Ishiguro’s Style of Writing

• The language is simple and conversational.

• There is an absence of techniques, and is written a straightforward manner.

• The narrator is unreliable.

• It is written in the first person.

• There are many cliches used, perhaps in an attempt to conceal what is actually occurring in the dystopian society.

• The book addresses an unspecified reader who is expected to already know things.

• There is a lot of dialogue.

• The dialogue is in a casual tone.

• The narrator is reflective.

• There is retrospective narration (narration with flashback).

• Standard English vocab and grammar is used. The tone is polite and serious.

• Meta-narrative. The narrator knows that she is unreliable and comments on her own narrative abilities.

• The narrator reflects with a childlike perspective in the events and environment.

Society

Quote from Ishiguro

"I think society as a whole needs to be more engaged".

Main focus of Never Let Me Go

Exploration of how relationships change over time, particularly when that time is limited.

Consumer Culture

The Gallery and the second hand gifts both relate to consumerism. The clones could only get these gifts if they 'earned' them and bought them. Society would only believe in the clones humanity through the Gallery.

March 2005

The UN created a non-binding agreement called for a ban on human cloning.

Immigration and Dual Nationality

Kazuo Ishiguro was a Japanese immigrant and moved to the UK when he was 5 years old. He may have felt like an outsider to the UK and Japan.

Kazuo Ishiguro had dual nationality for both the UK and Japan, This may have caused him to view both of these cultures from the outside.

Similarities to George Orwell’s ‘1984’

Themes of

• Conditioning

• Brainwashing

• Obedience

Dolly the Sheep

During 1997, the first mammal was cloned from an adult cell. Dolly the Sheep died early due to arthritis.

Themes of Dystopian Fiction

• Oppression

• Social Order vs Individual Desire

• The Other

• Politics

• Power

• Questions 'What makes us human?'

Genre Features of Dystopia in Literature

• The created dystopian world is usually a reflection of real life, as it mirrors real issues and events.

• The stories are typically set in the near future, near past or in an alternative present.

• The Settings of the dystopian world usually are close to real life, but with subtle changes that makes them unnerving.

• Society is strictly stratified and rigidly controlled.

• Freedom, information and independent thought are restricted.

• There is some sort of controlling government present, but is not fully known.

• The citizens of the dystopian world are under constant surveillance.

• There is usually some sort of disaster or significant problem that has occurred. For example, a population boom, a population crash, or some sort of environmental disaster.

• The citizens of the dystopian world are expected to conform to uniformity, and the prospects of individuality and dissent are seen as bad and are frowned upon.

• The dystopian society is an illusion of a perfect Utopian world.

Utilitarian Justification

The greater happiness for the greatest number, causing the clones to suffer as they are the minority

Link to Communism

• Own economy

• Same fate

• All treated the same

• Same jobs

Nagasaki

Nagasaki is the city where Ishiguro was born in 1954.

It is in southern Japan on Kyushu

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki links to the pain of scientific advancement.

Daniel Deronda

In the book, Daniel is a character who has struggles with his identity while he searches for his true parentage. This contrasts Kathy as although she also struggles with her identity, she doesn't have the agency to find who she is or find her 'parentage'. Her reading this book is a way for her to compensate for her own struggles with identity.

Scotland Road School

1970s At the time, state schools suppressed individuality Scotland Road School was a progressive school that aimed to widen horizons and explore new settings. It relied wholly on donations to keep it open.

Unreliable Narrators

Ishiguro's narrators are characteristically unreliable.
This feature can be compared to the multiple narrators of Frankenstein, who all could be lying.

Social Work

Before Ishiguro was a writer, he worked as a social worker. This links to Never Let Me Go as social work is a profession similar to the guardians.

Allusions to World War 2

• Barbed wire around the school

• Experimental surgery Students believe that the originate from 'garbage'

• The students are dehumanised - 'Kathy H'

• The clones are separated according to purpose, i.e. whether they are a donater or a carer