn't match the lyrics, but she still feels the power of the music. Later we find out that Madame, who saw her dancing to the song and also felt a profound sense of loss, had a third interpretation: that Kathy was trying to hang on to innocence in an increasingly cruel world. Here we see that power of art: even when cannot understand or misunderstand it consciously, it affects us emotionally. This ability of art to affect us emotionally can be a bridge between disparate people even if they have differing interpretations. The novel itself also functions this way: the reader is affected by the horror and the tragedy in the story even though those feelings are not the thrust of Kathy's narration.