NEVER LET ME GO GCSE GRADE 9 REVISION
INCLUDES;
- Quotes and explanations
- Themes
- Critical viewpoints
- Context
- Motifs
1) Ruth - identity - she lives in a hostile environment where she can only "dream" of a hug from
one of the guardians. As a result, she faces a continuous struggle with her identity, which in
turn leads to her becoming manipulative in an attempt to stand out.
2) " It's not just me sweetie Kathy finds your animals a complete hoot" - Ruth - despite
becoming Tommy's boyfriend, she attempts to patronise Tommy to feel status herself and
then manipulatively creates tension between Tommy and Kathy.
"sweetie" exploits the fact that Tommy can seem immature , giving Ruth the sense of authority and
omniscience that she craves.
The criticism of Tommy's animals is horrible as his simple drawings come to symbolise his soul as he
finds them easy to relate to and envies their sense of freedom. Ruth therefore suggests that Tommy
is laughable
Reader initially made to feel sympathy for Tommy however the repeated petty comments from Ruth
eventually make the reader see how desperate and insecure she feels
3) "decided to punish her" Ruth - Hailsham is made to be the perfect place for take over by a
manipulative leader
The students
"decided to punish her"
Here a group of students assume authority possibly due to the lack of adult authority.
Could be linked to the panopticon theory
Ishiguro may have created this environment as an exploration of how he felt moving from Nagasaki
to London.
He was seen as "foreign" in England and "Too English" in Japan meaning he had a confused identity,
comparable to Ruth
, 4) " everyone began to talk at once about how Tommy never even tried to be creative" -
Hailsham Microcosm of our capitalist, discriminative society
Tommy is often marginalised and made to feel less valuable because of the firm hierarchy that exists
in the form of art and 'exchanges'
They have a token system mirroring the currency system where you exchange something valuable for
something valuable.
In the novel, your value is based upon your art as, just like money, it's very tangible and fulfills the
human disposition to want materialistic items
Here Ishiguro is successful in criticising the system we live in where people such as the homeless are
dismissed and assumed responsible for their situation. He comments on the irony of this as the idea
of class is all simply a construct formed by society rather than a fact of life.
The use of the ambiguous "everyone" re-enforces the idea that hailsham is a microcosm of our world
and this is the voice of society. Ishiguro goes on to comment on how things such as high drug rates
among the homeless, which results in us ostracising them even more are inevitable if society doesn't
provide help or understanding.
We see this in Tommy's temper tantrums. He needs to find a release to express his pain and yet this
leads to him being mocked.
As Tommy represents a clear member of our society, the reader is made to question what place
anger has in a dystopian society. As a result the reader feels both guilt and empathy as they see our
society mirrored in his
5) "completion" - clones have been forced to accept the idea of altruism, something our
society wouldn't consider.
As a result, we rarely see the clones rebel or question the regime they're living under because
they've come to believe they're there for a purpose.
Kathy develops a fear of the future. This is evident in the bildungsroman structure which allows us to
see her maturation but also the flashbacks suggest she can't let go of the past. This is especially
important when she becomes a carer and is exposed to the horrors of donation and completion
The euphemism for death is poignant as it glamorizes a painful fate, suggesting to the clones that it's
something they should be proud of.
Whilst this belief is useful for hailsham, in preventing clones from questioning the ethics of the
process, it means Kathy is an unreliable narrator as her memories have been distorted to be purely
positive this is part of her coping strategy, especially when Ruth dies
Colonialism of the body
awareness of mortality: euphemisms mask the enterprise of cloning and express death related
things. Donation and completion are linked to the idea of death because cloning is a science born out
of human desire to control mortality
INCLUDES;
- Quotes and explanations
- Themes
- Critical viewpoints
- Context
- Motifs
1) Ruth - identity - she lives in a hostile environment where she can only "dream" of a hug from
one of the guardians. As a result, she faces a continuous struggle with her identity, which in
turn leads to her becoming manipulative in an attempt to stand out.
2) " It's not just me sweetie Kathy finds your animals a complete hoot" - Ruth - despite
becoming Tommy's boyfriend, she attempts to patronise Tommy to feel status herself and
then manipulatively creates tension between Tommy and Kathy.
"sweetie" exploits the fact that Tommy can seem immature , giving Ruth the sense of authority and
omniscience that she craves.
The criticism of Tommy's animals is horrible as his simple drawings come to symbolise his soul as he
finds them easy to relate to and envies their sense of freedom. Ruth therefore suggests that Tommy
is laughable
Reader initially made to feel sympathy for Tommy however the repeated petty comments from Ruth
eventually make the reader see how desperate and insecure she feels
3) "decided to punish her" Ruth - Hailsham is made to be the perfect place for take over by a
manipulative leader
The students
"decided to punish her"
Here a group of students assume authority possibly due to the lack of adult authority.
Could be linked to the panopticon theory
Ishiguro may have created this environment as an exploration of how he felt moving from Nagasaki
to London.
He was seen as "foreign" in England and "Too English" in Japan meaning he had a confused identity,
comparable to Ruth
, 4) " everyone began to talk at once about how Tommy never even tried to be creative" -
Hailsham Microcosm of our capitalist, discriminative society
Tommy is often marginalised and made to feel less valuable because of the firm hierarchy that exists
in the form of art and 'exchanges'
They have a token system mirroring the currency system where you exchange something valuable for
something valuable.
In the novel, your value is based upon your art as, just like money, it's very tangible and fulfills the
human disposition to want materialistic items
Here Ishiguro is successful in criticising the system we live in where people such as the homeless are
dismissed and assumed responsible for their situation. He comments on the irony of this as the idea
of class is all simply a construct formed by society rather than a fact of life.
The use of the ambiguous "everyone" re-enforces the idea that hailsham is a microcosm of our world
and this is the voice of society. Ishiguro goes on to comment on how things such as high drug rates
among the homeless, which results in us ostracising them even more are inevitable if society doesn't
provide help or understanding.
We see this in Tommy's temper tantrums. He needs to find a release to express his pain and yet this
leads to him being mocked.
As Tommy represents a clear member of our society, the reader is made to question what place
anger has in a dystopian society. As a result the reader feels both guilt and empathy as they see our
society mirrored in his
5) "completion" - clones have been forced to accept the idea of altruism, something our
society wouldn't consider.
As a result, we rarely see the clones rebel or question the regime they're living under because
they've come to believe they're there for a purpose.
Kathy develops a fear of the future. This is evident in the bildungsroman structure which allows us to
see her maturation but also the flashbacks suggest she can't let go of the past. This is especially
important when she becomes a carer and is exposed to the horrors of donation and completion
The euphemism for death is poignant as it glamorizes a painful fate, suggesting to the clones that it's
something they should be proud of.
Whilst this belief is useful for hailsham, in preventing clones from questioning the ethics of the
process, it means Kathy is an unreliable narrator as her memories have been distorted to be purely
positive this is part of her coping strategy, especially when Ruth dies
Colonialism of the body
awareness of mortality: euphemisms mask the enterprise of cloning and express death related
things. Donation and completion are linked to the idea of death because cloning is a science born out
of human desire to control mortality
