NLMG

• "I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sickness. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world." pg.272


  Context: Kathy and Tommy are discussing the scene where Madame saw Kathy listening to the song and her perception of it; Kathy and Tommy wanted a deferral in this scene.

  The theme of miscommunication: the clones were naive and ignorant of the world around them. The humans understood the changing world and are still slight wary of the them and the new future.
• "I lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy, but I won't lose my memories of them." (286)


  This quote connects to the memory theme. Kathy has lost everything at the end of the book, Tommy, Ruth, her hope for happiness, and her dreams. All she has left are memories. This idea also connects to the dehumanization theme because, just as donors are one left with memories when they complete, normals are only left with memories when they die.
• "We took away your art because... we did it to prove you had souls at all."


  Since all the kids from Halisham were clones, Madame would take their artwork to prove to other people that they were just as creative as humans and to prove they had souls. They were dehumanized because they were clones and they were created to help and save human lives. They had their life set out for them and people did not care because they were only created to save and for nothing else, otherwise they wouldn't even exist.
• "things like pictures, poetry, all that kind of stuff, she (Miss Emily) said they revealed what you were like inside. She said they revealed your soul."


  Represents the hope that art gives to Tommy and Kathy with the possibility of getting a deferral if their art can show they are truly in love; theme of deceit: Miss Emily continues to keep truths from the students causing them to theorize about their place in the world since they are oblivious to these truths; in the end Tommy and Kathy discover their art was actually used not to describe who they were but to show they have a soul and that they were actual people not just scientific experiments
• "I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be." (288)


  This quote is at the very end of the book. Kathy has just lost Tommy and already lost Ruth. Hailsham is also gone. There is not much that is familiar to her anymore. The quote connects to the theme of othering because she does not know where she is going or where she truly belongs in the world.
• "We were always just too young to understand properly the latest piece of information." (82)


  In order to give the Hailsham students information on what they will go through, the guardians tell them when they are too young to understand. This connects to the secrecy surrounding the donations.
• "But most of what became our "group" had beds close together by then..." (33)


  The clones are already being "othered" by society, but within their group they "other" each other by moving their beds close together, excluding part of the group.
• "We all know it. We're modeled from trash... That's what we come from. We all know it, so why don't we say it?" (Said by Ruth) (166)


  This quote related to the theme of othering because Ruth actually acknowledges the issue that they are not like "normals". She admits the harsh truth about their existence and the reason why they are othered
• "What I want is for you to put it right. Put right what I messed up for you"


  This quote connects to the theme of humanity through the use of buildingsroman to show the shift in Ruth's character from a harsh and cruel clone to a compassionate friend with a desire to make her friends happy. Truly revealing her humanity and human like shift as she grew up.
• "you've been told and not told."- Miss Lucy (81)


  This quote signifies the miscommunication directed toward the clones and the persistence of confusion. In a dystopian manner, information is continually withheld from the clones about who they are and their purpose, which fosters a lack of self-identity that feeds into dehumanization.
• You're lives are set out for you" (81)


  This relates to the meaningof the work as a whole because it shows the "students" have no control over their lives and it highlights the theme of dehumanization. This also shows how the "students" only worth for the "normals" Id their organs and that the rest of their lives mean nothing to them. By saying their lives are set out it adds to the theme of the struggle for hope and ordering because "normals" can have any life they want but "students" can't.
• "What I'm not sure about is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time."


  Kathy's final lines = morality of organ donation questioned
• "You have to know who you are, and what you are. It's the only way to lead decent lives."


  Miss Lucys pleads with the children to gain a sense of identity before they die
• "We didn't have The Gallery in order to look into your souls. We had The Gallery to see if you had souls at all. Do you understand?"


  Miss Emily - devastating revelation which ruins any chance at a defferal
• "The breakthrough in medical science came in 1952. Doctors could now cure the previously incurable. By 1967, life expectancy passed 100 years."


  The Title Card at the beginning of the film
• "You poor creatures. I wish I could help you. But you're by yourselves now."


  Madame Marie-Claude = they were infact always on their own
• "Hailsham was the last place to consider the ethics of donation. You have to understand - cancer used to kill almost everyone. Now it kills no one at all... We were providing an answer to a question that no one was asking... If you ask people to return to darkness, the days of lung cancer and breast cancer and motor neurone disease... they simply say no. Do you understand?"


