Narration

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro

An important aspect of this novel is the narration and its point of view. Kathy tells the story of her life as she recalls her time growing up at Hailsham and moving on to her time at the Cottages. As Kathy progresses through her story, the readers learn about Kathy's life with the unanswered questions that Kathy also had at that time of her life. Just as Kathy and her peers once questioned their situation and suspected various reasons, so we too question and suspect their situation as well. By having Kathy narrate her youth, Ishiguro creates suspense through the questions that the readers develop about Kathy's life. Ishiguro maintains this suspense by prolonging the tangents that Kathy tells while in the middle of her anecdotes. Ultimately the tangents lead to make Kathy's greater point of her stories, but they still prolong the suspense created by the unanswered questions.

In addition, the reader sees the contrast in the maturity level of Kathy as she once was in her stories and as she is now while telling her stories through her narration. "I was really upset by Ruth's remark at the time, but it's pointless now trying to judge her or anyone else for the way they behaved during those early days at the Cottages" (Ishiguro, 131). Events that used to upset Kathy no longer seem to bother her. Perhaps Kathy has matured like any other person would, but I still wonder if something greater happened to her that sparked her maturity. Kathy has seemed set apart from her peers throughout the novel, possibly because she is narrating the events, but perhaps there is a greater reason as to why she stands apart from her peers and as to why she is narrating this story.

The Drunkard

The Drunkard
Frank O'Connor

In this short story, the boy's drunkenness is seen from different points of view. The first point of view is the boy's. His innocent curiosity and thirst led him to drink his father's alcohol at the bar. The boy felt sick and eventually seemed confused and upset, all typical reactions to alcohol. Another point of view is that of the dad. He took the boy with him to the bar because he wanted a drink and had no where else to take the boy. Upon discovering the boy's actions, he felt embarrassed that the boy drank alcohol, frustrated that he now had nothing to drink, and worried about what the boy's mother would think. Another point of view is that of the mother. At first she seemed enraged. She yelled at her husband for going to the bar and giving the boy a drink. "The road knows the way you filled you unfortunate innocent child with drink to make sport for you and that other rotten, filthy brute"(O'Connor). After the mother was alone with her son, she thanked him from drinking the alcohol because it kept his father from his alcoholic tendencies.