Topic > The theme of desperation in Never Let Me Go

In Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Kathy's discovery of her world occurs at the same time as that of the readers. Except for the beginning, readers go through the same journey of discovery, excitement, and then the steady erosion of hope as the students of Hailsham learn of their fate. Interestingly, their journey involves questions about the future just as readers are learning about a potential future they may encounter. Therefore, Ishiguro pushes readers to empathize, not just sympathize, with the characters presented in the novel through the hope of a normal life, or love, and freedom. In this way he questions not only the use of clones as organ donors, but also the conflicting role of hope. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayOne element of the science fiction nature of the novel that creates hope in the reader is the accessibility of the world. The story begins with a date, "late 90s", while the book itself was published in 2005. It then presents a world that readers are familiar with, but then adds organ donors for the future. Furthermore, at the beginning of the novel, readers are unaware that the characters are clones, and Hailsham is portrayed as a pleasant place just as it was for Kathy and Tommy. Thus Ishiguro isolated a potential problem of future scientific innovation and forced readers to experience its potential consequences. Perhaps a larger issue that Ishiguro confronts readers and characters with is how to react to and deal with unknowns with particular attention to hope. During primary school children in today's society and in Hailsham are blissfully ignorant about adulthood. Many of them dream of becoming an NBA star, an actress or an astronaut. Unlike the children of Hailsham, however, the children of the reading society are unlikely to die at a young age with no chance of doing anything other than becoming organ donors. As a result, Ishiguro presents conflicting views on how to deal with the clones, one of which is the protected environment of Hailsham. Miss Lucy, however, has a completely different opinion, and reacts after hearing some children talk about their dreams: "None of you will go to America, none of you will become a movie star. And none of you will work in supermarkets, like I heard." some of you are planning the other day. Your lives are set up for you" (81). When Miss Lucy finally stopped her outburst, Kathy felt relieved and believed her classmates felt the same way. For readers, this is the first time they learn explicitly the fate of the Hailsham children, and perhaps so too for the other children in the novel. As the Hailsham children move into adulthood, they react differently to their impending fate. At the beginning of the period in the cottages Kathy describes living in a “cozy state of suspension where we could reflect on our lives without the usual boundaries” while some people like Ruth talked about their “dream future” (142). the future as it was still relatively far from them. Likewise, both Kathy and Ruth liked to look for a “possible” or real person from whom they were cloned. However, when Ruth's hope becomes too great, she further examines the his “possible” to find out if his dream is reality. This is a painful moment for both Ruth and the readers as her small glimmer of hope fades and she directly confronts her status as an underappreciated person, or in her words,.