Never Let Me Go Section 4

Never Let Me Go has a motif of expectations most of which go unfulfilled.  Ruth expects Tommy and Kathy to get a deferral and be with each other as long as possible.  Tommy and Kathy suspect that Madame hates them.  Most students, especially Hailsham students, believe in the idea of deferrals.  They never doubt the importance of the Gallery and what it could do for them.  They are led, rightfully, to believe they are worthy.  In their conversation with Madame and Miss Emily, Kathy and Tommy discover they have been proven wrong.  Deferrals do not exist.  Madame does not actually hate them.  The Gallery essentially accomplished nothing, and their lives had little to no meaning--outside of being donors--to the world.  Why, then, were they led to hope?  Miss Emily, again, gives the answer and addresses another theme.  Hope is better than despair; one lives a better life thinking things will be better than knowing they will not.  Though the end result to their lives are the same, the Hailsham students have something more than the other students in the end.  "'I can see,' Miss Emily said, 'that it might look as though you were simply pawns in a game.  It can certainly be looked at like that. But think of it.  You were lucky pawns'" (Ishiguro, 266).  Though this is a paradox, it serves true for the children.  Though their lives were destined to be tragic and they knew it, they still had hope which is better than nothing at all.