Never Let Me Go - Seven

"Your lives are set out for you.  You'll become adults, then before you're old, before you're even middle-aged, you'll start to donate your vital organs.  That's what each of you was created to do" (pg 81).

After reading through the entire list of 108 literary terms searching for the perfect term to describe the above excerpt, I decided that it is probably best represented through a double conflict.

The most evident conflict is the external conflict between the students at Hailsham and regular society.  Like farm animals, the students are actually only being created so that the rest of the world can use their vital organs.  While reading this chapter, I really felt bad for the students who were just informed of their impending deaths and lifestyles, but then I remembered back to health class with Mrs. Schembra.  She told us that "104,748 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant; more than 4,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month" and that "every day, 18 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow."  Regenerative medicine research, at least according to Wikipedia, began to spike interest in the late 1990s, which may have spiked the interest for Ishiguro to write this book.

Back to the external conflict.  These "lab mice," of sorts, were being kept unaware of their futures because people wanted them to live a seemingly normal lifestyle despite knowing that they never could.  This probably explains why Madame was so freaked out by the girls almost touching her, further explaining the conflict.

The second conflict mentioned was an internal conflict with Miss Lucy.  The students were being "told and not told" all of the information about their futures for whatever reasons Hailsham had decided, but Miss Lucy did not believe it to be fair to the students.  Her heart told her that the students should be told about the plans already installed for their futures, but her brain had been wired to do nothing about it.  This sort of relates with Bernard Marx in Brave New World who had seen the evils in the world, but could not do anything about it.  Finally, Miss Lucy was tired of the exploiting of the children and told them that they would eventually be killed for their organs.

Never Let Me Go - Six

"We certainly knew- though not in any deep sense- that we were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside; we perhaps even knew that a long way down the line there were donations waiting for us" (page 69).

I did not really find any great use of literary terms in this section, but I did notice how odd the above sentence's syntax was.  The use of hyphens made this sentence really stand out in the chapter as being one of extreme importance.  The hyphenated phrase serves to put the previous statement into correct terms.  It was important to have the phrase because without it, we would have thought that Kathy and the students actually had complete knowledge on the subject, which would have contradicted previous stories from Kathy.

The syntax was also strange based on the use of the semicolon.  I have always been taught to avoid using semicolons, because the flow of thought usually works better when I break up the sentences, but it seems to be very helpful here.  It really aides in this sentence structure due to the nature of the second half of the sentence being more about the future than the first half of the sentence.  Putting it into two separate sentences would have made the two parts feel unconnected, so I definitely feel that the semicolon was a necessity.

Overall, this chapter seemed to be awkwardly broken up into five sections based on five semi-connected themes and anecdotes.

Never Let Me Go - Five

"But our [the "secret guard's"] main reason for existing, of course, was to protect her" (pg 49).

This chapter had me on the verge of falling asleep, but I will contribute that to my recent expedition to Ball State for my Journalism workshop in Publication Redesign.

On topic, I believe that the "secret guard" is a symbol used by Ishiguro to help us understand the lifestyle at Hailsham.  It has been consistently stressed that Kathy's future occupation is a carer.  This job seems to come off as a guardian type of ideal where she is helping donors to recover from their surgeries.  The symbol is effective because of its connotation.  "Secret guard," while obviously coming off as something sneaky, also sounds as though it is something that people do not really want others to know that you have.  It makes Miss Geraldine appear more important since she has her own sort of secret service.

It kind of confuses me that they feared Miss Geraldine would be "kidnapped."  As an instructor, she is not really considered a kid, but I feel like this term could be some sort of world ethic thing that we have yet to be introduced to.

In my sleepy state, I almost missed the irony in the "secret guard's" name.  The students call their teachers "guardians" because they seem to be orphans.  Now, the students seem to be trying to do what they can do to help out their instructors and to amuse themselves.  I have no clue what they could mean, but maybe a nap will help me figure that part out.

Never Let Me Go - Four

"What I want to do now is get a few things down about Ruth, about how we met and became friends, about our early days together" (pg 45).

I like how this book is structured into definitive little sections that make it really easy for my brain to comprehend what is going on.  In this array of anecdotes, Kathy indirectly characterizes herself and Ruth.  Ruth, much like Tommy, seems to have had quite a temper, but seems to have outgrown it with age.  Kathy really seems to become more of the deep thinker who was unbelievably mature for her age, but I suppose she may just be avoiding the embarrassing stories of herself like I would also do.  I found the story of Kathy and Ruth riding horses to be the best representation of each girl's personality.  Ruth has a wandering imagination which seems to grow through the Senior years late night chats, but she clearly has some jealousy issues when it comes to people stealing her attention.  Ishiguro seems to have broken up the official introduction of Ruth by foreshadowing the future events that Kathy and her will undertake together, giving a feeling that Ruth was a life friend and not just a friend for the school year (if they have school years?).  Kathy, on the hand, becomes further portrayed as the person who wants to please everyone and will do so without coming off as annoying.  She also is clearly attached to her memories and even begins to remember more as the story unfolds.  At first, Kathy could not remember the names of any horses other than Thunder and Bramble, but goes on to remember Ruth's reactions when Kathy went to ride Daffodil.

