Never Let Me Go - Kathy Analysis

Never Let Me Go – Kathy

Kathy is a person who is proud of doing her best, she tries to describe to the reader without “trying to boast”. This shows that she is please with how she has done as a carer but also that she is aware that boasting too much can “get peoples backs up.” This also shows that she sees herself as privileged as she is “a Hailsham student.”

Kathy is also portrayed as an unreliable narrator as she describes herself as “not the wilting type” although she “walked off” when confronted with an argument with Ruth. This also implies that she could have twisted her memory so that her childhood seems happier to her. It also shows how memory is important to her as she spends a lot of time talking with Ruth and Tommy in recovery centres about what had happened in their childhood. She also recognises that she “lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy” but she won’t lose her “memories of them.” This backs up how she considers memories as an important thing.

As well as being to an extent the “wilting type”, she also has an acceptance of the lack of control of her life. As a carer she goes “to drive off to where ever it was I was supposed to be” without every worrying. She is questioning as a child but as she grows up and especially when she is a carer she simply comes to accept what is laid out for her and goes along with it.

She is also a very curious and questioning as a child as she and Tommy are always asking questions such as “why did she bring up donations?” She is also looks for hints and tries to find more information, she “went on watching Miss Lucy” even when everyone else was laughing and joking.

Kathy’s relationship with Ruth shows that Kathy is a very loyal friend. When Ruth kicks her out of the “Secret Guard” she still stands up for Ruth and tells other people how “if they everything” then they “wouldn’t say anything so daft.” Kathy even admits that Ruth inspires a “kind of loyalty in me.”

Kathy also comes across as one of the characters who finds it hardest to move on, especially from Hailsham. Ruth told Kathy that she was “upset because I’ve managed to move on” which shows how Kathy found it hard to leave Hailsham behind. She also tries to get people to stick to the “routine” that the group had the summer before at the cottages which is another sign of her difficulty of moving on. This could imply that she needs to feel like she has a home, she is always on the look out for Hailsham, and that she is scared of moving on and going into the unknown.

This is also links to how she couldn’t give Tommy up and even after he died she imagined him “appearing on the horizon” which shows how close they were as friends. It could also back up this idea of needing to belong and having a home.