Sporn 1

Iara Sporn

Victoria Ramos

CAE B 5° EPI

30 April 2019

Disposable life

While reading Never Let Me Go I felt disconcerted by the submission of the characters and

all the clones for that matter. At no time does Ishiguro puts them in a position to defy this

system and change their horrible destiny. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to discuss that

although there are little glimpses of hope throughout the novel, in reality, it is non-existent

and the characters do not fight for their liberation.

“Well, I suppose we’ve got time. None of us are in any particular hurry” (177). One may

think: How can they act so indifferent knowing what life holds for them. The reason behind

their calmness could be that they are genetically altered to be submissive. In other words,

Ishiguro leads his characters to the slaughterhouse because they do question their actions in

life. Kathy, for example, exhausts herself, mentally and physically: “All this rushing about

you do (…). You must sometimes wish they’d tell you you can stop” (277). Even though

Kathy is aware of her situation, she does nothing to change it. In fact, she becomes a donor

after all.

To conclude, they do not have a voice regarding their freedom, their aspirations and

ambitions. Throughout the novel, we can see how they all eventually give up, how they

keep themselves trapped within the donation program. Yet we should ask ourselves if we
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had born in that world, a world where we do not know what freedom of choice is, just like

the characters; would we know how to fight for it?