Never Let Me Go Analysis

Throughout the novel: Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ishiguro uses his strong descriptive language and creative use of setting to foreshadow and emphasize the lives of all the Hailsham students in the book. Using the setting to both describe the setting itself and explain the lives of the Hailsham students give Ishiguro an opportunity to use characters such as Kathy, and setting to speak to the reader indirectly, instead of just telling the reader right then and there about the meaning and feelings among the characters and their lives. Ishiguro uses this method in the cliffside scene at Rover, the backstreets of High Street, and in Madame’s house. Overall, in Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro uses setting to show the lack of freedom and inevitability of death among the lives of the Hailsham students. Ishiguro uses the cliff edge/seaside town at Rover to emphasize the rare feeling of being open and free among the students, and uses the cliff to emphasize the inevitable death among the group as well. When the group arrives at this run down cafe at the edge of a cliff, Kathy can not help herself and says, “Things cheered up considerably, though, once we arrived in our seaside town” (Ishiguro 148). The ride was rough, and once they reach the scene, it feels like a burden is released on the characters. This open scene contributes to the sense of freedom and happiness that the Hailsham students are searching for. Ishiguro emphasizes the trip to the cliff and open setting at the cliff side to move “away” from the distractions and limitations of everyday life among these students.

Overall, Ishiguro’s method of using setting in Never Let Me Go allows him to speak to the reader in a unique way without much confusion. Throughout the novel, the countless settings always have a meaning under it, and reflects the overall lives, and moods of all the characters, especially the Hailsham students. This is what separates Never Let Me Go from other fictitious novels in this day in