Never Let Me Go Essay On Identity

Finding identity is a difficult task that anyone faces; some triumph and discover their true selves while others find themselves in a hole, clutching onto anything that gives them a sense of identity. In the case of Kathy, the protagonist of the novel Never Let Me Go, the crisis of identity is a prevalent one. Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go vividly tells the story of Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, students of Hailsham, who were created purely to donate their vital organs. Kathy faces the issue of identity because she is a clone, stripped of any real human identity; she is viewed as walking organs. Sadly, unless Kathy is to overthrow science and its advancements, there is no pragmatic solution to her dilemma due to humanity’s unwillingness
to give up the answer to their once incurable diseases.
Kathy’s identity crisis is one that is seen throughout the duration of the novel.
One of the most important requirements in Hailsham, a school specifically designed for donors, is to be creative. Early on, the idea that students at Hailsham create art in order to have tangible personalities is introduced early on. When talking about this topic, Kathy remarks, “regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at creating [...]” (Pg. 16). In order to have an identity that is unique, Kathy felt that the only way to achieve that was to be creative. Hailsham goes even farther to enact identities among the students with sales. Kathy states that sales were important because, “that was how we got hold of things from outside” (Pg. 41), through sales and tokens, a currency Hailsham students would use to buy other students’ art, students developed collections. Through the collections, Kathy would attempt to conjure up an identity she could call her own. She went as far as bringing her collection with her once she left Hailsham in an attempt to have something that she could represent herself. Kathy always attempts to find an identity through material items. Later on in the novel, Kathy moves on to seek an identity related to Hailsham itself. She finds that if anything, she is distinctive through being a Hailsham student. She recognizes this when she says, “[...] all the students who’d grown up with me and were now spread across the country,
carers, and donors, all separated now but still somehow lined by the place we’d come from” (Pg. 212). Kathy uses Hailsham as something special about her, something that makes up her identity. However, that link is broken once Hailsham is closed down. This symbolizes that Kathy has no connection to where she came from anymore, her identity is gone and she is, once again, a clone meant for donations. During and after the closing of Hailsham, Kathy reconnects with Tommy and becomes his carer. The two soon fall in love and Kathy tries to find identity within the love as well. When Tommy is going into his fourth donation and asking Kathy to stop being his carer, he relates to the situation of them to a river saying, “ [...] “‘I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it’s just too much. The current’s too strong. They’ve got to let go, drift apart” (Pg. 282). Although Kathy tries to resonate her existence with her love for Tommy, she is soon faced with the crisis of her identity once he decides to separate. Kathy constantly tries to attach herself with items or people in a feeble attempt to have an identity and to distinguish herself from other clones to no avail.
Despite the futile attempts, Kathy has no feasible solution to her identity crisis because it is ingrained in society to view her a clone rather than a human.
Kathy’s only solution is to overthrow science and its’ achievement in cloning, but that is infeasible due to all the benefits cloning has provided modern society. When Kathy and Tommy go to Madame’s house in hope to get a deferral for donations, they were met with the hold truth from Miss Emily; she discusses the ethics behind the donations and comments, “‘Suddenly there were all these new possibilities laid before us, all these ways to cure so many previously incurable conditions. [...] There was no way to reverse the process. How can you ask a world that has come to regard cancer as curable, how can you ask such a world to go back to the dark days? There was no going back. However uncomfortable people were about your existence, their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friends did not die from cancer, motor neurone disease, heart disease”’ (Pg. 262-263). Once the idea that clones could save lives, there was no destroying it. Although people were uncomfortable and unsure, as noted by Miss Emily, they were able to look beyond the ethics for the sake of themselves and their loved ones. Despite how much Kathy attempted to become her own person, it would never last because at the end of the day, she is still due for donations and cannot escape that. The donations that she
was created for is what is stopping her from having her own identity. It is futile to There is no realistic solution to Kathy’s identity crisis due humankind’s reluctance to give up cures to the deathly diseases that used to plague them. Kathy is unable to create her identity because she was created for the sake of others.
Never Let Me Go tells the compelling story of Kathy, who just wants an identity to call her own. However, due to humankind’s selfishness, she is unable to reach that goal. Being created for donations is what caused Kathy to latch herself onto anything that she could use to have an identity. Despite efforts, the donations Kathy is destined for are what stop her from becoming her own person. Society will forever see her a clone, only needed to help others live, rather than an actual person. Kathy ceases to have an identity and that is a crisis that, sadly, has no feasible solution.