The everlasting grip of Kazuo Ishiguro`s Never Let Me Go: empathy, narrative and a bureaucratic system

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze and exhibit how the narrator and clones in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro are unable to break out of a bureaucratic system. I will also be looking at how the specific narration makes us see the clones as human and furthermore deem them entitled to human rights. Scholars such as Karl Shaddox, Emily Johansen and Shameem Black argue that sentiment, a bureaucratic narrative and the identification of the so called inhuman in the clones is what provides us with the tools to understand and appreciate Never Let Me Go to its fullest. I will be looking at conflicting scenes in Never Let Me Go to highlight and deliberate how a bureaucratic narrative and inhuman qualities offer a clarification for the clones’ behavior and reaction. I will be using these elements to demonstrate how they provide a clarification for the readers confusion in places where empathy is not enough.