Static Characters

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro

Throughout the novel, Tommy and Kathy remain static characters. Tommy and Kathy end the novel with many of the same childhood traits that they began the novel. Tommy still has temper tantrums just as he did when he was a child. "The moon wasn't quite full, but it was bright enough, and I could make out in the mid-distance, near where the field began to fall away, Tommy's figure, raging, shouting, flinging, his fists and kicking out (Ishiguro, 274). Tommy's childish behavior shows that even though he has grown older he has not changed from his childhood self. Kathy also holds on to her childhood self. Kathy hoped, like she would have as a young girl, that she and Tommy could get a deferral. However, when she was told that deferrals do not exist, she accepted her fate without rebellion. Ever since she was a child, Kathy has been told the purpose of her existence, and even though this horrible fate exists for her, she accepts it without rebellion. Tommy and Kathy have both become adults, but neither have grown out of their passive acceptance. Perhaps their visit with Madame shows some change because they finally have done something to act upon their desire not to be donors. However, they are still static characters because they are so accepting of the news that deferrals do not exist.