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Nia Deocampo
English 114B
Professor Ahn
May 12
th
, 2014
What Is Considered To Be A Human?
Within every spatial area, there are power dynamics that are sometimes clearly shown or
stated but sometimes are not clearly shown. The power dynamics of a space can either be
psycho-emotional space between the people within a certain space or the physical space itself.
Because of psycho-emotional space and physical space being key power dynamics in a specific
place, it then connects to the boundaries of humanity. The boundaries of humanity have a
relationship to psycho-emotional space and physical space because if one receives negative
emotional space from another person, it might make them feel less of a human, and if one is not
comfortable in a physical space, they will feel limited and not free as people. For example, some
people are treated like the actual humans that they are and some people are treated as less as a
human from other people. In the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, the characters are
clones and their only reason to live is to donate their vital organs to the original humans over
time. Because of being clones, they experience dehumanization through the physical space and
emotional space given off by others, such as being treated differently. As of emotional space,
how people treat the donors in the novel creates psychological and emotional distance that
degrades them and reinforces their dehumanization. As of the physical space itself in Never Let
Me Go, the lack of privacy and constant surveillance takes away the donors freedom as humans.
In the novel, the main character Kath faces trials that make her feel inhuman because of the way
people treat her and how she is put in certain spaces that limit her as a human, like Hailsham and
the Cottages for example. In Never Let Me Go, another character is Tommy, who makes contact
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with dehumanization through people in particular places as well. Emotional space and physical
space play major roles within dehumanization because people can make others feel less human
through their actions, and limitations are put within certain spaces that minimize peoples
freedom as humans.
In Never Let Me Go, dehumanization is shown towards the characters through the actions
of people and how they treat the donors. Within the world in Never Let Me Go, other characters
create emotional distance between the clones, make them feel lower as humans and degrade
them. At the school, Hailsham, the clones have guardians that supervise them daily and their goal
is to make sure that all the clones experience the life of humans. However, throughout the novel,
some guardians hint to the students that their life is only made for donating organs and treat them
as if they are horrifying creatures because they are clones. The clones are then put in situations
that make them wonder what exactly their purpose in life is and why they are treated in
uncomfortable ways that dehumanize them. Kath experiences her first incident of
dehumanization when she and her friends walk up to Madame, who is a lady that picks up
artwork from the students, and Madame stares at them as if something is wrong with them. Kath
states But we were all so keenly turned in to picking up her response, and thats probably why it
had such an effect on us. As she came to a halt, I glanced quickly at her face-as did the others,
Im sure. And I can still see it now, the shudder she seemed to be suppressing, the real dread that
one of us would accidentally brush against herRuth had been right: Madame was afraid of us.
But she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders. We hadnt been
ready for that. It had never occurred to us to wonder how we would feel, being seen like that,
being the spider (Ishiguro 35). This occurrence was the first time Kath experienced being
degraded as a person and even though she is a clone, she did not deserve to feel less of a human.
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She was treated instead as a creature than a human, which made her feel as if it was her fault for
being treated that way. This affirmation indicates that when a person goes through an event
involving dehumanization with emotional distance, it will affect them in a massive way,
persuading them to feel as if they have done wrong, and will stick with them for a long time. One
of the guardians name is Miss Lucy, and in the beginning of the novel she claims to Tommy,
None of you will go to America..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. Youll become adults, then
before youre old. Before youre middle-ages, youll start to donate your vital organs. Thats
what each of you was created to do (Ishiguro 81). This is another example of where emotional
distance reinforces dehumanization within the characters because even if they are not normal
humans, they should still earn the respect as people. When Miss Lucy expressed that statement to
the clones, it made them lose hope of ever having a chance to a real life. She clearly stated that
they will never be humans, and with that, she disrespected them as people. After Hailsham, the
students were given the opportunities to go out of the boundaries of the school and enter into the
real world. However, in the more realistic environments, the donors were still in contact with the
feelings of being inhuman because of how people treat them. The clones encounter the Cottages
after Hailsham and it is a stage where the donors live freely, but only to a certain extent. In the
Cottages, Kath asserts A few of us, for a time, even tried to think of Keffers as a sort of
guardian, but he was having none of it. You went up to greet him when he arrived in his van and
hed stare at you like you were mad. But this was one thing wed been told over and over: that
after Hailsham thered be no more guardians, so wed have to look after each other. And by
large, Id say Hailsham prepared us well on that score (Ishiguro 117). Wherever the clones
ended up, they got exposed to degradation and dehumanization, which is not fair because at the
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end of the day, they were still people and were trying to live a regular life even if it was only
hopeful. The clones did not deserve to be degraded as less than human throughout the novel
because they were created to actually save other humans. Therefore, they should have gotten to
live the lives of humans and not animals, even if it would be for a small amount of time.
In relation to our world, emotional distance is shown between the jail system and
prisoners, which reinforces the prisoners dehumanization. Prisoners are held in prisons because
they have committed a crime that they were not supposed to do and deserve to be put in a limited
area because of their negative actions but at the same time, they are still humans. One example of
the jail system influencing the inmates dehumanization is the structure of the panopticon and the
emotions that the inmates feel because of it. In the article The Panopticon Reviewed:
Sentimentalism and Eighteenth-Century Interiority by the authors David Rosen and Aaron
Santesso, they report that In this view, Bentham's prison, with its abject inmates and
unremitting observers, allowed the State to invade and rewrite the very structure of the human
mind, where previously it could only exert crude pressure through physical violence. As
Foucault commented, "[The object was] no longer the body, with the ritual play of excessive
pains. [I]t [was] no longer the body, but the soul." The prisoner's mind was now treated as "a
surface of inscription for power," with the final goal of creating an "obedient subject, [an]
individual subjected to habits, rules, orders, an authority that [was] exercised continually around
him and upon him, and which he must allow to function automatically in him." This quote by
David Rosen and Aaron Santesso reveal that within a panopticon, the inmates minds are
controlled by how the jail system set them up and they create the obedient human out of them.
