The Subject of Birth in Never Let me Go

A scene that discusses the topic of birth in “Never Let Me Go” is where Chrissie and Rodney locate Ruth’s “possible”. Kathy describes “possibles” as the “people who might have been the models for you and your friends” (Ishiguro, 215). This concept, of being modeled from a person, is similar to the notion of birth. A child is essentially modeled after their parents, inheriting their DNA. So when Chrissie, Rodney, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy head to Norfolk to ascertain if it was indeed Ruth’s model they spotted, it was more of a journey to discover Ruth’s mother.

Even though Ruth wouldn’t have received any love or nurture from her model, she would still be the source of the DNA that was used in the creation of Ruth, not unlike birth, yet lacking the experience of actual birth. Kathy goes on to portray models as being “an irrelevance, a technical necessity for bringing us into the world, nothing more than that” (Ishiguro, 217). Even though they know that there is no emotional connection between them and their model, some of the clones are still eager to search for them. One reasoning Kathy presents for this is that finding your model could reveal what your future would hold. The model spotted by Chrissie and Rodney happened to be employed in what was Ruth’s dream future. This made Kathy doubtful, yet it could’ve been a reason for Ruth wanting to seek this model out.

Abrams defines dystopia as a work of fiction that represents a future where “our present social, political, and technological order are projected into a dreadful future culmination” (417). Ishiguro’s depiction of birth in “Never Let Me Go”, primarily through the clones and their purpose for existence – to donate organs, fits a dystopian narrative from the reader’s perspective. However, Kathy doesn’t know anything different, so it’s merely regular life for her. Furthermore, it’s revealed later in the book by Madame and Miss Emily how good Kathy and her peers had it at Hailsham. When compared to other clones, they were treated exceptionally well. Even though the book was written in 2005, it’s set in a post-World War II Great Britain, where a government-sponsored program of cloning for the purpose of organ donation was in place. I see some similarity with the genre of dystopia and our current socio-political scenario, but there is also a significant amount of divergence. One similarity could be government scrutiny, while a contrast would be the absence of a clone uprising.

Did you like this example?

312

16