Conclusion (Never Let Me Go: 20)

"I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be."
-page 288

Having now read both novels, Brave New World and Never Let Me Go, I can't help but wondering how the world is going to change in the future. With all the new technology being developed, the plots of these books are not entirely out of the realm of possibility. It seems entirely possible that people can be made without God's natural idea of intercourse. If our world does become advanced enough to develop this technology, I hope that our world leaders will be responsible and not abuse it. I hope that if this existed, we would not use it in the same ways as the authors imagine it. I don't think man has the right to take away free will and control someone's entire existence. I might be nieve in thinking that this shouldn't happen, because people are treated this way in society now anyways. I think both authors might be warning our society that technology should never get to the point where it is more valued than one's life. Overall, I enjoyed both novels and feel like I have a new view on the world.

Soul Train (Never Let Me Go: 19)

"Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all."
-page 260

Kathy and Tommy's conversation with Miss Lucy had gotten a lot deeper than just "no we can't help you." They did not go through all that trouble to not at least get some things answered. They wanted to know more about Hailsham. Apparently, the whole point of the Gallery, was to show to the outside world that these clone children, were just as much human beings as anyone else. They had to get people to support the program, so they used the students art to prove that the kids had souls. It must be a demoralizing feeling that people of the outside world had to be shown that they were real people. They needed to prove that they deserved to be treated like real children. I can't imagine something harder than proving one's self-worth and human dignity. Even though this notion seems cruel and unjust, Hailsham was eventually shut down anyways, because people did not think these children needed decent living conditions. So in a sense, Hailsham had done Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, and all the others a huge favor.

The Truth (Never Let Me Go: 18)

"She shook her head slowly from side to side. 'There's no truth in the rumour. I'm sorry. I truly am.'"
-page 258

All the anticipation. All the questions. All the hope. It all came down to this meeting with Madame and Miss Emily. Were the rumors true? Was there hope that they could live longer lives together? All of it came down to this, and the answer was simply "no." The rumors were not true, and there was nothing that they could do to help them. They just had to live out the rest of their lives and die when their time came. I've had moments before when the worst answer I could predict is the one I got. However, it couldn't compare to Kathy and Tommy's situation. Their thoughts about life and their childhood had all been wrong. Even though they might not have shown it, finally knowing the truth had to have hurt.

We're Not Alone (Never Let Me Go: 17)

"I realised with a little chill, that these questions had never been for me, or for Tommy, but for someone else- someone listening behind us in the darkened half of the room."
-page 255

The scene with Kathy and Tommy finding and talking to Madame did not play out exactly how I had expected. I had expected Madame to blow them off and act like she didn't know what they were talking about. She invited them inside, and even though she was kind of unfriendly at first, she opened up once they came in. It was not unnoticed that they were not the only ones in the house, but it didn't seem important at the time. Kathy and Tommy started to explain to Madame their theories and why they had come to talk to her. Madame questioned them, but in a way like it was a test that she'd been through before. Madame though seemed to be talking out, like she was speaking to someone else. The quote I used is the moment Kathy realizes that they are not alone. Come to find out, Miss Emily was also in the house. I feel like Kathy and Tommy are about to find out something that they had not been expecting at all.

Bad Mental Picture (Never Let Me Go: 16)

"For a start, Tommy and I finally started having sex."
-Page 238

I realize that Kathy and Tommy are the same age. However, I can't help but get a picture in my head that Tommy is a lot older. Almost like he is living in a nursing home, and Kathy is his nurse. Maybe the fact of Tommy's health deteriorating is why I see him to be an elderly person. So one might imagine how I thought it was strange that Kathy and Tommy had started to have sex and act like a real couple. He was the donor/patient and she was the carer/nurse. Even though it wasn't really unexpected, I still was somewhat surprised, based on the circumstances. Kathy had taken the address that Ruth gave them for Madame's house. She had done some detective work and in fact saw Madame. Kathy and Tommy are going to find her and talk to her. I'm sure this must be very nerve racking for them, but like they mentioned, what will they do even if she gives them more time?

Running out of Literary Terms (Never Let Me Go: 15)

"I'd hardly ever been to Kingsfield in those days, so Ruth and I had to consult the map a number of times on the way and we still arrived several minutes late."
-page 218

I'm not sure why I'm waiting until now to mention that Kathy is the Protagonist in the story, but it might have something to do with the fact that some literary terms are just hard to find. Kathy has been the central character throughout the entire story, and she initiates or drives all of the action. In this chapter, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy are all reunited for the first time since the Cottages. They are going to see a boat that got stranded on land, but I feel like the whole purpose of the trip was just to be together again. We originally think that Kathy wants to go on the trip, so Ruth could see Tommy again. Later, we find out that Ruth actually wanted Kathy to see Tommy, because she tells them that she is sorry for keeping them apart. It must be a strange feeling for Ruth to admit that she tried to keep her two closest friends away from each other just because she was jealous of their relationship. Kathy was upset, but she figured there was nothing that could be done now anyways. At the end of the chapter, Ruth dies and asks Kathy to go be Tommy's carer. Being the good friend that she is, plus wanting to anyways, she agrees to be Tommy's carer.