Never Let Me Go - Three

"So you're waiting, even if you don't quite know it, waiting for the moment when you realise that you really are different to them; that there are people out there, like Madame, who don't hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you- of how you were brought into this world and why- and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs" (pg 36).

Besides the British spelling of "realize" in the above quote, I found this ending to chapter three to be a nice rhetoric.  Ishiguro seems to almost break out of the story to communicate directly to the reader how Kathy feels at this time.  The use of "you" throughout the quote really made me try to think about how she was feeling at this point after the reaction of Madame.  I think that Ishiguro decided to throw in this rhetoric so that we are prepared for the upcoming events of Kathy's childhood.  She also made me feel sympathetic for Kathy and her classmates who were just trying to figure out who this random lady was.

I believe that the key part of this quotes impact came from the added benefit in the sentence structure.  Ishiguro purposefully added "of how you were brought into this world and why" into the sentence in a way that really made you think Kathy herself was wondering this too.  At this point in the novel I cannot figure out the real purpose of the structure, but it is evident that the students of Hailsham had a different way of being "born."  When paired with the strange idea of them being donors, I figure this could be similar to Brave New World where there is some bizarre scientific cloning active, but there is no sign of any of the students actually being similar.  I suppose their could just be some racism active too, but that seems less likely to me.

Never Let Me Go - Two

        "Anyway, it was those temper tantrums that really got people going, escalating everything, and around the time I'm talking about- the summer of our Senior 2, when we were thirteen- that was when the persecution reached its peak.
       Then it all stopped, not overnight, but rapidly enough... Then gradually, people got bored and the pranks became more half-hearted, until one day it struck me there hadn't been any for over a week" (pg 21).

Ishiguro uses a plethora of small anecdotes through Kathy's memory to indirectly characterize Tommy.  I think that these play hand-in-hand to shape Tommy's character in the most unbiased way possible by allowing the reader to infer their own personality traits of Tommy instead of simply hearing Kathy's view on Tommy's persona.  Through all the tantrums, I learned that Tommy really just seems to be misunderstood and not really an angry person.  He seems to be the kid who wants to be friends with people, but is not really sure how so he just tries to get attention in whatever form he can.  During these anecdotes, Kathy really showed us the changes that Tommy made to better his lifestyle.  Anecdotes also help me to relate to the characters more as well as make the story seem more plausible.  The juxtaposition in Tommy's personality above shows us how quickly he was able to change when Miss Lucy told him that it is okay to be different (which is a nice contrast to Brave New World's values).  I think that Ishiguro chose to juxtapose the different personality traits of Tommy so that we can really see what was bothering him and that he really just needed reassurance in his life.  It also may become the start of a theme on how people can change their personalities so easily, but I would not go out on a limb to say that one yet.

I also think that these flashbacks and anecdotes will remain very active in the first part of the novel since it appears to be used to describe Kathy's childhood with Tommy and Ruth at Hailsham.

Never Let Me Go - One

"My name is Kathy H.  I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer for over eleven years...  But it means a lot to me, being able to do my work well, especially that bit about my donors staying 'calm...'  There's no way I could have gone on for as long as I have if I'd stopped feeling for my donors every step of the way" (pg 3-4).

While I am still not positive on what a carer is, this direct characterization on Kathy H. portrays her as a very good one.  The use of "I" and "my" also show that this is a first person point of view narrative.  I feel as though Ishiguro directly tells the reader that this story is in this point of view so that we realize right away that there will be bias and emotion that an omniscient point of view would lack.  This is expounded on in the flashback to Kathy's childhood which are later in the chapter.  For possibly the first time in my life, I found the first chapter of a book to be fairly straight forward and a good basis to what the novel will be about (which is a nice change after Brave New World's first chapter).  The direct characterization early on seems to be very important in setting the stage for how she is different than the others.  She was clearly very similar to Ruth and Tommy in her childhood life, but her demeanor seemed to be very unlike any of the others in her childhood, which may explain why she is a carer now while they are donors (I think?).  The one thing that seems very evident by the memories Kathy tells the reader (whom she refers to as "you") is that being a donor seems to be a very bad thing.  All I think of when I hear donor is an organ donor, but if they are alive then is that really possible?  Please do not let this be another twisted morals book; that would just be mean.

