Never Let Me Go Section 4

"I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be" (Ishiguro, 288).  The conclusion to Never Let Me Go is open-ended.  Kathy, who was depicted as the main character, has very little closure in the end.  The reader never sees her become a donor which the novel consistently acknowledges the importance of in a student's life.  Therefore, the reader learns the plot of the story has nothing to do with the development of Kathy as a student.  Instead, the main point is to convey a message of morals.  Never Let Me Go looks at the morality of society and how something good like saving someone you love can be equally bad at the same time.  Though they were destined to die young, they still achieved something through living with purpose.  Additionally, Kathy shows a desire to achieve closure in her life as she lives constantly in her memory world.  Therefore, the open conclusion is ironic in that the audience will not know what happened to her after her carer days.  Much of Kathy's story reminded me of the song "Born To Die" by Lana Del Rey.    

Never Let Me Go Section 4

Ruth remains true to a single characterization until she, Tommy, and Kathy are on their way back from Kingsfield.  At this moment, her character gains much more complexity.  She claims she kept Tommy and Kathy from being with each other which is how it should have been all along.  She expects the both of them to resent her for it as well.  But, the reader sees that she only wanted the best for them.  She discovers Madame's address and offers it to them.  The old Ruth would have taken both the address and Tommy even though they were never really in love.  As time has gone by, Ruth has learned to value her friendships more and express compassion.  The reader is incline to be skeptical of Ruth and her actions throughout the development of the novel.  With one moment of confession and repentance, all the skepticism is washed away and all the foreshadowing hinting at a relationship between Kathy and Tommy proven true  Then, in her own fashion, she challenges them.  "'You and Tommy, you've got to try and get a deferral.  If it's you two, there's got to be chance.  A real chance'" (Ishiguro, 233). 

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.

Never Let Me Go Section 4

Various people throughout the world support the ideology "kill one, save a thousand."  The novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro poses a similar, yet more radical question: what about kill one, save one?  This question begs yet another question: Who?  Would people be willing to allow the death of someone they do not know in order to save someone they love?  This novel attempts to answer this question in an almost futuristic manner.  Society does not want to be reminded that these "donors" exist which demonstrates a sense of guilt and regret for allowing such a society to manifest.  The question Miss Emily poses in Section 4 of the novel ironically serves as an all-encompassing answer.  She says, "How can you ask a world that has come to regard cancer as curable, how can you ask such a world top put away that cure, to go back to the dark days?  There was no going back.  However, uncomfortable people were about your existence, their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friend, did not die from cancer, motor neuron disease, heart disease" (Ishiguro, 263).  Here, Miss Emily answers all of the proposed questions.  If one is selfish, then it is worth it to kill one in order to save another.  It does not matter who is being killed so long as they are placed on the margins of society and as far from one's thoughts as possible.  Finally, a world that has been given an elixir will never be able to put it away or give it back, and such behavior would not be expected.  With this theme, the novel appears to offer a warning: do not let something like this happen because there is no way back once the world has gone there.

Never Let Me Go Section 2

On various occasions in section two, Kathy claims that they had been "told but not told".  I perceived this as they were told but not necessarily taught about what they were told meant.  Therefore, it was evident that they would not be able to fully understand or grasp the gravity of the situation.  Even at this point, they still do not really understand their clones/possibles.  They only ever whispered about the subject.  They knew their moving into the Cottages was imminent, yet they still are unknowledgeable of what life there will be like.  "When I think about it, there's a sense in which that picture of us on that first day, huddled together in front of the farmhouse, isn't so incongruous after all....Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and--no matter how much we despised ourselves for it--unable quite to let each other go" (Ishiguro, 120).  This is what makes the point of view from which this story is told so interesting.  As well as the narrator and the point of view from which the story is told, Kathy is also one of the children.  However, her understanding of the world around her characterizes her as different.  Nothing ever comes as much of a surprise to her; therefore, it seems she has a sense that the other children lack.  She almost has this omniscient quality about her that sets her apart especially from Tommy and Ruth.  She never seems to be actively trying to please others like they do; she just exists in the world in which she has been placed.

Never Let Me Go Section 2

Kathy unveils two major mysteries in section two of the novel.  The first, revealed my Miss Lucy, was that these children are basically hosts for organ donation.  There are being raised secluded from real society in their own personal world that is especially preventative of physical harm which is displayed when a big deal is made out of a small gash on Tommy's arm.  Each section of their lives has a name with the conclusive one being "donor".  The second major revelation is that they are essentially clones. However, this is only a unveiling for the reader; it appears Kathy has always known this.  "Since each of us was coped at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life" (Ishiguro, 139).  Though the children claim they have "known" this all along, they fail to grasp the gravity of the entire situation.  For example, they neglect to acknowledge an important detail in the speech Miss Lucy is giving when she tells them that they are donors.  Miss Lucy says, "None of you will go to America, none of you will be film stars.  And none of you will be working in supermarkets as I heard some of you planning the other day.  Your lives are set out for you"  (Ishiguro, 81).  Apparently, they did not heed to the details in her speech.  While they are in the Cottages, they discuss the topic of "dream futures".  Therefore, there exists a great contrast between what they have been told will happen and what they believe/want to happen.  