  Miss Emily = the ethical debate
• Nature introduction


  Explored as an element beyond human control whose extent cannot be fully comprehended. Warns against violating laws due to potency, potential to heal yet simultaneously destructive and warn of the moral and ethical dangers of when it is handled recklessly. Ability to ruin yet enlighten characters
• Nature - MAIN POINTS


  1. Nature is often used to reflect or foreshadow death

  2. Despite morbid foreshadowing of death, hope and faith restored by nature through when creature repeatedly rejected by society and calm it provides to intrusiveness of Kathy's subconscious

  3. Both writers show nature being manipulated to emphasise how human society has progressed away from it and towards unnatural advancements in science and technology.
• Abandoned Boat scene quotes (2)

  1. "ghostly dead trunks

  2. "stranded in the marshes"
• Abandoned boat scene analysis

  - Natural imagery, gory description of abandoned boat which reflects Ruth's "frail" and shows her physical and emotional deterioration, foreshadowing future.

  - Ishiguro uses the symbol of the boat "stranded in the marshes" to demonstrate her passivity and how she is "stranded" in her own life as she lacks control of her life, being a prisoner to the cloning system.

  - Parallels to woods at Hailsham that were once feared, loss of innocence and having to face fears.

  - Isolation of settings reflect how they have been isolated
• Shelley pathetic fallacy quotes (3)


  1. "dreary night", "rain pattered dismally against the panes",

  2. "rose with great violence", "clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture".
• Shelley pathetic fallacy analysis


  - Pathetic fallacy and gothic imagery on the "dreary night" of the creature's awakening, as "the rain pattered dismally against the panes", indicates nature already against him as foolishly opposing laws of nature by creating artificial life

  - Commonly uses gothic elements in writing e.g., ideas of supernatural and raising dead which interested Shelley from a young age, particularly from Sir Humphry Davy who was a scientist acquainted with her father William Godwin.

  - Gothic writers focused on the darker side of human progress, such as the dangers of industrialisation, and they portrayed humans as woefully imperfect and at the mercy of more powerful forces, such as nature and death

  - Just before Elizabeth dies as the wind "rose with great violence" and the "clouds swept across it swifter than the flight of the vulture".

  - Comparison to vulture whose purpose is to eat corpses, foreshadowing his role to kill Victor and his family.
• Nature as restorative in Frankenstein (2)

  1. "pleasant sunshine, and the pure air of day, reformed me to some degree of tranquility"

  2. "emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me"
• Nature as restorative in Frankenstein analysis

  - Restores hope and faith in humanity after being shunned by DeLaceys

  - Romantic writers believed nature to be sublime and have pure, healing qualities due to its connotations to God and religion which were greatly important during the 18th century.

  - Both writers use nature not only to warn of its potency and the dangers of violating the laws of nature, but also to convey their appreciation for nature through its healing potential and kindness towards the characters.
• Kathy and nature as restorative quote

  "knowing that for the next couple of hours I'll have only the roads, the big grey sky and my daydreams for company."
• Kathy and nature as restorative

  - Nature is restorative, seen as belonging to the clones, use of 'big grey sky' shows that the absence of company gives her comfort in nature.

  - Ishiguro shows the anger of the clones as only brief because secluded from their morbid reality caused by the damaging actions of humans during this modern age of progression with technology.

  - Both writers use nature not only to warn of its potency and the dangers of violating the laws of nature, but also to convey their appreciation for nature through its healing potential and kindness towards the characters.
• Ishiguro nature metaphor


  Nature, Society, Loss

  
  

  "these two people in water, trying to hold onto each other...but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart."

  Ishiguro frequently uses nature as metaphorical device rather than healing force, demonstrated by Tommy's description of his and Kathy's relationship whereas Shelley inspired by romanticism and emphasises surrealism of nature itself.
• Ruth in Norfolk quote

  "modelled from trash. Junkies, prostitutes, winos, and tramps"
• Ruth in Norfolk quote analysis

  - Demonstrated in Ruth's breakdown, rapid syndetic listing of derogatory terms demonstrates her anger towards the greed and ignorance of humans; verb "modelled" suggests that they are not naturally conceived and formed in a way that violates the laws of nature.

