Abstract
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is narrated through Kathy H.’s first person point of view as she recollects her memories with her friends in an extraordinary boarding school named Hailsham. The students in Hailsham are human clones, and they are taught and nurtured as children of natural birth, differentiating them from the other clones in the novel. Although all the clones’ destiny are pre-destined by humans—donating their organs until their ‘end,’ through Kathy’s first person narrative, readers become associate and sympathize with students of Hailsham as they struggle between the identity of a natural birth human being and a clone. Through Kathy’s processes of recollecting her memories, these students’ subjectivities are built. It also creates for them an imaginary space where they can dream and fantasize. Therefore, the present thesis will begin with an investigation into the formation of subjectivity along with the establishment of the imaginary ideal world in this novel. Furthermore, this thesis is also interested in how Kazuo Ishiguro’s narrative strategies manipulate his reader judgment of the clones, allegorizing the clones’ destiny as the epitome of human lives. This thesis aims to examine the processes of reminiscing in its relationship to representation theories raised by Lacan on his idea of the subject, and claim Kathy’s attempt to record their childhood memory at Hailsham is in itself a political action in terms of Hannah Arendt’s human condition. Kathy’s recollecting memories processes can be regarded as a quest for building up her subjectivity, echoing the uniqueness of human beings who take action. With these theoretical aspects I hope to explore further on the craftsmanship of Kazuo Ishiguro on his writing of this novel. How does he draw his readers into the world of the clones, parallel the human condition with that of the clones, and by thus, rethink of the purpose and effect of artistic reification. This thesis begins with an introduction to my own reading of this novel that I will return to science fiction tradition on the post-human view to see how this novel differentiates itself from others. In first chapter I will focus on Arendt’s action theories and the memories recollecting processes. I regard this as an inevitable procedure for modern subjectivities as they attempt to reach the ideal in their imaginary utopia/ustopia. I will begin by resorting to Plato and his idea on mimesis, and looking into Arendt’s action theory in The Human Condition. In the second chapter, I will investigate how does the imaginary utopia work in the alienated world. Ishigurean characters are nonetheless subjects inescapable from death. I will make use of Heidegger and Lacan’s idea on the subject to discuss how being brought up in Hailsham, the clones become alienated from the norm. In chapter three, I delve into the relationship between artist, artwork, and art in Never Let Me Go. Finally, this thesis attempts to relocate Ishigurean characters by interweaving Heidegger’s art theory with Ishiguro’s innovative narrative strategy, and concludes that Kathy’s first person narrative is an art that in turns sustains the truth and subjectivity of its narrator.