The jail system treats the inmates as if they are test subjects while controlling their actions and
with that, many inmates then experience difficult emotions while in prison. The prisoners are
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being manipulated and constructed to think that they are not humans and just simply criminals by
how the guards treat them while in jail. The jail system is efficient at displaying authority
towards its inmates, and because of that, the inmates know that they are powerless and inhuman
in jail. The emotional space between prisoners and guards play a major role in determining the
inmates humanity because the guards can either treat them as humans or treat them as
nothing.
In the novel, Never Let Me Go, the spatial boundaries within this book influence,
determine, and reinforce dehumanization because the donors have no privacy and the constant
surveillance takes away the donors freedom as humans. At Hailsham, the donors were
monitored by the guardians every day as if they were animals or as if they were threatening. The
donors also had little privacy at Hailsham and Kath declares, I suppose this might sound odd,
but at Hailsham, the lunch queue was one of the better places to have a private talkIn any case,
we werent exactly spoilt for choice. Quiet places were often the worst, because there was
always someone likely to be passing within earshot. And as soon as you looked like you were
trying to sneak off for a secret talk, the whole place seemed to sense it within minutes, and youd
have no choice (Ishiguro 22). This declaration from Kath explains that within Hailsham, the
characters did not have many choices and that their every move was being examined, which
strips their rights and freedoms as people. Hailsham was made to have the donors actions been
seen at all times, but at the same time, they had the right towards privacy. The spaces within
Hailsham also held the donors to limitations on what they could do and what they could not do.
Kath gives an example of that when she says that they were not allowed to close their bedroom
doors and quotes The door was almost half openit was sort of a rule we couldnt close doors
completely except for when we were sleeping (Ishiguro 71). The students were controlled
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awfully and Kath tries to envision her life being outside of Hailsham and in the real world to get
her mind off of it at times. She alleges, When I found myself alone, Id stop and look for a
view-out of a window, say, or through a I did this so that I could, for a few seconds at least,
create the illusion the place wasnt crawling with students, but that instead Hailsham was this
quiet, tranquil house where I lived with just five or six others. To make this work, you had to get
yourself into a sort of dream, and shut off all the stray noises and voices (Ishiguro 90). This
incident with Kath reveals that the students had no privacy to themselves, and that they had to
take a moment to envision freedom because every day they were treated as pets to be watched
over instead of humans. From being treated as animals, the students begin to fear the real world,
feel inhuman and sense that they will never gain the respect as humans. In the Cottages, the
donors experience dehumanization within spatial boundaries also because they would never go
beyond the area of the Cottage. The clones carried the fear that people would realize that they are
clones if they stepped out of the Cottages boundary. Kath proclaims Of course, in practice,
especially during the first months, we rarely stepped beyond the confines of the Cottages. We
didnt even walk about the surround countryside or wander into the nearby village (Ishiguro
118). This quote by Kath shows the spatial boundaries within this novel limited them as humans,
had them very close-minded, and feared them in ways that they should not have.
However, like how the spatial boundaries in Never Let Me Go contribute to the donors
dehumanization with daily surveillance and lack of privacy, the panopticon was designed for
similar reasons. The panopticon is a type of instutional building that was designed by Jeremy
Bentham and its purpose was for a watchman to observe all the inmates without the inmates
knowing that they were being watched. In the academic journal The Panopticon's Changing
Geography, by its authors Jerome E Dobson and Peter F Fisher, they quote For 220 years the
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Panopticon has stood as the tangible symbol of total surveillance, discipline, and control. Always
it has been the utopian dream of some and hellish nightmares. It is clearly stated within this
comment that the panopticon is to demonstrate surveillance, control, and discipline towards the
inmates and make sure that they keep to the exact rules of the prison. The article also states Its
optics were such that a single inspector could observe every occupant simultaneously. The
people being observed would be illuminated around the clock but could not see one another or
their observer, not even his shadow. This also is an example of the inmates not being exposed to
each other or their observer, which makes them feel trapped and inhuman because of the
limitations and lack of choices they have. The inmates cannot even see their shadow within their
cell and that demonstrates that they are treated like dogs within a cage. Lastly, Jerome E
Dobson and Peter F Fisher comment There is no risk, therefore, that the increase of power
created by the panoptic machine may degenerate into tyranny, because it would be
demographically controlled. This last quote from the authors allege that the inmates will have
no control over what they do and that they will never live freely because of the structure and
spatial boundaries of the panopticons.
Spatial boundaries are significant within a certain area because they can limit people and
their boundaries of humanity. In Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and the articles involving
the panopticon, it reveals that how a building or area is constructed, it can minimize the choices a
person holds as a human, and that is an example of dehumanization. As stated before, no one
should ever be degraded or completely controlled as a human even if they criminals or
clones because they still deserve the respect as a human. Emotional distance plays a role to
dehumanization as well because how people treat others will affect how they view the world and
themselves, which can either make them feel like the humans they are or degrade them lower
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than humans. That is why it is essential to treat people how they should be treated because no
one should ever feel disrespected as a person. Every human deserves respect and every human
deserves choices one way or another.















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Works Cited
Dobson, Jerome E, and Peter F Fisher. "The Panopticon's Changing Geography." Geographical
Review, 97.3 (2007): 307-323.
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Print.
Rosen, David, and Aaron Santesso. "The Panopticon Reviewed: Sentimentalism and Eighteenth-
Century Interiority." ELH, 77.4 (2010): 1041-1059.