Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro Character Analysis

Kathy H., the protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, has been a carer for over 11 years now. A carer is a clone, developed for organ donation in the dystopic novel, given the responsibility to care for other clones further into the process. She has good instincts with her donors, but might be seen by others as privileged because she was a student a Hailsham, an exclusive school. She describes herself as “lucky” to have gone there. Kathy’s donors “tend to do better than expected.” They have excellent recovery times and have few problems even before the fourth donation, which is apparently impressive although at this point the reader has no idea yet what any of this means. Kathy defends her privileged status saying, “Carers aren’t machines.” She describes her work as physically and mentally exhausting, deserving of any break available. The reader sympathizes early with Kathy because she is kind and earnest but mostly because one can’t imagine the horror of her existence. The criticism Ishiguro

Even as an adult, she will see a particular building and think, “Maybe that’s it! I’ve found it!” So far, she hasn’t been successful which is also odd. The reader wonders if travel is restricted as well.
Another way the students are controlled at Hailsham is by constant surveillance. Kathy speaks often of rare private conversations, places where students can hide away and talk freely, even to avoid being spied upon by other students. By senior year, there are only six students per dorm room, and she fondly remembers that at night, “You could talk about things there you wouldn’t dream of talking about any other place” because her group trusted one another. The author doesn’t call attention to this, but the fact that he brings it up repeatedly is a clear enough signal that something isn’t