Never Let Me Go Comparison

There has been a long time debate between critics as to which medium, books or movies, does a better job at portraying a story. A perfect example of this is the Never Let Me Go movie released in 2010 which is directed by Mark Romanek and screen played by Alex Garland. This movie is an adaptation of the Never Let Me Go book written by Kazuo Ishiguro and published in 2005. Never Let Me Go is a dystopian science fiction about the ethical issue of human cloning. It follows the story of life of Kathy along with her two close friends, Tommy and Ruth. Never Let Me Go is about the heartbreaking journey of these 3 clones and their struggles with finding their identity and escaping their tragic fate, which is sacrificing their lives by becoming donors
A character whose personality is very bold and in Never Let Me Go is Ruth. Ruth is the protagonist’s, Kathy’s, best friend and she is a very dominant character through the story. She is selfish, competitive and often jealous. The book shows us Ruth nasty personality by Kathy’s description and mainly by her dialogues; “Tommy’s been telling me about his big theory. He says he’s already told you. Ages ago. But now,very kindly, he’s allowing me to share in it too” (Ishiguro 192). It is very evident by the things Ruth says that she easily gets jealous, especially of the friendship between Tommy and Kathy. Similarly, the Never Let Me Go movie heavily uses Ruth’s Dialogues to show her personality. “You believe that there’s a chance that Tommy and I will split up some day. (...) Although Tommy really likes you as a friend, he just doesn’t see you that way” The movie also uses the visual advantages of their media to show Ruth’s personality. The director uses close up shots to show Ruth’s expression which is often stern and furrowed when there is a mention of Kathy and Tommy together. Both media show the development of Ruth’s character as she becomes regretful for the actions she did earlier on the story. The book once demonstrates this development by her dialogues during the third part of the book where Ruth, Tommy and Kathy are reunited after many years as
The major theme of Never Let Me Go is that the power of free will plays an important role in helping the one find their true identity and also heavily impacts on how they will live their live. The book portrays this theme by using the events and plots. Starting off, students at Hailsham are forbidden to leave the school property or have any contact with the outside world. They are repeatedly told during the story that their destiny is to be a carer and then a donor. Because of this, the characters, especially Ruth, are unable to understand the opportunities they are losing. In the beginning of the story, the book emphasizes Ruth’s dream which is to work in an office. However, In the end of the story, Ruth accepts her fate of being a donor and sacrificing her life.Ruth says to Tommy “I was pretty much ready when i became a donor. It felt right. After all, it’s what we’re suppose to be doing, isn’t it?” (Ishiguro, 227) We never learn whether her unhappy life is due to the system or her own lack of initiative. On the other hand, the movie conveys this theme by the uses of camera angles and colours. During out the movie, there are many uses of high camera angles which symbolizes how the characters lack free will and don't have a say in how they live their life. There's often uses of dull and dark colours throughout the movie to represent the lack of free will which foreshadows that the character’s