Explore the presentation of outsiders in Never Let Me Go and Frankenstein

Example Exam Questions (including an introduction and 1 subsections) - Explore the presentation of outsiders in Never Let Me Go and Frankenstein.

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Introduction

To an extent, both ‘Frankenstein’ (1818) by Mary Shelley and ‘Never Let Me Go’ (2005) by Kazuo Ishiguro utilise the status of characters in order to establish a hierarchy within society. In ‘Frankenstein’, Shelley presents the Monster and Justine as victims that had been neglected by society. She may have been inspired by her own experience of being ostracised from society. In ‘Never Let Me Go’, Ishiguro presents the clones as being hidden and always on the edge of society, never truly accepted by their creators.

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First Subsection - part 1

Firstly, in both texts, outsiders are displayed as being concealed from the rest of society, destined to be on the sidelines. In ‘Frankenstein’, Shelley, the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft (most known for her novel ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), uses the character of the Monster to display how society is negligent and intolerant. This is evident due to the Monsters safe haven being rejected previously by villagers, who were “roused; some fled, some attacked [him], until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons”. The adverb ‘grievously’ reveals how harshly the Monster was rejected from society, and how their intolerance of the Monster's appearance aided in him shifting from victim to murderer. The hovel is the only shelter the Monster could receive, as he describes it as an ‘agreeable asylum’. The alliteration exposes the innocence of the Monster and how he is unaware of how his shelter dehumanises him, as he resorts to seeking refuge in an animal kennel. The hovel immediately presents the Monster as being a lower class to the rest of the villagers, and forces him to become an outsider of society as he is not accepted. Shelley may have been influenced to present the Monster in a degrading manner by the French Revolution, an event that many Romantic writers were interested by. The Romantics believed that the lower classes were closer to nature due to their lack of material possessions. Perhaps due to this, Shelley forces the Monster into the role of an outsider through his lack of belongings.

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First Subsection - part 2

Similarly, in ‘Never Let Me Go’, Ishiguro presents the clones as being outsiders through the use of locations. The clones are isolated from the rest of society, evident during chapter nineteen, where Kathy complains about how “[they] had to consult the map a number of times on the way and we still arrived several minutes late… It’s out of the way and awkward to get to.” The use of long sentences may have been used in order to display a sense of exhaustion by speeding up the pace of the sentence. This presents Kingsfield as being inconveniently situated for the clones, but conveniently located for the humans as it is out of sight. The name of the recovery centre, ‘Kingsfield’, is ironic as it contrasts the way the clones are being treated. They are not viewed as royalty, but vessels of organs that can be extracted whenever needed. Ishiguro may have made the clones outsiders in order to mirror his experience as a Japanese immigrant, who was an outsider to both British society and Japanese society. The clones are unable to ever fit into society due to society’s ambivalence to their needs and constant ignoring of the clone’s existence.