Never Let Me Go

Chapters 18, 19 & 20

• Do a close reading of the first two paragraphs of Chapter 18.

What do we learn about carer’s?

Chapter 18 Questions

• Kathy describes how some carers ‘end up feeling frustrated and blaming themselves when things go wrong’ (p 204). What does this tell us about the role of caring?

• We also learn that Ruth has trouble with keeping carers. How does this fit in with our understanding of Ruth?

Chapter 18 Questions

• What impressions do you get about the conditions faced by students at schools outside of Hailsham?

• Explore the following metaphor, used by Kathy:

How effective is this metaphor?

Even so, I kept worrying that one of the strings would come unravelled and a single balloon would sail off up into that cloudy sky.

Lying awake that night after what Roger had told me, I kept seeing those balloons again. I thought about Hailsham closing, and how it was like someone coming along with a pair of shears and snipping the balloon strings just where they entwined above the man’s fist. Once that happened, there’d be no real sense in which those balloons belonged with each other any more…it was unnerving to think things weren’t still going on back there, just as always. (p209)

Chapter 18 Questions

• Why does Kathy become Ruth’s carer? Do you think this was a wise decision?

• Why do things become tense between Ruth and Kathy? What does this tell us about their relationship?

• The thing that changes their relationship is ‘the boat’, which is nothing more than an abandoned boat, ‘just sitting there, stranded in the marshes’. Ruth says that ‘things like that matter more than they once did’ (p212). Why?

• Write a detailed description of the following image, using lots of adjective and adverbs.

Chapter 19 Questions

• Consider how Kathy describes Kingsfield at the start of Chapter 19, as well as her previous descriptions of the other recovery centres. How does this help build on your understanding of the technicalities behind the carer/donor process?

Chapter 19 Questions• Kathy appears willing to give Tommy and Ruth time

‘to themselves’ (p216). Why?• Examine the relationship between Tommy, Ruth

and Kathy on the trip to the boat. Kathy says that ‘it felt as thought Tommy and I had come close together again, after all the years’, whereas Ruth seems much more tense and detached. What does this tell us about the relationship(s) between the three?

• What differences exist between the three, in terms of physical and mental health? What does this suggest?

Chapter 19 Questions

• In what ways can nature, and their surroundings (the boat), be said to represent the health of both Tommy and Ruth, and their general plight as donors/carers?

‘I’ll tell you what I heard about Chrissie. I head she completed during her second donation.’

‘I head that as well,’ said Tommy. ‘It must be right. I heard exactly the same. A shame. Only her second as well. Glad that didn’t happen to me.’

‘I think it happens much more than they ever tell us,’ Ruth said. ‘My carer over there. She probably knows that’s right. But she won’t say.’

‘There’s no big conspiracy about it,’ I said, turning back to the boat. ‘Sometimes it happens. It was really sad about Chrissie. But that’s not common. They’re really careful these days.

‘I bet it happens much more than they tell us,’ Ruth said again. ‘That’s one reason why they keep moving us around between donations.’ (p 221)

Consider what we learn here about donations.

‘I’m a pretty good donor, but I was a lousy carer’ - Tommy

*What makes a good donor?*What makes a good carer?*To what extent does this comment, and what it implies, make you feel uncomfortable?

*To what extent does this comment, and what it implies, make you feel uncomfortable?

‘…five years felt about enough for me. I was like you, Tommy. I was pretty much ready when I became a donor. It felt right. After all, it’s what we’re supposed to be doing, isn’t it?’ - Ruth

How have Tommy, Ruth and Kathy all changed since their days at Hailsham/the Cottages?

• Ruth admits that she ‘kept [Kathy] and Tommy apart…It should have been you two.’ Look closely at the way Kathy and Tommy react to her confession (pages 228 to 230).

• Re-read the following passage, starting on page 231 with ‘There was, even so…’ and stopping at the end of the chapter. Answer the following question:

How does Ishiguro build mood and atmosphere in these lines?

Plenary• Do you think donors who have completed get a

proper burial? Do they get a funeral? An obituary? A eulogy?

• Imagine you are Kathy. Write an obituary for Ruth.

An obituary is a news story that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral.

• In groups, discuss your thoughts and opinions on the plan to get a deferral. What problems do you foresee with the plan?

• Kathy describes how her and Tommy start a ‘new phase together’ when she becomes his carer.

• What sort of relationship do they have during this phase? In what ways is/isn’t it a traditional carer/donor relationship?

Yes, we’re doing this now and I’m glad

we’re doing it now. But what a pity we

left it so late.

How does Ishiguro build a sense of sympathy

for Tommy and Kathy?

• Find and locate 5 quotes that you could use, from chapter 20, which would help answer the following question:

• How does Ishiguro make it clear from the very beginning that the plan to get a deferral will end in failure?

• Re-read the following passage, starting on page 242 with ‘Until this, Tommy…’ and ending on page 243 with ‘…wish to talk about’, then answer the following question:

How does Ishiguro build mood and atmosphere in these lines?

• Re-read the following passage, starting on page 246 with ‘She reached out…’ and ending on page 247 with ‘Why did you come to me?’, then answer the following question:

How does Ishiguro build mood and atmosphere in these lines?

Who is ‘we’? What were the ‘schemes and plans’?

• Discuss the Madame’s reaction to Tommy and Kathy turning up, focusing on the following quote:

‘Poor creatures. What did we do to you? With all our schemes and plans?’