Never Let Me Go Section 2

Section 2 of Never Let Me Go delves further into the development of the relationship between Kathy and Ruth.  Kathy acknowledges the multiple personalities of Ruth and characterizes the two different versions of her.  There exists one Ruth with whom Kathy trusts and enjoys spending time with.  The other, however, is self-centered.  This Ruth tires to stand out by trying her hardest to fit in with the older group.  In doing this, she often neglects her relationship with both Kathy and Tommy.  "There was one Ruth who was always trying to impress the veterans, who wouldn't hesitate to ignore me, Tommy, any of the others, if she thought we'd cramp her style" (Ishiguro, 129).  Ruth also displayed this type of attitude earlier causing Hannah to claim she knew Rut hand Tommy's relationship wouldn't last.  She, then, proceeds to refer to Kathy as Ruth's "natural successor", further characterizing Ruth as the leader. however, there appears to be a sense of foreshadowing here in regards to an imminent relationship between Kathy and Tommy.  Kathy has never respected the way Ruth treats Tommy.  Once they move into the Cottages, the reader even sees Ruth use Tommy as a means of fitting in with her strange way of nudging his elbow strengthening the argument that she is person who desperately wants to fit in with a crowd more mature than she.

Never Let Me Go Section 2

The reader receives the history of Kathy and her friends in a series of flashbacks and anecdotes.  She is older and proclaims herself to be wiser now.  She begins to make connections that she was incapable of making at Hailsham and in the Cottages.  One of the more interesting aspects of the novel is how vividly these memories come back to her and how foreboding of the future they can sometimes be.  Especially in regards to Tommy, Kathy's memory is infallible.  She even often remembers exactly what he was wearing.  The recollections of her conversations with Ruth are also extremely detailed.  Both of these occurrences indicate the importance of these two character as Kathy matures.

Due to the fact that the story is told from the point of view of Kathy's future self, foreshadowing is prevalent.  In general, after every anecdotal story Kathy recounts, she references something that will happen in the future.  When she is discussing the Exchanges and Patricia C.'s calendar, she says, "It's one of the things I lost when I left the Cottages, when my mind was elsewhere and I wasn't being so careful what I took with me--but I'll come to all that in its place"  (Ishiguro, 94).  Such subtle indications keep the reader interested as many of the references tend to be grim and ominous.

"Acquainted with the Night"-Robert Frost

In "Acquainted with the Night", Robert Frost sets an extremely depressing tone.  The setting of the poem is the nighttime, and the diction makes the imagery all the more discouraging.  There is an overwhelming sense of isolation.  The speaker never interacts in any dialogue and even avoids eye contact with others.  

"I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain." (Frost, 976)

To the speaker, there exists no division between right and wrong.  Or, at the very least, he fails to perceive it.  In his world, humanity as approached a glass ceiling and can progress no further.  Therefore, they fall into a cycle.  Some men do horrible things, while other sit back and watch.  They are the silent observers of destruction.  The speaker claims he has been both.  In this moral -lacking world, the speaker can express only loneliness and despair, because that is all that exists.  Due to the cyclical nature the poem is structured in, the speaker appears to be saying that is how it will always exist as well.    

"Sorting Laundry"-Elisavietta Ritche

When I read this poem, I initially thought it was a plea.  The first stanzas served as reminders of the comfort and enjoyment found in the pairing's relationship.  In lines 39 and 40, when she discusses the "broken necklace of good gold you brought from Kuwait" (Ritche,842)  I saw it as a declarations of how good the man was to her, and she was undeserving of it.  Then, I perceived "the strangely tailored shirt left by a former lover..." (Ritche, 842) as her admission to cheating on him.  The following three stanzas, consequently, served as her begging for him to stay with her.  I assumed when her significant other went to Kuwait she cheated on him with another.  One of the points that supported this ideology is found when the speaker is describing the contents of her laundry.  Many of the articles are ruined or serve no purpose ("uncouple socks"), yet she refuses to rid of them.  Similarly, her relationship was now broken and possibly beyond repair leading her confess how terrible her life would be without her lover.  However, in this analysis, I missed one supremely important word as the speaker describes the shirt.

"left by a former lover..."

