Never Let Me Go Ishiguro Death

We all die someday; eventually everything has to come to an end. No matter what we do to prevent it, to hold it off, death will catch up to us in the end. Kazuo Ishiguro expresses a clear understanding of the effect death can have on people; both when they themselves are confronted by their own death, or when faced with the death of a loved one. In his novel, Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro explores the inevitability of death; through the use of symbolism, tone, and characterization he illustrates a society in which death has been normalized, leading to passivity.

Ishiguro uses several symbols in his story to indicate the unavoidability of death, how willing the characters are to accept the death of the donors, their friends, and of the things they
Kathy describes the boat as falling apart, ravaged by time and its environment, “its paint was cracking, […] the timber frames of the little cabin were crumbling away.” (224). At one point in time, this boat could go anywhere, it’s original purpose was to travel the seas, but circumstance has prevented the boat from fulfilling this purpose; it has destroyed what was once beautiful and important about this boat and turned it into something to look at from afar. Like the boat, the students are not able to live successful lives, they aren’t able to reach their potential, to become film stars, or go to America. Their fate is fixed; they once could do anything they wanted (or at least thought they could), but their destiny changes, like the boat they have a new, sad purpose. Their new purpose was revealed to them when Miss Lucy gave her “told but not told” speech, “[…] your futures, all of them, have been decided. You’ll be leaving Hailsham before long, and […] you’ll be preparing for your first donations.” (81). With this speech Miss Lucy “beaches” the students, they can no longer dream about their future because they know that it has been decided for them. They are stuck, like the
Throughout the entire story, the narrators tone remains neutral, calm and passive. At the very beginning of the book, Kathy states, “[…] I’ve been a carer now for eleven years. That sounds long enough, I know, but actually they want me to go on for another eight months, […]” (3) which readers now know means that she has gotten the notice for her first donation. Her matter of fact, and even a bit sarcastic, tone expresses her compliance to what is being done to her and her friends. She is not fighting, or questioning why they need to donate. She has accepted that she will die in this horrible way, she might even be welcoming it. When Kathy tells us about Ruth’s death, something which would cause anyone to feel helpless, and sad, her tone is calm, detached even, like she isn’t the one who experienced it: “[...] for almost all of that time, she was far away inside herself. […] she was twisting herself in a way that seemed scarily unnatural […]” (236). Her detached tone when witnessing Ruth’s pain illustrates how much death has become a normal part of her life. She has been a carer for 11 years and has probably witnessed so much death that it doesn’t bother her anymore. Her tone when remembering that moment does not become sad, or even angry (which are all normal responses), it remains calm like having