NRJ#2: Idealism

In the novel, Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, I believe a large role was put on idealism. After looking over the book a second time, the students at Hailsham were in theory, perfect. They did as they were told, they were smart, creative, healthy, normal children, and on rare occasions acted out, but society did not pay any attention to the fact they were “alive.” Yet, once receiving a letter they would soon give up their lives for strangers, whom they’d never meet.

         "I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel, world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go." (72) An idealistic world, with false hope and no love for the people willing to be the ones to save it.

         Ishiguro’s use of idealism wasn’t stated entirely, but throughout the book you notice that these children are what society wants. Yet the people that would receive the donations did not think about the clones, did not want to believe they existed, but in the end they were the ones who lived. As a whole I believe that Ishiguro was trying to say there is no perfect world, and no matter what we do, or who you are things may not work out the way you plan for them to. 

NRJ #1 Free Will

The suggestion of free will, or lack of free will I should say, was a very important theme in Never Let Me Go, a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. I believe that within the borders of Hailsham the idea of independence, although already somewhat known implausible, never left the minds of the students, and even of some of the guardians.  “If you’re going to have decent lives, then you’ve got to know and know properly…Your lives are set out for you. You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll state to donate your vital organs. That’s what each of you was created to do…You were brought into this world for a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided. (Ishiguro 81)

Even after realizing their fate was to donate their internal organs, and eventually die for what some believed to be a good cause, the Hailsham students continued their lives with as what they believed to be normal routines. If any of us had been given that fate I do believe our reactions would not have been the same, and at least an argument would have followed. For the majority though, they lived each day no different from the last, even when getting ready for their career positions no big fuss was made.

I believe that Ishiguro was trying to state that no matter who we are in life, no matter what we do, our lives are planned out in some way. The regular people, the clones, guardians, or donors, we all have a set future that we can’t change. Even with our knowledge of our predetermined fates, like the students of Hailsham, we should live our lives to the fullest and enjoy our days until the end.