Here, the word former served as an allusion to a relationship far in the past.  She is showing how perfectly imperfect her life has been with this man and how she does not know how she would live without him.

"I taste a liquor never brewed"-Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson employs a strong sense of natural imagery throughout this poem.  She discusses the clouds, the air, the dew, the sky, the bees, the butterflies, the snow, and the sun.  As the poem progresses, I noticed a subtle change in the seasons.  At first when the speaker refers to the butterflies and bees and the halting of their drinking/nectar intake, I thought she was referring to the fact that the season were switching and the plants off of which they survive would soon die.  With this, I became confused as to whether the speaker was professing her love for nature throughout the entirety of the year or just during summer months when nature seems to be in full bloom.  The argument support that the speaker only appreciates nature during the summer is found when the speaker says,

"Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats." (Dickinson, 797)

 However, the argument supporting the speaker's love of nature at all times is backed by the phrase,--

"I shall but drink the more!" (Dickinson, 797)

--even though the seasons are changing.  Despite these arguments, Dickinson makes the speaker's attitude toward nature crystal clear.  

"The Convergence of the Twain"-Thomas Hardy

In the first sections of the poem, the speaker highlights what a waste the Titanic was.  The boat consisted primarily of members of the American and British high-class.  Much intelligence and wealth was lost at its sinking.

"Jewels in joy designed 

To ravish the sensuous mind

Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind." (Hardy, 778)

Surprisingly, the speaker never references the loss of life.  However, he does seem to take a swing at them in the first section when contrasts the solitude of the sea to human vanity and how the two would never had naturally mixed.  He furthers this point as the poem shifts from the boat's current state to when the boat converged with the iceberg.  He references a force one may perceive to be fate as "the Imminent Will" and the "Spinner of the Years."  With this specific diction, the speaker indicates, the collision, while unnatural, was unavoidable.  However, rather than focus on how nature destroyed the ship and all the lives upon it.  Earlier in the poem, the speaker discusses how the ship has disrupted the peacefulness of the sea.  According to him, human conceit is a blemish, not something to take pride in.  

"My Mistress' Eyes"-William Shakespeare

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare 
As any she belied with false compare" (Shakespeare, 885).

Here, the speaker in Shakespeare appears to be claiming that the poets who describe their lover as perfect are liars.  Shakespeare presents the speaker as a realist.  The first twelve lines would be offensive to any woman who was the recipient of the poem.  Yet, the idea the speaker presents is not hard to accept; it is common sense that no one is perfect.  The speaker chooses to say this through accuses other men of lying.  The speaker switches the tone in line thirteen.  He declares even though his mistress is not perfect, she is just as rare as any other woman who was compared to perfection.  The speaker furthers this argument by referring to such comparisons as "false."  He points out the realistic idea that women cannot be perfect and presenting them as so is deceptive to the woman and to other women of society who now feel they must be the same.  In the simplest terms, the speaker is saying even though his mistress is not perfect, their love is just as good as anyone else's, and he is not lying like many others are.  

"Barbie Doll"-Marge Piercy

"To every woman a happy ending" (Piercy, 836).

The irony of the last line of the poem conveys the speaker's attitude about a woman's role in society.  Her criticisms of society's demands of women are strong.  She presents these through the use of a "girl child" who is growing up.  As she grows, she is healthy, smart, and kind.  Yet, all society and the people around her can see are "a fat nose on thick legs."  Society forced her to conform to the image of an ideal woman which eventually strips away at her mentality.  The speaker of the poem shows that she had more positive qualities than the two negative.  Still, her negative aspects were all people could see which therefore became all the girl could see.  In the end, the girl offers up her good qualities ("good nature") in order to rid of her bad qualities.  Though the speaker suggests a happy ending for all, the irony is that no one is technically happier.  The girl has diminished her sense of self, and the world is worse off not having the kind, smart girl that was originally described. 

"A Jury of Her Peers"-Susan Glaspell

Glaspell creates suspense mostly through her highlighting of the differences between men and women.  While she never explicitly discusses this topic, she approaches it through the women's thought processes and the men's actions.  The men are looking for the concrete evidence to prove Minnie's guiltiness.  On the other side, Mrs. Hale and the sheriff's wife try to get into Minnie's mind.  They deduct that she was most likely unhappy with her husband.  Mrs. Hale knew her before she got married  and talks of her lively spirit.  She then goes on to point out that Mr. Wright had a rather heavy personality and accuses him of killing Minnie's light spirit.  "'She used to sing.  He killed that too'" (Glaspell, 423).  Though the women are not even looking for evidence, they discover the proof with the bird.  However, Mrs. Hales depiction of Minnie's life and how drab it had gotten to be evokes so much sympathy for her that the women would feel guilty proving her crime.  Therefore, they hide the information from the men and offer to bring Minnie whatever she needs.

