Never Let Me Go Lesson 3

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Never Let Me Go

Lesson 3

Characters & Characterization

In Class Today

Characterization

Character Analysis

Recap & analysis Chapters 1-2

Recap & analysis Chapters 3-4

Characterization

The way an author develops characters and reveals their treats or qualities. 

1. Direct characterization (author tells us). 
2. Indirect characterization (character shows us). 

Direct characterization: The author makes direct statements about a character. Think adjectives 

Indirect characterization: What we can infer from the character's actions and interactions with others. Think verbs

Kathy H. 

Kathy is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. We see events through her eyes, filtered by her memory. Most readers seem to find Kathy a sympathetic character. That means that we generally like her. Is that true to your response?

Think-Pair-Share

What do we know about Kathy so far? Discuss what you like / dislike about Kathy's character.

"Anyway, I'm not making any big claims for myself. I know carers, working now, who are just as good and don't get half the credit. If you're one of them, I can understand how you might get resentful - ...(Ch1, p.3) Assumes prior knowledge and builds interest because the reader wants to find out.

" Or maybe I am remembering it wrong..., maybe I did feel a little stab of pain" (Ch1, p.8)

"And although we hadn't had any part in this latest plan to rile Tommy, we had taken our ringside seats, and we were starting to feel guilty" (Ch1, p.10). 

" So I reached forward and put a hand on his arm" (Ch1, p.11) Kathy is positioned as an empathetic character - certainly more than Ruth so at this point.

"This was all a long time ago so I might have some of it wrong; but my memory..." (Ch2, p.13) Retrospective narrative, looking back at the past. The acknowledgment that as a narrator, she is flawed - her memories may betray her/have changed over time/only show her side. 

Is she a reliable or an unreliable narrator? She is willing to admit that her memories are only her side of the story.

"I don't know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham..." (Ch2, p.13) She is talking to other people just like her - clones.

"'You notice everything, don't you Kath?' (Ch2, p.23). Kath appears to be rather perceptive - a good quality - a very human quality. 

"Thinking back now, I can see we were just at that age when we knew a few things about ourselves-about who we were, how we were different from our guardians, from the people outside - but we hadn't yet understood what any of it meant" (Ch3, p.36)

"So you're waiting, even if you don't quite know it, waiting for the moment when you realize that you really are different to them; that there are people out there, like Madame, who don't hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you - of how you were brought into this world and why - and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs" (Ch3, p.36). Kathy doesn't like seeing herself through Madame's eyes. It's no fun to realize that other people are disgusted by you. Plus, realizing what Madame thinks of her seems to change the way Kathy thinks about herself.

Tommy

"We'd all seen plenty of Tommy's tantrums by then,..." (Ch1, p.9).

Human emotions - anger

"Then everyone was talking at once, about how Tommy never even tried to be creative,..." (Ch1, p.10)

Tommy stands out - also one of the first clues that being creative is important at Hailsham.

"I'm not sure when the big temper tantrums started. My own memory of it is that Tommy was always known for his temper, even in the Infants, but he claimed to me they only began after the teasing got bad... -the summer of our Senior 2, when we were thirteen..." (Ch2, p.21. Note that Tommy is much older than the traditional age of tantrums. This is why Tommy stands out.

Ruth

"..., and I realised everyone was waiting for Ruth's response - which was usually what happened whenever something a bit awkward came up. I kept waiting, then I heard a sigh from Ruth's side of the room, and she said: 'You've got a point Kathy. It's not nice. But if he wants it to stop, he's got to change his own attitude' " (Ch2, p.15)

Ruth is less empathetic than Kathy. Ruth is positioned as a leader.

Hailsham

"...the fact that we'd grown up together at Hailsham, the fact that we knew and remembered things no one else did"  (Ch1, p.4).

Shows us the importance of Hailsham to Kathy.

"That was when I first understood, really understood, just how lucky we'd been - Tommy, Ruth, me, all of the rest of us" (Ch1, p.5-6). 

Starting to see that there was something special about Hailsham, but as readers we don't know what at this point.

"Days could sometimes go by without us seeing a vehicle down that narrow road, and the ones that did were usually vans or lorries bringing supplies, gardeners or workmen"  (Ch3, p.34).

Haisham appears to be disconnected from society.

PART 1:

England, late 1990s

" I don't know how it was where you were, but at Hailsham we had to have some form of medical almost every week - ..."  (Ch2, p.13). This is one of the first times that their health becomes a focal point in the narrative - a clue for readers as to what they were intended for.

"I should explain a bit here about the Exchanges we had at Hailsham" (Ch2, p.15) She is addressing the reader here and gives us a little context about the world at Hailsham.

"Looking back now, I can see why the Exchanges became so important to us. For a start, they were our only means, aside from the Sales - the Sales were something else, which I'll come to later - of building up a collection of personal possessions". (Ch2, p.16) Here it becomes clear that Hailsham is not a normal boarding school in the way that they don't have any personal possessions.

"A lot of the time, how you were regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at 'creating'"(Ch2, p.16). 

"If you think about it, being dependent on each other to produce the stuff that might become your private treasures - that's bound to do things to your relationships" (Ch2, p.16). 

"'It's all part of what made Hailsham so special,' she said once. The way that we were encouraged to value each other's work' (Ch2, p.16). The relationships they have with one and other are central - they appear to be disconnected from society.