Part 3 (Never Let Me Go: 14)

"I said nice things about her too, and for the next half hour or so, I think we were genuinely delighted to be with each other."
-page 214

At the end of Part 2, Kathy leaves the Cottages and goes to start her training as a carer. She comes to find that she is very successful at her job. Since she has left the Cottages, she rarely sees people from Hailsham anymore. She runs into Laura one day and decides that since Ruth is now doing her donations, that she would be her carer. I used this quote, because this is how Ishiguro set up the mood when Kathy and Ruth saw each other for the first time since the Cottages. But this pleasant mood he has created does not last very long. A few lines later, Kathy says, "But once I officially became her carer, and I began to see her regularly, the sense of something not being right grew stronger and stronger." The mood now is that the two friends are happy to see each other, but there is still some unfinished business to attend to. Kathy and Ruth planned a trip to see Tommy. I am very curious to see how the three interact with each other now that they have been a part for so long.

Dialect (Never Let Me Go: 13)

"I think before long he got his Wellingtons on, and we both left the goosehouse."
-page 188

Dialect is a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area. This literary term is definitely used in the quote. "Wellingtons" and "goosehouse" are words that would only be used by people that live in England. I'm assuming Wellingtons are a brand of shoe popular in England during this time, and the goosehouse was some sort of barn. When I came across the sentence with both of these words in them, I knew I had to mention it in my blog. Tommy has been drawing his animals in the goosehouse, so hopefully he can go to Madame later and apply for a more time before donations. Kathy admits that Tommy has made a lot of progress in his artwork, but she still jokes with Ruth of how goofy the animals are. I knew this was a bad idea as soon as I read it. She had told Tommy that she liked his art, and that made him really happy. She had to have known that Ruth would tell Tommy that Kathy did not actually like them. This isn't the first time Ruth has tried to distance Tommy and Kathy, and it probably won't be the last. I think Ruth is jealous of Kathy and Tommy's friendship.

Norfolk (Never Let Me Go: 12)

"On that journey home, with the darkness setting in over those long empty roads, it felt like the three of us were close again and I didn't want anything to come along and break that mood."
-page 183

The literary term stream of consciousness is used throughout this entire novel. The inner workings of Kathy's mind are displayed many times. This quote is just one example of what she was thinking. In fact, Kathy's mind is the whole basis and director of the entire story. Tommy and Kath are left alone for awhile in Norfolk, and during this time they search for Kathy's old lost tape. This was Tommy's idea, and when she actually found it, she realized how good of a friend Tommy was. Then, they started to talk about a more serious topic. Tommy believes that Madame's Gallery, from Hailsham, is used to determine if a couple is truly in love, so that they can delay their donations be a couple of years. Kathy admits that this idea is completely plausible. I find this idea to be somewhat ridiculous. I am unaware how someone could determine if two people were in love by the artwork they created in grade school. Maybe that's why I don't get paid the big bucks, or maybe there is something more to it than that.

Possible (Never Let Me Go: 11)

"They were kind in their way and were trying to cheer Ruth up. At the same time, though, I remember feeling... a sort of resentment towards them of Ruth's behalf."
-page 165

I found this quote on page 165 to be a paradox. Kathy contradicts herself, but yet it still makes sense. She says that Chrissie and Rodney were being nice and sympathetic, but she felt it was out of selfishness and did not truly have concerrn for Ruth. The group had gone on this roadtrip to see one of Ruth's potential "possibles." At first I was very confused of what a possible was. The only thing I knew was that it was someone else in the world who was very similar to them. I thought it could've been a sibling, a parent, or something to do with science. I came to find out that all of the students at Hailsham and donation kids were actually clones of real people. The possibles were people that could possibly be the model to create the clone that ended up creating them. In a sense, finding a possible is like an adopted child finding their birth parents. Except, the possible was exactly you, even though they admit that what the person does as a living does not mean that's how their life would be.

Wizard of Oz (Never Let Me Go: 10)

"That's why she often looked more like the Wicked Witch than a movie star."
-page 141

This quote uses an allusion, which is a reference to something faily well-known. Kathy alludes to the Wicked Witch, who was the evil witch in the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. She references the Wicked Witch to describe Chrissie. Chrissie is one of the veteran girls living at the Cottages, who Ruth happens to look up to a lot. Kathy says that Chrissie is tall and good looking, but she is always bending over trying to be the height of the rest of the girls, so she found her to look like the Wicked Witch. I think Kath might just have described her like that because she did not trust her very much. Sometimes when people are sceptical about someone, or flat out do not like them, they usually think they are less attractive than they actually are. Kathy thinks that Chrissie is up to something and is a bad influence. She does not think it is a good idea for Ruth to be as trusting and ifluenced by Chrissie as she is. I wonder if Kathy is just overreacting or if Chrissie will lead Ruth to something she'll regret.

