After finishing Never Let Me Go I have a much different opinion about the novel. I felt like throughout the book I was always confused and had at least a hundred questions that were never answered. Then in the last twenty pages almost every question was answered and the whole story became clear to me. I was also very surprised by the ending. I had pictured a happy ending where there would be something good happening to the main characters, but the exact opposite happened. When Tommy and Kathy went to see Madame asking for a deferral because they were in love I had hoped that maybe they would get a deferral, and Kathy would be shown that good things can happen in her life. However, the explanation that Madame and Miss Emily gave saddened me greatly, and finally made me realize the point of the novel. The author is trying to show the stark contrast between the idea that these clones are just science experiments and the fact that they are real people. Even at the end when you know how hard Madame has fought to make the lives of clones' better she doesn't see them as human, even though they really are. We can see this when she says "You poor creatures" to the Tommy and Ruth (272). When Tommy dies the reader sees the opposite view though. Kathy is crying over Tommy because she loved him and she will never forget the memories they made during their lives. Her tears show the reader how truly human these clones are.
I also was saddened by the fact that the deferrals were only a rumor. The love between Ruth and Tommy was the only motivation that they needed to somewhat enjoy their lives. When Madame explained to them that they couldn't actually get a deferral, it really did show how she didn't even see them as real souls. The whole point of the galleries was to show how these clones really did have souls and they had true talent and emotion. Out of all people, Madame is the one person that I thought would maybe understand that these clones aren't just a result of science, but they could make a true difference in this world, just like any other human. I wish this novel could end differently, with a more positive outcome, because I can see that these clones are real people, and I would hate to see anybody go through this kind of life. The unknown of their future is what would have scared me the most if I was in their place. It is different however because they don't even know what they don't know. This fear would probably have overwhelmed them if they understood that their future was completely controlled by science.
ReplyDeleteI find Madame's character to be quite interesting, as she has genuine pity for the Halisham students, but at the same time, she truly sees herself as different from them. I do appreciate that Ishiguro commits to the difficult ending, because if he were to offer them happiness I think it would be contradictory to his message.
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