‘Never Let Me Go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro: context and summary (1/2) *REVISION* | Narrator: Barbara Njau

Hello and welcome to the first of our two part video summary, examining all you need to know on the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. In the first of this two part video summary, we'll be examining what you need to know about the context as well as the summary of this novel, which is fairly complex and detailed indeed. Therefore, we'll be unpacking that and unpacking the key events that occur within this novel. Do make sure you come back for video number two, where we examine the key characters, themes and symbols that you must be aware of if you're sitting an exam or writing coursework on this novel. So to begin, with respect to the context, the first is to understand a little about the author himself, Kazuo Ishiguro. He was born in Japan in 1954. However, he moved to England as a child and studied in a private school in Surrey. And this element of a private school is reflected in the novel itself through Halisham boarding school, going back to Ishiguro himself. So he studied English and philosophy at Kent University and later became a social worker. And then he went on to get a master's in creative writing. And he's written a number of novels. Many of the narrators in his other novels are much like Cathy, who tell stories retrospectively, meaning they tell stories through memories, and they say these stories in very restrained ways rather than showing lots of emotion in this storytelling. It's also important to understand the story itself. So this is not the summary, but more in terms of understanding the genre of the story, but also, in brief, why it's important when you consider the fact that a lot of the characters of this story are clones. So firstly, the story is set in the 1990s in England, but it takes place in a dystopian world. So this is a dystopian novel. Dystopia is the opposite of a utopia. So a utopia is a future which is imaginary, that is supposedly perfect, that everything happens in a fantastic way, but also it's an ideal future. This is a utopia. This is in contrast to dystopia, which is a horrified future whereby things which are fairly scary, such as state sanctioned murders, are commonplace. Therefore, a dystopia is an imaginary world in the future where horrible things are seen as part of the world. So now, going back to this story, this dystopia features people's lives which are prolonged through cloning. So normal human beings have their lives prolonged through cloning. For instance, if they suffer certain organ failures, there are clones who supply the organs that they need. Now, these clones who are called students, grow up in a segregated way. They grow up away from the rest of the world. And once they become adults, in some ways they are farmed because they then donate their organs and then they are then complete once they've donated all the essential organs and then they end up dying in the segregated world. We also learn about these carers who are also clones that have not yet started donating organs. And they essentially look after the clones that have donated these organs. So this novel imagines a future which is fantastic for human beings who don't. Don't die and they live for a very long time. But this is as a result of having clones who are created and farmed for the sole and specific purpose of ensuring human beings so the real humans live for as long as possible. Now, with respect to the story itself and the summary of what happens within the story, it begins with us meeting Kathy, who's a 30 year old, 31 year old even narrator. And she's a carer. So she's a clone and she's been a carer for other clones for 12 years. But she's so soon set to become a donor. And once she does become a donor, she will eventually die. She used to go to Halisham School, which is a boarding school, and she reflects back on her times at this school and this is what frames this entire novel and the majority of the novel. She remembers a time when her and her friend Ruth saw their friend Tommy outside playing with the boys. And he wasn't picked for a football game, which upset him. We learned that Tommy, another important character, was bullied for not being creative, much unlike the other people in this Havisham boarding school. And as a result he tended to la shout because of it. However, one day he stops being really angry when he's bullied. And Kathy asks him why and he says that he has a new guardian who told him he does not have to be creative if he does not want to be creative. Kathy later on meets Tommy and then he tells her about this guardian who's called Ms. Lucy. And Ms. Lucy told him that they should not pressure students at Hallisham boarding school to be so creative. So we learned that in this boarding school there's a huge pressure and emphasis on art and students who are artistic and creative tend to get prefer treatment. But Tommy isn't, therefore he's mistreated. However, Ms. Lucy, who's his guardian, tells him that this isn't fair. And she also says that students should be told more about donations which all of the clones in Havisham boarding school don't really know very much about the pair. So Tommy and Cathy think there must be some relationship between donations and creativity. We then hear that Cathy, or rather we read that Cathy talks about the exchanges in which students could submit art and those who submitted art would then get tokens to purchase other students work. And when her and her friends submitted this art, however, they weren't given this token because the madam wanted to take their art and keep it for herself and then they protested so Cathy and Tommy at not receiving them. Cathy also talks about the sales in which students could use tokens to buy clothes and toys. Cathy then in her story talks about her involvement with a group of students who formed a secret group to protect Another guardian called Ms. Geraldine. Ruth led this group and she was convinced that there was a plot to kidnap Ms. Geraldine, who also works in the boarding school. And we also learned that the students are in huge fear of the woods which are behind the school. So there's a vast wooden area beyond which most students are not allowed to go. And there's rumours about students dying there. So there's a great fear of this unknown. Cathy thinks of Miss Emily who taught them about the counties of England. And in one lesson she recalls that Ms. Emily talked about Norfolk, which she called the lost corner of England. And the students then associate this with the lost corner and the lost and found in this school and they think that this meant everything that goes missing in England ends up in Norfolk. Then one day Miss Lucy has two boys talking. So Miss Lucy being one of the guardians, she's a human guardian. She hears what of the boys within the boarding school who are clones, talking about how they would like to become actors and she becomes really upset at this and she tells them that they can't because their lives are already preset for