Brave New World - Twenty

"Slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-south-west; then paused, and, after a few seconds, turned as unhurriedly back towards the left.  South-south-west, south, south-east, east...." (pg 259).

A recurring theme in the novel was Huxley's portrayal of happiness in a variety of ways.  All that John wanted to do to do be happy was to torture himself in solitude to become one with God.  People treated the Savage like a daily soap opera where everyday they could go to see him for some entertainment.  I believe that Huxley decided to end the novel with the Savage finally succeeding in his suicide attempts because it really drove home this theme.  The novel easily could have gone a few more chapters with John's possible funeral and the reactions of those who truly loved him, but that would not have put the same sympathy on the character as this ending did.

I also noticed that Huxley did not simply come out and say that John killed himself, but rather went through the two basic characteristics of a hanging - the archway and turning feet.  This was semi-symbolic for me.  The Savage was a man whose life as we know it was really topsy-turvy.  Describing his feet's compass directions made John seem more like a worldly man who had turned full circle since we met him.  He started out as a suicidal lunatic who was sad he was not sacrificed by his village, but grew as a person through Shakespeare and his time in the Brave New World.  Unfortunately, he backtracked when his mother passed away

This sad ending really drove home the theme of finding happiness, while the previous chapter I now see was in charge of showing the dangers of an all-powerful government and a reliance on science.

On to the next novel!

Brave New World - Nineteen

"'I claim them all,' said the Savage at last."
"Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders.  'You're welcome,' he said" (pg 240).

This situational irony in Mustapha's comment seems to be Huxley's way of showing us the stark difference between what the Savage and Mustapha see in an ideal society.  Mustapha is all about stability and control, while the Savage wants a world of misfortune.  The debates these two (with the occasional comic relief of the aptly named Controller) had were only leading up to this irony which shows us why the Savage should be joyful that he is leaving the Hatchery.  Honestly, this whole chapter was ironic that the Savage was so emotionally attached to a world he hated even though he had the chance to escape.  Every time John had said something, Mustapha or the Controller would have some sort of clever, egotistical comeback as to why John was wrong, which is why this comment was ironic.

I think that Huxley decided to end the chapter with this ironic situation to lead into the final chapter of his book because it was really a strong statement which definitely made me reflect on some of the hypocritical statements said in the chapter.  It made me realize that John was pretty much fighting for where he was going, while Mustapha was fighting what seems to be a perfect society.  It also helped to show why exactly the characters were "worshiping" Ford over God.  Mustapha's world seems to be one that could be changed only when cataclysmic (such as the Nine Year's War), while John's ideal world would always be changing and adapting so that a cataclysmic event would not cause any huge discrepancies.

Honestly, this chapter probably made me think the most afterwards because of the irony in Mustapha's last comment.

Brave New World - Eighteen

"'They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave'" (pg 220).

In the above passage, Mustapha uses an anaphora (I think this counts?) through repeating the word they.  I find it ironic that he refers to the different castes as they, and never as we, as if he does not have the same luxuries.  This chapter really seems to characterize Mustapha as a totalitarian aimed at not letting the stability of his carefully calculated civilization.  I support this by the demeaning connotation I usually connect with calling a group of people they as opposed to a more suiting grouping term.  This anaphora portrays the various castes as actual people as opposed to just machines like had earlier been supposed by me.  Most of all, I feel like this repetition is Mustapha's way of reassuring himself that what he is doing is actually the correct path.  This hypothesis seems supported by the Controller who tells us that he even wanted to leave for a short time.  Mustapha appears to have all the support of his loyal followers, but people do seem, at this point in the novel, to be more opposed to several of the regulations.  Again though, his repetition in the above passage seems to be him reassuring himself that people will continue to follow these rules.

Also in this chapter, I realized the correlation between "Fordship" and a bishop, but that is another story.

Brave New World - Seventeen

"And suddenly it was luminously clear to the Savage what he must do; it was as though a shutter had been opened, a curtain drawn back" (pg 210).

This epiphany by the Savage is very emphasized by Huxley through a sort of metaphor.  I feel like this epiphany was blatantly told to the reader to ensure that John's next actions have a clear source of reason.  It would have felt very jumpy had the Savage went from a mournful state to that of utmost rage.  The metaphor seems to show just how engulfed John had been in all of his emotions.  John had been under unrivaled joy, sadness and anger all within the matter of a few chapters (which seems to be a couple weeks), which he had kept with held for the duration of the novel.  The Savage opening his shutter seems to be symbolic of his emotions unleashing onto all of the helpless khaki wearing Deltas.  The epiphany was in figuring out that the soma that the world was giving Linda had actually shortened her life significantly through a type of poison (so my guess with the correlation to Suite Life on Deck seems to have been pretty close!).  When John saw that the "brave" new world was giving out these toxins to even its lowliest of citizens, he snapped.  My only wonder is what part of this plot made him realize that the soma was to blame as the cause of his mother's death.  I hope that this outbreak made some sort of news in the Hatchery and made other "people" aware of the negative effects of the toxin, though I doubt any of them would stop.  Unfortunately, I do not know how John and Bernard will be able to save the world while in custody of the police.

