Reconstructing Past and Identity in Never Let Me Go

Reconstructing Identity and Past in Never Let Me Go

The novel Never Let Me Go takes place in the late twentieth century in England. The novel itself belongs to the science fiction genre although the theme does not focus on it. It is divided into three sections that tell the story of the main characters’ lives. The narrator and protagonist of the novel is Kathy H. and the story is told through her recollection of her stay at the fictional Hailsham, which appears to be a normal boarding school in East Sussex, England, where children make art works and read classics from Homer through Shakespeare to Franz Kafka and James Joyce. Life at Hailsham seems normal at the beginning as it regards usual teenage problems, like little rivalries and jealousies, but later on, it is revealed to the reader that Hailsham is not a normal boarding school and the children are clones who are brought up to provide their vital organs to “normals.” Initially, they will be trained as nurses, or “carers,” but then they will go on to become “donors.” In other words, their organs will be harvested until they die or, as they say, “complete.” There are three main characters in the novel: Kathy, Ruth and Tommy and at the centre of the plot is a love triangle between them. When the story begins, Kathy is a carer, who is looking after active donors and waiting to become a donor herself: ’My name is Kathy H. I’m thirty-one years old and I’ve been a carer now for over eleven years. That sounds long enough, I know, but actually they want me to go on for another eight months, until the end of this year.' As a character, Kathy H. tries to make sense of her childhood experiences. Like the most of the clones, she seems strangely neutral and motionless as if she had already accepted her destiny. Her objectivity and serenity towards her life and unavoidable future is her main character feature that