them. They are predestined and they can't aspire to be anything other than what they've been set to be. The students are then taught about donations and sex at the same time. And they're told and asked to be careful about having sex in the real world, as it means more to people who, unlike them, can have children whilst these clones cannot have children. We then learn that Ruth and Tommy. So Cathy's two friends date for a few months in school and Cathy becomes jealous of this because many of her classmates seem to be having sex and she isn't having sex. And she then plans to have sex with Harry, but she didn't after Tommy and Ruth broke up because she hoped that she would end up dating Tommy. After the breakup, however, Ruth asks for Kathy's help in getting Tommy back and getting him to reconcile with her. The group of friends that Kathy belongs to grow older and they outgrow Halisham. And then they are moved to the Cottages, which is independent of the boarding school, but still part of the same vicinity and still part of the same environment of clones. And we learned that Kathy, Ruth, Tommy, as well as a few other clones who live in these cottages spe reading and talking and working on the final essays for school. They live with veterans who are other older students that they meet who are former students at Halesham. And Kathy then has sex with some of these veteran schoolboys because Ruth and Tommy are now back together. And we learned that the veterans are training to be carers. So these veterans, who are much older students, are also clones and they're training to look after clones who are starting to donate their organs. However, this is a huge elephant in the room because none of them ever talk about it and no one mentions those who have left before them, because to mention this is to mention the inevitability of their deaths. One of the veteran couples comes back from holiday and they tell Ruth that they saw her possible. Possible in this novel means people who might be the model that the clones are made of. So people whose genes are used to form these clones and these two veterans who feel that they saw original Ruth. So the person from whom Ruth was made from invite them then on a trip to Norfolk to see whether they can find Ruth as possible again. The group, including Kathy and Tommy, drive to Norfolk and they suggest visiting a friend of Norfolk who's a carer. The couple asks the group if they know anything about the rumours that they can apply to delay the donations, because there are rumours circulating that if clones are in love and if they are in a couple, they may be able to donate the delay their donations and as a result not have to die from giving up all the vital organs. The group then goes to the office where they saw Ruth's possible and they see her through a window. Ruth possible leaves and they follow her to an art gallery. However, as they gain closer to her, the woman doesn't resemble Ruth very much and the couple decides to visit their carer friend and Ruth, who's disappointed at this stage because she hasn't seen her possible, I. E. Her mother, from who she's formed. She then decides to go with this couple. Tommy, who's left with Kathy, shows him that he's gotten much better at Arth. But we then learn that Ruth keeps on making fun of his animal drawings. And Kathy later confronts Ruth about how terribly she treats Tommy and how much she still bullies him. She says that Ruth's actions hurt him and there's no way that her girlfriend should act like this way towards somebody who she supposedly loves. Ruth then says Kathy is just angry because Tommy would never date her. And Kathy, in a rage, files her paperwork and decides to apply to begin training as a carer for other people in order to leave the cottage. Cathy, who then ends up getting the job and leaving the cottage, really enjoys her work as a carer. She then runs into another carer from Halisham who's called Laura, and Laura tells her that Ruth has had a first bad donation. So this is years after Kathy has left this cottage and after she's not spoken to Ruth and to few years. However, once Cathy hears about this bad first donation and she realizes that Ruth has only a few more months, if not very few years left to live, she decides to find Ruth and to become her carer, in a way forgiving Ruth. Once she's Ruth's carer, they agree to visit Tommy, who's in another recovery centre. Tommy is then visited by Kathy, who brings Ruth along with her, and the three go into the woods to look at an old boat that has washed up. Suddenly, Ruth apologises to both Kathy and Tommy for always having given Kathy a hard time about her sexual urges. And she also admits that she slept with many of the veterans. And she says she's sorry for keeping both Kathy and Tommy apart because she thinks they belong together and they should therefore apply for a deferral so to not do any more donations. Kathy, at this knowledge, cries and they drop Tommy back to the recovery centre. Ruth continues having her donations and after her second donation, Kathy agrees to become Tommy's carer. But also it's important to remember that Ruth at this point also dies after her second donation. Kathy then becomes Tommy's carer and after his. And this happens after he's given his third donation and they spend time together in the centre and we find that Tommy is drawing more than ever. The pair then decide to visit the madam and ask for a deferral, even if it may be too late. And so they visit her house. They approach her and explain that they're from Halisham School and they want to ask about deferrals for clones. And Tommy says he believes the madam likes her gallery because she wants to see their souls. Tommy says that he does not have artwork in the gallery, but then he decides to show her that the animals he's been drawing which he's brought along with him. Ms. Emily, another guardian who used to work at the boarding school, enters the room in a wheelchair and she tells both Kathy and Tommy that the deferrals were only a rumour and it is not possible for the clones to avoid giving up the vital organs to help human beings. She explains that Halachem was an attempt at making the donations more humane and that other clones often grew up in really horrible conditions, and both Emily and the madam collected the artwork to show the public that clones do have souls. When it comes time for Tommy's last donation, he decides he wants a different carer and both him and Kathy kiss goodbye. And after Tommy completes, in other words, after he dies, Kathy decides to visit Norfolk. So that's all. If you enjoyed this video and you found it useful as a summary, just do subscribe and give us a thumbs up. But also if you are seeking more in depth revision worksheets for this novel or for any other important English literature novels that you are studying, visit www.firstratetutors.com where we have lots of worksheets and model essays on this novel as well as other novels. Make sure you come back for part two where we examine themes, characters as well as symbols. Thank you so much for listening.