Brave New World - Sixteen

"'Oh, God, God, God...' the Savage kept repeating to himself.  In the chaos of grief and remorse that filled his mind it was the one articulate word. 'God!' he whispered it aloud, 'God!'" (pg 207).

This outrage by John effectively shows the mood of the novel at this point.  Reading through this excerpt, I actually found myself reading "God" as if it had said "Ford."  The use of God seems odd for John to say since he would not have had access to a Bible in the reservation and would not have heard it during his stay in the Hatchery.  This outbreak from John clearly portrays the distress of him versus the rest of the Brave New World's dying.

For some reason I feel like Linda's death may have been the climax of the novel.  John unleashing his uncontrollable grief and remorse seems to have indicated a stronger mind set in changing the ethics of this odd world.  We now have Bernard and John very eager to see an end to the dastardly actions brought about in the Hatchery with what appears only Mustapha in their way.  I really am not sure how this outbreak could back fire on John (possible expulsion back to the reservation?), but I do think that he will continue to play a key factor in the end of the novel.  I also hope that the mood of the novel goes back to being more chipper.  Nothing is worse than ending a book feeling sad.

Brave New World - Fifteen

"Opening her (Lenina) eyes, she had seen his face- no, not his face, a ferocious stranger's, pale, distorted, twitching with some insane, inexplicable fury.  The hands that held her wrists were trembling.  He breathed deeply and irregularly.  Faint almost to imperceptibility, but appalling, she suddenly heard the grinding of his teeth" (pg 194).

This stark imagery used to describe the persona of John far counters his original attitude in this chapter.  Before this, John and Lenina seemed to joking with each other about how much they loved each other, but now John is on the verge of a homicide.  I feel the necessity of this detailed imagery surges from the clear change in attitude and the need to really drive home this change.  Huxley does not reveal the reasons for this mood swing, but I believe it has something to do with Lenina's golden T necklace from the Arch-Community-Songster and her unwillingness to commit to him.  Because of the lack of details, Huxley was forced to show John's mental attitude through his appearance.

The part that really strikes me in this imagery is when "she suddenly heard the grinding of his teeth."  Using his mouth to show anger gives John the animalistic presence, like a lion licking her lips as she pounces the unaware antelope.  I find this particularly striking because of John nature as a Savage.  The stress on his mind about his mother's impending death and his love of a "pure-bred" may have forced him to snap back to his roots of hating humans.  Another piece of his past, his loneliness and suicide attempts, might have resurfaced as he tries to figure out why he was not successful in ending his life.

How I imagine this conversation going.

Brave New World - Fourteen

"He (Mond) picked up his pen again, and under the words 'Not to be published' drew a second line, thicker and blacker than the first, then sighed, 'What fun it would be,' he though, 'if one didn't have to think about happiness'" (pg 177).

This little side story slightly saddened me.  I was thinking that Mustapha was going to be the nice leader who helped Bernard in correcting all the wrongs in the Hatchery, but I now see that I was sadly mistaken.  At this point in the novel, Bernard appears to have undertaken the role of protagonist, while Mustapha is the antagonist.  The basis of "The New Theory of Biology" that Mond went as far as to reject twice was that instead of having an overbearing source of control (the world leaders), everyone should be able to expand their own opinions and education basically reversing all the of the Hatcheries morals.

Mond's verbal remarks further promote his position as the antagonist of the novel.  Bernard has thus far been an emotional roller coaster, but he seems to embrace the emotional changes instead of seeing them as a sign of weakness.  This ability to grasp the power of fluctuating emotions makes Bernard the perfect candidate for the leader able to invoke change, while Mond's fear of emotions (to the point he would rather have without them) makes him appear as though he is terrified of opposition.  The close-knit bond of Hermholtz, John and Marx in this setting seems to be the array of personalities able to expose the dastardly doings of an evil world dictator.

The power possessed by Mustapha Mond is frightening for me to think about how Bernard Marx will be able to overcome.  It has already been shown that Marx is afraid of the mere presence of Mond, which makes me wonder how he will be able to form an "army" to fight against Mustapha.

Mustapha looks like Mufasa, a lion.  Lions are scary.  Therefore, Mustapha is scary.