Sex Lives (Never Let Me Go: 9)

"'There might be something not quite right with me, down there. Because sometimes I just really, really need to do it.'"
-page 128

This quote is an example of an internal conflict that Kathy is having with herself. She admits to Ruth that sometimes she really wants to/has to have sex, almost like it is uncontrollable. I have a feeling that this conflict will come up again, but it is not what I want to focus on with this blog.

The more I read of Never Let Me Go, the more I find similarities between it and Brave New World. Especially after chapter eleven, I have realized how much sex in these two stories is different from sex in our world. I don't mean the action is different, but the way people percieve the act is much different. In BNW, the characters were actually suggested to have sex with many different people and often. And in NLMG, the characters have sex quite often, before marriage, and with pretty much anyone they please. However, in NLMG, relationships do exist, unlike in BNW. I realize that there are people in our world who disrespect the gift of sex and see it differently from say a Catholic teenager, but in the novels, sex is almost a game. I'm assuming that the authors both are giving their suggestions of how sex would change if people could not have children or if our lives were set out for us. I'm not sure if I agree with the author's ideas, because I think even if children weren't tied to sex, our emotions and relationships would still be. An interesting topic to think about, never the less.

Part 2 (Never Let Me Go: 8)

"He was this grumpy old guy who turned up two or three times a week in his muddy van to look the place over. He didn't like to talk to us much, and the way he went round sighing and shaking his head disgustedly implied we weren't doing nearly enough to keep the place up."
-page 116

I am now on Part 2 of the novel, and Kathy and the rest of her class are no longer students at Hailsham. This quote is describing Keffers, who is sort of a grounds keeper or landlord for the Cottages. The Cottages are where most of the students went to live after leaving Hailsham, although some went to live at other places, and not everyone at the Cottages were from Hailsham. I used this quote because Keffers is a flat character. There is a chance that he will show up again in other parts of the story, but I find it very unlikely that he shows any change. He is very one dimensional in that he is a very grumpy and rude old man. I think that Ishiguro put Keffers into the story just to emphasize the dramatic change from Hailsham to the real world. All of the guardians and workers, besides Madame, at Hailsham were extremely friendly and caring, but in the real world, not everyone was like that. Also in this chapter, Kath tells Ruth that she is annoyed with how Ruth trys to act exactly like some of the veterans at the Cottages, especially in her relationship with Tommy.

The Elephant in the Room (Never Let Me Go: 7)

"'Your lives are set out for you. You'll become adults, then before you're old, before you're even middle-aged, you'll start to donate your vital organs. That's what each of you was created  to do... You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided.'"
-page 81

This quote is part of the Rising Action of the story. The speaker of this quote is Miss Lucy. Throughout the story so far, Miss Lucy has always been the guardian who has been dropping hints that the students haven't been told enough about who they are. She finally cannot take it anymore. She keeps hearing students talk about their aspirations of the future, and she knows that they will not come true. Her conscious tells her that she can no longer hide the truth from these kids. She knows they will find out eventually, but doesn't want their dreams to be crushed all at once. After Miss Lucy's rant, the kids were actually not really surprised, since they sort have been indirectly told before. It kind of surprises me how the kids react, or lack of. If I were told that my whole purpose was to donate my vital organs, and that I couldn't have kids or a family, I would be extremely upset.

I Know That Feeling (Never Let Me Go: 6)

"I don't know what I'd expected; for all my fantasies of the past month, I'd never really considered what it would be like in a real situation like the one unfolding at that moment."
-page 60

Ruth got this special pencil case, and suggested that Mrs. Geraldine, her favorite guardian, had given it to her as a gift. Kath did not believe that Mrs. Geraldine would do that, and was very annoyed by Ruth trying to show off. Kath wasn't positive, but figured that Ruth had seen the case in the Sales and had bought it before anyone else had seen it. Kath had come up with a plan to pretend like she knew that Ruth had gotten it in the Sales without actually saying it. Once they were alone, Kath said she had read the Sales sheet and saw every purchase, and Ruth knew that Kath had caught her lie. Ruth had gotten very upset, almost cried, and stormed off. Kath had been wanting to confront her for so long, but once it actually happened she felt terrible for making Ruth feel that way, and realized there was no reason for doing that. This is the use of situational irony, because Kath expected to enjoy Ruth admitting her lie, but instead she felt terrible about it. I have had that same thing happen to me before, when I called someone out on a lie or exaggeration, but then realize that it makes no difference, and I could have just let it go.

