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.
