Never Let Me Go free essay sample

It is impossible to talk about  the novel Never Let Me Go  by Kazuo Ishiguro in a straightforward manner. This novel though cryptic and rather dark is full of hidden meanings and powerful messages. The novel is written in a slow paced, carefully thought out manner that reveals a parallel world much like our own within the boundaries of modern England. The author, Mr. Kazuo Ishiguro has crept into the world of science fiction and horror to create a book revolving around memory and the daily human interactions that knag at one’s mind. Ishiguro has found a way to mix unpleasantness with euphemism and blissful ignorance. So it is perhaps appropriate to say that the book is memorable, and to not mention, specifically, why. First a quick spoiler: Never Let Me Go takes place in a parallel universe where the main characters Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are clones raised like farm crops for their organs. Since the guardians did not emotionally connect to the children, the art was the only way they could understand the children. By forcing the children to do art, the guardians were preparing the children to be as normal and intellectually equivalent as the rest of society. Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. † Although the children, technically, do not need these skills as adults because their main purpose is to donate, the guardians want the children to have lives that are as normal as possible. (http://www. edutopia. org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development) The guardians understood that the children were born just to die at a young age. They understood that many people looked at them as monsters and not as human beings. With that in mind, the guardians did not get emotionally attached to the children. In The Effects of Early Social-Emotional and Relationship Experience on the Development of Young Orphanage Children, the main focus is on how children in orphanages react to certain types of caregivers. The caregivers who worked with the children at the orphanage seem to have the same concerns as the guardians working at Hailsham. On page 108 it says, â€Å" Staff initially wondered if it was a good idea for children to have close relationships with caregivers when many would go to harsher and less affectionate and responsive environments in the future†. People in society are not as accepting of the clones as the guardians are, so despite the fact that the guardians seem distant from the children, this was done just to prepare the children for the â€Å"harsher† future. The attachment theory is a theory proposed by John Bowlby. The theory basically states that infants need to be attached to someone in order to have successful relationships as they grow older. Bowlby says, â€Å"Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space† (http://www. implypsychology. org/attachment. html). However, the guardians at hailsham did not form attachments with the students. Without these attachments as children, becoming attached to somebody, as an adult, is much harder. This could have been a part of the guardians’ plans to prepare the children for their â€Å"unique† adulthood because attachments are not necessary for them. The children at Hailsham do not need frie nds as adults because they will begin to lose them very soon, and eventually they will end up dying also. The absence of attachments can also explain why a lot of the characters in the book feel isolated from the rest of society. The guardians at Hailsham make the children role-play so that when they leave the school they are able to function in society. The guardians did this because the kids from Hailsham did not have any interaction with society while at the school. The role-playing consisted of ordering food at a restaurant and paying for the food. The role-playing allowed the children to blend in better with society once they were in the real world. This is imilar to how parents raise their children. As children get older, parents give more responsibilities to their children so that when they become adults they can be prepared to do what the rest of society does (i. e. work, pay bills, etc. ). Like said before, the children at Hailsham will be going off to â€Å"harsher and less affectionate† environments, so the role-playing helped them cope with that. By having the children act out different scenarios rather than just telling them, the children will understand how to order at a restaurant, for example, better. In the essay, â€Å"Role-Playing as a Teaching Strategy† by Lori Jarvis, Kathryn Odell, and Mike Troiano, they write â€Å"there is increased involvement on the part of the students in a role-playing lesson. Students are not passive recipients of the instructor’s knowledge. † The guardians understood that they children would be helpless in the future if they just told them how to function properly in society. â€Å"A third advantage to using role-playing as a teaching strategy is that it teaches empathy and understanding of different perspectives. The guardians were unable to teach the children empathy because they were unable to show the children what empathy was. The guardians at Hailsham were not able to relate to the children because the guardians were not going to ultimately donate their vital organs. However, empathy is a basic emotion that is important in the real world. Usually, a child will develop empathy because they experience it as child, whether it is from their parents, guardians, peers, etc. Yet, these children do not experience this. Role-playing, in a way, helps them become more human.