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Never Let Me Go Identity Essay

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While reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro one thing that really stuck with me was the full-blown identity crisis’ the clones are dealing with well into adulthood. I want to use this to make the argument that the clones are in fact humans and they are being stripped of their identities. The children who are being raised at Hailsham are desperate to understand the purpose of their lives. They are meant to learn about their identity through the collections they acquire, their creativity in both their artwork and their written works, as well as the structures of their social lives. From an early age they are being told what to create, how to create it and how they should judge things. This argument that the clones are actually humans …show more content…

The way that the students are constantly trying to improve their art just so they could possibly get their pieces chosen for “the gallery” changes their view of their worth. This takes away their individuality and their own meaning. If you are always trying to be the same as everyone else, as it seems these students are, you lose your meaning for what and why you are doing it. Likewise when you are deliberately trying to make something that another person needs to deem worthy of going to “the gallery”. One's identity, or the meaning behind why they create something can not be manufactured or taught to be there. That is no longer an identity it is merely them recreating what you …show more content…

This realization suggest that the creation of identity is through the experiences we have. We know that Tommy has a lot of rage when it comes to coping with his future. While Kathy on the other hand is always trying to make everyone else happy without taking her emotions or mental state into account. These students would have completely different identities if they were to be raised under ‘normal’ circumstances. So instead of being locked away where society does not have to deal with them, if they were to be raised to learn like everyone else Tommy would maybe not have the amount of rage that he does. I think that most of his rage comes from the fact that he is not as good at creating as the other students therefore he can not fit in as well. He was unable to really have many collections of his own that weren't his because he never earned the right to take part in the

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