"It must have been a Friday or a weekend, because I remember we had on our own clothes" (Ch3, p.25). Hailsham is a boarding school.

"I don't know if you had 'collections' where you were. When you come across old students from Hailsham, you always find them, sooner or later, getting nostalgic about their collections" (Ch4, p.38). 

Analysis Chapter 1

Kathy’s opening lines suggest that this is not straightforwardly historical fiction, but instead a parallel universe. She casually refers to unfamiliar terms like “carers” and “donors,” which seem to be well known and accepted roles within her world. 

Kathy does not explain these roles, indicating an assumption that her audience is already familiar with them. 

Analysis Chapter 1

In contrast, Kathy does not expect her audience to know about life at the Hailsham school. She often pauses to explain Hailsham rituals and traditions, like the Exchanges. 

This shows Kathy’s assumption that her audience has not experienced Hailsham, and evokes the sense that her idyllic childhood was somewhat exceptional. 

Analysis Chapter 1

Kathy’s donor seems to yearn for Kathy's childhood memories in place of his own. This donor’s desire to forget his past reverses Kathy’s desire to remember and record her own. 

Analysis Chapter 2

As Kathy recalls Hailsham it seems in many ways to be a privileged boarding school, but puzzling details like the weekly medical exams and the emphasis on artistic achievement suggest that there is more to Hailsham than meets the eye. 

Analysis Chapter 2

Kathy’s establishes her relationships with both Ruth and Tommy, and conveys information about all three of their personalities. 

Kathy's anxiety about being seen or overheard seems partly to do with Tommy himself, and the gossip that she might provoke by speaking with a boy. Yet it also reflects the lack of privacy at Hailsham, where the constant presence of other students and guardians means that Kathy is often under surveillance. 

Madame

Think-Pair-Share

What do we learn about Madame in Chapter 3?

"And Tommy's account of his talk with Miss Lucy had reminded me of something, perhaps a whole series of things, little incidents from the past to do with Miss Lucy that had puzzled me at that time... 'I keep thinking about all these things. Like why Madame comes and takes away our best pictures. What's that for exactly?' 

'It's for the Gallery' 

'But what is her gallery? (Ch3, p.30).

"The gallery Tommy and I were discussing was something we'd all of us grown up with. Everyone talked about it as though it existed, though in truth none of us knew for sure that it did. I'm sure I was pretty typical in not being able to remember how or when I'd first heard about it. Certainly,  it hadn't been from the guardians: they never mentioned the Gallery, and there was an unspoken rule that we should never even raise the subject in their presence" (Ch3, p.31).

Madame owns the Gallery; a mysterious place.

"If for us the Gallery remained in a hazy realm, what was solid enough fact was Madame's turning up usually twice - sometimes three or four times - each year to select from our best work. We called her 'Madame' because she was French or Belgian - there was a dispute as to which - and that was what the guardians always called her. She was a tall, narrow woman with short hair, probably quite young still, though at the time we wouldn't have thought of her as such. She always wore a sharp grey suit, and unlike the gardeners, unlike the drivers who brought in our supplies - unlike virtually anyone else who came in from outside - she wouldn't talk to us and kept us at a distance with her chilly look" (Ch3, p.32).

'I used to think that she was just snooty, but it's something else, I'm sure of it now. Madame's scared of us' (Ch3, p.33). Ruth and the others wanted to put Ruth's theory about Madame to the test the next time Madame came to Hailsham.

"...she often stayed no longer than an hour or two"  (Ch3, p.33).

'If she doesn't like us, why does she want our work? Why doesn't she just leave us alone? Who asks her to come here anyway?' (Ch3, p.35-6)

"And I can still see it now, the shudder she seemed to be suppressing, the real dread that one of us would accidentally brush against her. ... Ruth had been right: Madame was afraid of us. But she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders" (Ch3, p.35) Kathy explains here that Madame is not afraid of what the students might do to her, but that she is instinctively afraid of them in the same way that someone might be afraid of spiders.

Analysis Chapter 3-4

Tommy’s conversation with Miss Lucy shows that secrecy is fundamental to life at Hailsham. In one sense, the adults at Hailsham are “guardians” because they safeguard the wellbeing of the students. 

In another sense, they also act as “guardians” of knowledge. Although they are the teachers at Hailsham, the guardians ironically refuse to educate the students fully about topics like donations. 

Analysis Chapter 3-4

The students themselves help to maintain this secrecy, shying away from taboo subjects like Madame’s Gallery in front of the guardians. 

However, the students also generate their own forms of “knowledge” through rumor and speculation. They develop theories to help explain what the guardians will not discuss, although they can only test these theories indirectly. 

Analysis Chapter 3-4

Miss Lucy’s conversation with Tommy shows that she is ambivalent about her role as a guardian of information.

Unlike the other adults at Hailsham, she believes that the guardians should teach the students more fully about donations. 

While she reassures Tommy about his lack of creativity, she also inadvertently encourages Tommy and Kathy to speculate about creativity’s connection to donations. 

Analysis Chapter 3-4

In their conversation by the pond, Tommy and Kathy bond over their shared curiosity about Madame’s Gallery. They show a mutual desire to understand the mysterious role of creativity at Hailsham. 

What do you suspect will happen later in the novel?

Never Let Me Go

Read chapters 6-10 for our next meeting