Foreshadowing (Never Let Me Go: 5)

"'But if I tried to explain it to you now, I don't think you'd understand. One day, I hope, it'll be explained to you.'"
-page 40

This quote is being said by Miss Lucy, one of the guardians, who is well liked and trusted by the students. She often says weird things about the students not knowing something, or not being told enough. She said this quote in response to Polly asking her why Madame takes some of their creations. Miss Lucy wasn't going to tell them why, but she was foreshadowing that they will find out eventually and that it's important. She uses hints and clues to suggest what will happen later. The more I read the more I realize that something is definitely different about this school and maybe even these kids. Kathy and her friends are starting to recognize that there are several things that happen that they don't understand, but for some reason they don't try to find out answers. It is like there are unwritten/unsaid rules that some topics should just not be discussed by the students, so they feel uncomfortable trying to figure out unknown questions about the school.

Madame (Never Let Me Go: 4)

"She was a tall, narrow woman with short hair, probably quite young still, though at the time we wouldn't have thought of her as such. She always wore a sharp grey suit, and unlike the gardeners, unlike the drivers who brought in our supplies-unlike virtually anyone else who came in from outside-she wouldn't talk to us and kept us at a distance with her chilly look."
-page 32

This quote is using the literary term of direct characterization. Ishiguro is having Kathy tell us directly what Madame, who is some sort of principal or president of the school, is like. The reader does not have to figure out what Madame is like by her words, actions, etc. because we are told directly, even though Kathy goes on to give the reader an example. Madame is brought up because Kathy was talking about the Gallery, which is a place where Madame takes all of the best pieces of artwork from the Exchange. The thing is that no one has actually seen the Gallery or knows what it's purpose is, and it is an unsaid rule that they don't bring it up around a guardian. I'm very curious to find out more regarding the Gallery and the purpose of Madame taking the students art. Kathy and her friends find out that Madame is afraid of them and does not seem to like children at all, so I seriously doubt she's keeping the art for her own viewing pleasure. I sense that Kathy and her friends are asking themselves the same questions, and want to get answers about Madame and the Gallery.

The Exchange (Never Let Me Go: 3)

"I should explain a bit here about the Exchanges we had at Hailsham."
-page 16

This quote came about because Kathy and her friends were talking about how much Tommy gets picked on. Some of them said that he brings it on himself, and as an example, they said that he did not put anything into the Spring Exchange. The Exchange is an exhibition, where artwork made by the students would be turned in for Exchange tokens based on the value of the work. Then the students could purchase others artwork with the coins they had received. The Exchange was a big deal for the students, so Tommy was seen as disrespectful for not contributing to the Exchange. Being artistic was a very important part of being a student at Hailsham, and Tommy was not artistic at all, and even got made fun of for it. Kathy had noticed that in time, Tommy had stopped having temper tantrums, and then eventually stopped getting made fun of. Kathy asked him what had caused this and he told her that one of the guardians (teachers), Miss Lucy, had told him that it was okay that he was not creative. Since being creative was such a big deal at Hailsham, Kathy thought he was lying and got mad. I find the whole Exchange to be a strange concept for a school. I'm wondering why being creative and artistic is so valuable at Hailsham.

Back to the Future (Never Let Me Go: 2)

"On the particular afternoon I'm now thinking of, we were standing up on stools and benches, crowding around the high windows."
-page 7

Flashbacks are used very frequently throughout this novel. In fact, most of the plot seems to be all in the past. The author seems to have Kathy telling a story to the reader about her experiences and friendships at her school. The school, Hailsham, is a boarding school in England. Based on the first chapter, the school seems to be very prestigious, well-known, and respected. The example of the old man Kathy was caring for, who wanted to know everything about Hailsham, proves this point. Kathy realizes how much the school has shaped her entire life. This is when she starts to go into the flashback, where the author has Kathy introduce some of the other characters. One of which is Tommy, a hot-headed athlete who is picked on by the other boys. At the end of chapter one, he hits Kathy, not accidentally, but not really on purpose either.

First Impression (Never Let Me Go: 1)

"My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years."
-page 3

This quote is the first two sentences in the book. Right away I realized that this novel was going to be in a first person point of view. This was quite obvious since it was such a change from Brave New World's third person omniscient point of view. I'm guessing Ishiguro did not think a last name would be necessary to include for Kathy, so he just left it at "H." I'm not totally sure what a carer is yet, but I think it is some type of doctor, or nurse for a donation center. It seems to be an important part of her life, so I'm sure it will come up again, and give more details about her career. The story seems to be about her, her friends, and her old school. I'm still not entirely sure if the main plot is going to be about her past or about her present life. I'm anxious to have some of my confusions cleared up.