  - Numerous advances in biotechnology in the 20th century, exemplified by the Human Genome Project which oversaw intense activity in the field of biotechnological genetics, and the cloning of Dolly the Sheep in 1996.
• Nature conclusion


  Both portray nature as significant in the novel as it is simultaneously healing and destructive. They explore the potential of nature, however Shelley does this to a greater extent using emotive and descriptive lexis whereas Ishiguro commonly uses nature as metaphors for life. Nature is seen to act as a solace for the monster and the clones, however this is only temporary as both novels are influenced by their contexts and the scientific progressions that took place when they were written in, warning of the dangers cast into society when humans move away from nature and focus on science, as it has the ability to enlighten yet ruin the characters.
• Education, Knowledge and Scientific exploration introduction

  In both novels, knowledge and education is presented in various ways with the purpose of exploring the potency of the human mind and the dangerous consequences of it. Written at the time of the Enlightenment era where human progress and scientific knowledge was rapidly progressing, Shelley encourages the reader to consider the relationship between knowledge and power and the damaging implications when placed in ambitious yet inadequate hands. Therefore, Shelley presents these themes in order to enrich our understanding of the central characters and signal the dangers of unchecked faith in humanity.
• Education, Knowledge and Scientific exploration - MAIN POINTS

  1. Writers present education and acquirement of knowledge as a powerful force that has the potential to plague those who obsessively pursue it

  2. Cause fo the loss of innocence for the creature and the clones when they discover the truth about their existence

  3. Extremely isolating
• Victor's initial worthy aim and dangerous ambition quote and analysis

  1. "banish disease from the human frame"

  2. "penetrate into the recesses of nature"

  Corrupted by hubris and selfish ambition
• Victor wanting to know secrets of heaven quote analysis

  - The repetition of "secret" emphasises the forbidden nature of his endeavours and his dangerous ambition and innocent belief that man is powerful and wise enough to understand the complexity of nature.

  - Uses romantic language which seems out of character for Frankenstein however Shelley explores Frankenstein as a typical renaissance man, obsessed with the pursuit of intellectual knowledge at a time where there was rapid scientific progression in the Enlightenment era and even greater belief in the capabilities of man, however Shelley warns about the dangers of excessive ambition.

  - Shelley uses his knowledge to warn against the pursuit of dangerous knowledge which leads Frankenstein to his tragic downfall
• Victor wanting to know secrets of heaven quote

  "it was the secrets of heaven and earth I desired to learn...my enquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world"
• NLMG creators initial worthy aim and dangerous ambition quotes (2)


  1. "all these ways to cure so many previously incurable conditions"

  2. "much further than anyone before him, far beyond legal boundaries"
• NLMG creators initial worthy aim and dangerous ambition analysis

  - Dangerous pursuit of knowledge is also reflected by the humans in Never Let Me Go, who begin with a worthy aim similar to Victor's, of trying to use science for good however it rapidly spirals into dangerous immoral and unethical territory

  - Dramatic revelation of the humans true thoughts about the clones and the non-existence of deferrals.

  - Motivated similarly as Frankenstein was to cure disease, "all these ways to cure so many previously incurable conditions", however Morning dale had taken his research "much further than anyone before him, far beyond legal boundaries" which demonstrates that humans were aware of the risks that the research posed

  - This relates to the numerous biotechnological advancements that were prominent when Ishiguro wrote novel, such as the Cloning of Dolly the Sheep in 1996 and the Human Genome Project.

  Both writers portray unethical scientific exploration as dangerous and use their novels as cautionary tales for the downfall of human society if this is pursued.
• Monster isolation quotes (2)

  1. "increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was"

  2. "my protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom"
• Monster isolation and loss of innocence quotes analysis

  - When the monster learns to read and acquires knowledge with the hopes of being accepted by the DeLacey family, his hope rapidly turns into disillusionment as the DeLacey's reject him.

  - Use of personal pronoun 'my' shows the emotional connection that the monster had developed that gave him hope of being accepted.

  - Anger and resentment that the monster holds and his murders are a violent cry for affection however only increase his sense of solitude from human society.

  - Through the experiences and the loss of innocence of the creature, Shelley incorporates the beliefs of John Locke, who believed in the concept of 'Tabula Rasa', that humans are born in a state of innocence and gain knowledge through experience.