Conformity

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro

One major theme that I have noticed developing in this novel is conformity. Although it is not unusual for teenagers to want to fit in with their peers, Kathy and her peers seem to be more extreme in this area. As younger students, Kathy and her peers took great pride in their creativity, and popularity was based on how creative each student was. The students even went so far as to bully Tommy because he was not creative. Growing older, the students moved on from creativity to sex. Students who were having sex were considered more popular, so Kathy and her peers claimed that they were having sex in order to fit in. "My guess, anyway, is that there wasn't nearly as much sex going on as people made out" (Ishiguro, 97). As the students moved on to the Cottages, they, especially Ruth, began to mimic the Veteran's behavior and mannerisms.Throughout this whole time, Kathy and her peers' passive nature contributed to their conformity. Even though the students questioned many topics at Hailsham, like why smoking was bad, why art was so important, why the gallery existed, etc., the students did not continue to question the Guardians or each other on pressing issues. Instead, the students held an ignorant understanding with one another not to question one another in search of deeper and truthful answers. "And my role, as her closest friend, was to give her silent support, as if I was in the front row of the audience when she was performing on stage" (Ishiguro, 130). Perhaps the students' passive nature stems from their nature as clones, or perhaps the reason the cloning system works is because the students learn at a young age not to ask pressing questions. Maybe if the students would challenge the cloning and donating system, they could free themselves of the tragic fate in which they find themselves.

Why they are different!

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro

The cloned sheep Dolly

Throughout the novel, the reader develops many questions to which Kathy hints at the answer but never explicitly gives the answer. One such question is, "Why are the students from Hailsham different from the guardians and people outside the school grounds". Throughout the beginning of the novel, Kathy mentioned the path for Hailsham students to become donors and carers. She also mentioned that maintaining their health was extremely important and that activities like smoking were more detrimental to the students at Hailsham than their guardians. "...keeping ourselves very healthy inside, that's much more important for each of you than it is for me" (Ishiguro, 69). By piecing this information together, the reader can infer that the students must be healthy because they will grow up to donate their organs. But this still does not take into account why all of the student's at Hailsham are unable to have children. Now, halfway through the novel, we learn that the that the students from Hailsham and other similar schools are clones. "Since each of us was copied at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life" (Ishiguro, 139). This explanation, although still not using the term 'clone', takes into account the pieces of information regarding the students' isolation, health, and career paths. Despite learning why the students are different from the rest of the world, readers still have questions about the students. Do the students only donate to their possible? Would the student be free to live as they pleased if their possible died without needing a transplant? Could the students figure out who their possible's are and how their possible could avoid needing a transplant?

Is this discovery that the students are clones the climax of the story?

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.

"Acquainted with the Night"

"Acquainted with the Night"
Robert Frost

In this poem, Frost uses interlocking rhyme scheme. By using this rhyme scheme, Frost creates a sense of familiarity within each new stanza. The reader recognizes the words meant to rhyme and this creates a feeling that the rhyme has occurred previously. This feeling that the rhymes seem to go in a circular pattern contributes to the point of the poem that the speaker has gone on night walks multiple times. In addition, each stanza's rhyming words differ slightly from the previous stanza's. This shows that even though the pattern feels similar, each stanza is different. This relates to the speaker on his walks. The speaker has taken multiple walks at night, but because the rhyming words change from stanza to stanza, the speaker's walks probably differ from walk to walk. To add to the sense of repetition, Frost repeated the line "I have been one acquainted with the night" (Frost) at the beginning and the end of the poem. By repeating this line, Frost brings the poem full circle to give the sense of repetition. It also reinforces that the speaker has become acquainted with the night because he has repeatedly taken nighttime strolls.

Dover Beach

"Dover Beach"
Matthew Arnold

The speaker is lamenting the decline of religious faith in his time. Is he himself a believer? Does he see any medicine for the world's maladies?

In this poem, each of the four stanzas explores an idea. The first explores thoughts of the English Channel remarking at its beautiful sight. However the first stanza notes the sorrowful sound of the water. This recognition leads to the second stanza which explores human misery. The third stanza focuses on a shrinking Sea of Faith. This figurative sea once was full and bursting at the seams. Now, the speaker notes, the sea is draining. "But now I only hear /Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar" (Arnold). This sea of faith could be applied to humanity in general, but it can also be applied specifically to the speaker.  Because the sea is draining, this implies that the speaker once had faith but now does not. 

In the fourth stanza, the speaker expresses that he has no cure for the lack of faith. Instead he says "Ah, love, let us be true/ To one another" (Arnold). Never in the fourth stanza does the speaker state that the way to cure the world maladies arises through an increase of faith. Instead the speaker suggests that instead of trying to fix the problem, people should find someone to rely on through life that "Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,/ Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain" (Arnold).

Sorting Laundry

"Sorting Laundry"
Elisavietta Ritchie

In this poem, Ritchie uses an extended metaphor of folding laundry to represent the speaker's relationship. By describing the different pieces of laundry such as the sheets, towels, and shirts, that the speaker is folding, the speaker also describes her relationship. "Pillowcases, despite so many/washings, seams still/ holding our dreams" (Ritchie). The speaker's relationship is old as shown in the phrase "so many washings". Despite its length, the relationship is still strong as described by the
"seams still holding our dreams". The pillow case shows that no matter how old the relationship may be, it has remained strong throughout time. Another description of clothing describes "all those wrinkles/ to be smoothed, or else/ ignored" (Ritchie). The wrinkles in the couple's clothing represents problems in their relationship. Despite their problems, the couple has remained together. The couple has been able to work through some problems as described by the phrase "to be smoothed". In addition, the couple has also ignored some problems. The couples problems were small enough to work through or ignore which suggests that the couple has a stable relationship.

Vanity Destroyed

"The Convergence of the Twain"
Thomas Hardy

In this poem, Hardy uses vivid images to describe sunken lavish ship aka the Titanic. In his use of imagery, Hardy conveys the differences between the extravagant ship and the ocean. For example, "Jewels in joy designed/ To ravish the sensuous mind/ Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind" (Hardy). This quote expresses the brilliance of the Titanic as it was before it sunk through "Jewels in joy designed" and "sparkles". These phrases sound appealing to the reader and evoke pictures of wealth. Hardy contrasts these images of wealth with the phrase "bleared and black and blind". This phrase expresses that the sea caused the demise of the vanity of the ship. In addition to this phrase, other phrases like "The sea-worm crawls- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent"(Hardy) also help to show that such a proud, lavish ship did not belong in the ocean. By contrasting the different settings (sea vs. ship), Hardy suggests that such a massive object of vanity was not suitable to cross the ocean. Further, this same contrast in setting could be applied to express that human vanity will cause our demise. A lavish ship sunk in the middle of the ocean because its pride did not allow it to properly navigate around an iceberg. The ship's vanity blinded the people of its possibility to sink. Similarly, our own pride and vanity can blind us from our possibility of failing. By simplifying our lives, we can focus on the truly important tasks and can become successful people.