Never Let Me Go Literary Analysis

Mountains out of Memories How much do people remember from their childhood? Were these memories significant at the time, or did they become so later? Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go deals with these questions through the narrative of Kathy H’s life. Kathy’s narration of her time at Hailsham and all that came after is colored significantly by what comes later in her life. It is clear through the way Kathy narrates that she has some biases to her writing. The reader has to read more carefully to see all the ways that Kathy has changed and how this influences the story she tells. The past and the present are inexorably linked in the book Never Let Me Go. The understanding that Kathy, her friends, and all of the students and carers like them are

We know this from the beginning, but we don’t know the weight of it. Ruth has an apology scene soon before she passes away. She acknowledges what she has done wrong: “‘I’d like you to forgive me but I don’t expect you to. Anyway, that’s not half of it, not even a small bit of it, actually. The main thing is, I kept you and Tommy apart.’ Her voice had dropped again, almost to a whisper. ‘That was the worst thing I did’” (Ishiguro 232). Although Kathy doesn’t necessarily immediately warm to this, she is eventually touched by this, and furthermore, Ruth is the reason Kathy and Tommy get their second chance to be together. Kathy forgives Ruth, and then Ruth passes away. The combination of Ruth’s sincere apology for her transgressions and then her tragic death makes all of Kathy’s previous comments make more sense. Yet this revelation does not come until the end of the book. Kathy’s relationship with Ruth changes greatly throughout Never Let Me Go. Yet because of Kathy’s narration, their deaths always loom. Kathy might have been angry at Ruth for wronging her in so many ways, but ultimately Ruth’s death allows Kathy to have a different view on their