Paying Close Attention to Setting and Characters, to What Extent Do You Think Ishiguro Has Been Successful in Writing a Dystopian Novel?

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Kazuo Ishiguro wrote the novel Never Let Me Go, giving the impression to readers that the setting he has displayed is of a utopian and dystopian society. He portrays throughout the novel dystopian aspects. Illustrating all the characteristics in a predictable ‘dystopian’ novel, intense measurements of social control, totalitarian society depicts the aspects of a dystopian novel but the utopian side of the novel refers to the fictional society lacking of harmonious and egalitarian qualities of life depicted in utopias. The word utopia was first used in this perspective by Thomas More in his 1516 novel Utopia. The word utopia comes from a combination of two Greek ‘ou’, meaning not, and ‘topos’, and means place. In other words, utopia is a fictional land that does not exist and Thomas More intended to create the effect in his novel. Hailsham and Auschwitz, a concentration camp share similarities their physically trapped within Hailsham and hearsay horror stories about escapes whilst Auschwitz are trapped by barbed wire. In Auschwitz they are exploited for their labour and in Hailsham they are oppressed for their organs. The ‘gallery’ is first introduced in the novel as motivation for the students, to aspire creativity. The students deem the gallery as a reward and feel ‘excitement and pride’ when their virtuosity is rewarded. To create a sense of an achievement Ishiguro uses thought control, exerted by the guardians, to install a sense of creativity and long to get into the gallery. The purpose of the gallery in Tommy and Kathy’s view is to look into your soul, to see your personality and whether you could truly love. However, the reason for the existence of the gallery is not to look into your soul but ‘ to prove they have souls at all implying that even the guardians, who had known them since childhood and watched them grow and develop, do not believe they are real

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