Holding on to the Expendables

In society we allow so many people to be dismissed as less important. People are used as a means to an end. There are people left to be expended as the world powers focus on more important things. In Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go he shines the torch on how expendable we allow certain people to be. 
Ishiguro takes a step away from modern society, creating a barrier stopping people from taking direct offence but still allowing the thoughts filter in through reader's heads. The clones in Never Let Me Go are created to die. They are created to be used for the purpose of more important people in society. However, no one pays for the price for the lost lives of these creatures. Madame and Miss Emily prove that the clone children have souls. They have emotions, they live normal lives. Why is there life any less precious than someone else?
People die. People live a life, sometimes a life that feels too short, but a person lives and then he or she dies. In the movie, Miss Lucy asks an important question: What do children do when they grow up? She responds that no one knows, the children exercise free will and choose their own path. But, for the children of Never Let Me Go there is a set destination, and it is a premature death after a calculated existence. 
The children created in Never Let Me Go are expendable, they were created for spare parts, created to die. There are still countries where children are born with a set intent, to become king, to become soldiers, to be sold into the sex trade. In the real world these are people with souls, minds, and free will. The children Ishiguro created have emotions, they pursue relationships, they have interests outside of their set intent. Both Ishiguro's fictional characters and children in real life should be given more of a purpose than being created for a set purpose.
Ishiguro may have written fiction but the deeper message runs through society and sends cold shivers to those who have committed these crimes. We may work to save the environment, or government, but we should work to save our own children too.

A Live Within A Bubble

People describe the feeling of depression as not being able to breathe but watching everyone around you breathing with ease. 
The characters in Never Let Me Go suffer from their own profound endless depression. As children they could be equated to children in an orphanage. They might have aspirations in life, but they also know that they have to live within a certain parameter and will never achieve what they wish to. For orphans the children can want to reach a certain job but ultimately they know that as babies they weren't wanted, and because they have lived within an orphanage they have not reached enough schooling to accomplish something in the "real" world. For the characters they can aspire for a certain life but really they know that they won't achieve it because their life has be preordained and they will follow this life line until they die. 
There is another major similarity between orphans and the characters. While children in underprivileged towns have a parent to fall back on, maybe only one, and maybe an awful example as a role model but they do have a parent who will love them and who they can turn to as they wish throughout their life. For both the characters and orphans when they reach a certain age they are dropped from the world they have known into the middle of the sea and are expected to learn to swim just as quickly as the children who have grown up in a pool their entire life. So maybe not the best metaphor, but if one group of people are accustomed to swimming within a real pool moving to the big ocean is a transition but not a life altering experiences. However, the kids who grew up in the kiddy-pool where they could stand are now dropped into the ocean and are expected to learn to swim, it is life altering and usually ends in disaster. 
The characters in Never Let Me Go know they were modelled from the trash of society. If that is what their only alternative would be if they were not going to donate and die, what motivation is there to learn to swim. 

We may not have clones in the real world, but we all know the feeling of drowning when everyone else can swim. 

The science fiction in Never Let Me Go adds interest and a playful side to a story that reflects to the human experience. 

Letting Go of the Lies

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a fantastic novel that brings the importance of expectations and purpose into the light. Reading this book as rising Freshman has been particularly influential on how I have reflected on high school and the changes I would like to make for college. 
As a freshman I expected things to be easy. 

      

Easy not as effortless but easy as manageable. Not just     for school work but for social life, and for extracurriculars too.

However, even in the first few weeks of high school I discovered how wrong I was. I entered high school with a broken back and a positive attitude. I believed in the life philosophy of be nice to everyone and be perfect-- always. 

In the first few weeks of high school we embarked on freshman retreat where I was endlessly mocked for my inability to participate in activities because of my back. I shrugged it off and moved on. However, as I progressed I discovered that my life philosophy did not always yield the results I had hoped. I allowed myself to bend backwards to please people and always ended up unhappy. Instead I threw myself into my community service and extracurriculars and gave up on school--retrospectively not a wise decision. 

I can appreciate the Hailsham students for their variant of attitudes, perspective on social conformities, and for their compartmentalisation. Each student has an individual personality which is impressive even for real children, however, they manage to put aside their differences when possible and form groups. Life is  progression, a movement and a roller coaster. Shifting and a constant learning process Ishiguro's writing style is incredibly interesting and I look forward to gaining perspective.

The Unfashionable Absurdity

This week in British Literature we watched a modern movie production of the Importance of Being Earnest. Personally, I much preferred reading the play to watching the movie. Part of the beauty in the play is the absurdity of each situation. However, the absurdity is best understood when read with complete sincerity. If one believes that it is a joke then the play becomes a joke. Wilde did such a wonderful job almost making fun of society that when transferred into actors some of the magic was lost. 
There were parts of the movie that I liked, there were parts that I didn't like. My biggest annoyance at the play was the depiction of Cecily and how she imagined Ernest. What makes the naivety of Cecily and Gwendolen so absurd and their interactions so interesting is the fact that they believe they are serious. Cecily made up an engagement and broke it off all in her head because she believed she was serious. With the fantasised knight and biblical allusion scene, Cecily's absurd engagement was lost in jest. 
I appreciated the artistic elements of the movie. The depiction of the homes, the grounds, the costumes, most everything added to the elements of the play. 
Overall the movie did a decent job translating play to movie, some of my favourite lines were lost but that is bound to happen in transition. The play was fun although our class reading's were more obnoxiously absurd than an absurdist play, and the movie did a fine job overall.