Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Only the self aware
Never Let Me Go is disturbing. I think we can all agree on that. But one of the things that bothered me the most was the absolute subservience of the clones, especially reflected in how Tommy was "different" and "othered" by the students. I kept waiting and waiting in the novel for a anecdote of a clone hooking up with a normal and somehow escaping the system, or even for Kath and Tommy to get it into their heads to try and run away. The only glimmer we get is Tommy raging in an empty field, then getting sullen and complying. I found that totally disappointing and ultimately quite depressing. It made me wonder if they had somehow been engineered to not really think for themselves. I can see that making sense, given we know that they have been sterilized, yet are fully functional as sexual creatures. I also wondered why sexual organs aren't considered vital organs, especially for infertile "normal" couples. There must be some line drawn in the sand regarding genetics. I wonder just how successful the novel becomes then with its tenuous ties to reality. It feels like it could happen. Maybe even is happening in some dark, secret underworld we don't know about, but the science behind the novel just isn't real enough for me to be fully on board with it. That's why I had so much hope for Tommy, and his just being on the brink of finding out the truth, and really wanted him to figure it out, break out, and disappear into the crowd.
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You have a good point when you remark on the characters' seeming acceptance of the fate for which they were "bred." It is particularly disconcerting that they don't simply refuse the path determined for them. How might this fit into the allegories that Ishiguro is positing? Also, I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you "wonder just how successful the novel becomes then with its tenuous ties to reality." Do you mean that this is successful because it seems kind of plausible? Or the opposite"
ReplyDeleteAs we were discussing why they didn't try to run away yesterday in class, I was thinking of B.F. Skinner's "Walden" in which there is a herd of sheep behind a fence with only string keeping them contained. Prior to the string there was an electric fence and the sheep learned to keep away or be shocked. Eventually the electric fence was not longer necessary. The sheep feared the fence without making further attempts to go near it. Absent this analogy, there is the simpler one of the clones being as docile as sheep; There is no life beyond the one they are living.
ReplyDeleteAnd . . . I forgot to add the line from Handel"s Messiah, "all we like sheep." English was not Handel's native language, but you get the point he was aiming at.
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