"Hunters In the Snow"-Tobias Wolff

It could be argued that Tub, on the surface, is a stock character: a cartoon-like obese man who is the butt of other people's jokes.  What characterizing details help to make Tub into a fully realized individual? 

As the story opens, the fact that Tub is ostracized by Frank and Kenny is evident.  They make constant jokes about his weight and downplay his intelligence.  The first detail that fills in his character is his getting lost in the woods.  His reaction to the separation between the other two and himself is fear.  "He quickened his pace, breasting hard into the drifts, fighting away the snow with his knees and elbows.  He heard his heart and felt the flush on his face but he never once stopped" (Wolff, 190).  This shows that he was not dumbly oblivious to the world around him.  Later in the story, he admits his lie to Frank and reveals the secret of his binge-eating.  This presents Tub as a more rounded character in that he recognized his problem and feels extremely ashamed of it.  Through this, Wolff evokes sympathy for Tub.  At the end of the story, the culprit is more Frank than it is Tub.  This is due to the sympathy that Wolff created for him earlier on.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    This Shakespearean play is unique from others in that all but one single character is innocent.  Shakespeare characterizes all characters aside from Iago as being taking advantage of.  Othello has been made to believe his wife is having an affair with his dear friend causing him to feel great anger and hatred toward them both.  Through her own knowledge, Bianca concludes that Cassio is having an affair with another woman.  Though she does not necessarily like him all the time, Emilia still has a regard for her husband and is surprised to hear the rumors he has created.  She repeats the line "My husband!" (Shakespeare, 1454, Vii145) over and over again when Othello says Iago told him about Desdemona and Cassio.  Roderigo is led to believe that Iago is working diligently to get him in Desdemona's favor when, in reality, Iago has done nothing.  All of this makes Iago all the more deserving of his fate.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

     Though the play did not necessarily have a happy ending, Shakespeare offers a deserving resolution for Iago.  Reading Shakespeare's other works, the audience would not assume Iago to be one to survive after the others have learned of his deception.  However, Othello claims death would be too merciful for Iago: "I'd have thee live, For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die" (Shakespeare, 1458, V.ii.288-289).  For Othello, being kept alive would be a punishment to him as well.  He now knows he has unjustly murdered his wife.  This knowledge takes every human sense from him.  Othello was innocent, and he is reinstated with honor by Cassio in the end who claims he was "great of heart."  Knowing he and Iago could share the same fate disgusted him.  Yet, Lodovico reassures that Iago will be kept on the brink of death.  In the final moments of the play, Lodovico expresses his desire to see Iago brutally tortured.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    Shakespeare characterizes Desdemona as an innocent, compassionate character even though Iago forces the other character to see her as an adulterer.  Shakespeare maintains this characterization even to Desdemona's final moments.  Before Othello comes to murder Desdemona, she and Emilia foresee that murder may be Othello's plan.  Because of this, the audience perceives that Emilia was "on guard" and aware of what might happen.  Not knowing Othello was in the midst of strangling Desdemona, Emilia interrupts to tell Othello about the death of Roderigo.  In the midst of this conversation, Emilia hears her mistress and asks her who has done this to her.  As a final display of loyalty and love, she says, "Nobody, I myself" (Shakespeare, 1453, V.ii.122).  This scene remotely reminded me of the deaths of Brutus and Cassius in Caesar.  Cassius dies selfishly asking Pindarus to kill him and then covering his own eyes.  Brutus dies an honorable death by telling the person holding the sword to turn his head and then Brutus would push himself against it, causing his own death.  Like Brutus, Desdemona maintains her honest, compassionate character up to and including the moment of her death.

"Othello, the Moor of Venice" Part 2

    In the first scene of Act IV, dramatic irony collides with Iago's deceptive ways nearly to the point of confusion.  By this point, Iago has become a master puppeteer.  While Iago is lightly discussing Bianca with Cassio, Othello believes them to be talking of Desdemona.  "Now will I question Cassio of Bianca...As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad, And his unbookish jealously must construe Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behavior Quite in the wrong" (Shakespeare, 1429, IV.i.91;98-101).  Iago orchestrates the situation perfectly.  Bianca arriving at the last minute with the handkerchief in hand was the cherry on top.  For Iago, the situation could not have worked itself out more perfectly.  However, the anger that Othello expresses in whispers while Cassio and Iago are speaking shows that he was truly in love with Desdemona.  No matter what she does, that love for her is still there.  This fact is below Iago's scope of awareness.  Iago obviously does not have these feelings for Emilia; therefore, he cannot comprehend how deep Othello's predicament is.  His desire to think the affair untrue can be seen in the opening of scene 2 when Othello questions Emilia about the affair.