Humanity's Evil Ridden Existance

Humanity’s Evil Ridden Existence

            Mankind have not always ‘played nice’ or been the best ‘sharers’.  What we find, we tend to keep and hold on to.  It’s our way of life and because we are simply animals, in Ishiguro’s world within Never Let Me Go, it demonstrates the ideal human existence.  By demonstrating the clones, he paints an unbiased image of what humanity is and what we are capable of because we were able to completely strip people to just our shells and in the end, butcher them for our glory.

            This novel is relatable to the Romans and in their Golden Age; thousands were massacred on the floor of the Colosseum, the prize of many emperors.  This was one of the things which humanity frowns upon as we reflect on our past but in all truth, our past is what makes our present.  By the blood of the thousands dead in the sand of sadistic glory driven killers, we learned how to cover up our evil urges and deeds by attempting to justify them to some degree.  After some saw through the emperor’s blood lust, Christians replaced the slaves in the arena.  Nero and many others claimed that they deserved to die because they were different.  In the animal kingdom, those who are too different are put to death at natures hand, whether she be swift through the claws of a predator or the creature’s same species.  Humans are the same.  Fate and Mother Nature play games with out lives and weave out a tapestry as the Greeks believed.  The three hags belonging to Fate weave, tie, and snip away our existence with each other.

            This concept of playing God and exposing what humans are really made of it prevalent in Never Let Me Go because of the environment Ishiguro places the characters in.  The setting of England has changed dramatically from what we see her as today, as any dystopian novel likes to play off of.  However, he brings forth a world that bares the fruit of humanity’s darker labors and exposes how much we try to cover up our lust for evil.  Our subconscious minds strive for what we presume as ‘good’, what we have been trained to feel as good.  Inherently, we have lost what it means to be ‘good’ or ‘evil’.  Few have considered that one is actually both.

            Cloning and other activities in which the human race is destined to dabble in, creates a particular environment which nature had never intended.  The sole act of creating a genetically identical being to one already in existence is defying basic laws of nature and natural selection.  DNA is never meant to be repeated to the exact chromosome count and chemical makeup, nature has made that so.  However when Ishiguro brings in clones to a hurting world, similar to the fascist future that V frees England from in V for Vendetta, it opens up our darkest fears.  For it is no secret that we humans fear what we do not know and Never Let Me Go is something we all do fear.  Just thinking about the thought of having an extra body if yours should fail is not as paralyzing as one might wish to believe, already showing how numb we have become to valuing other life, but when that extra body reflects the ideals and experiences of another human being, we fear deeply.  These clones represent a mirror to the dirt of humanity’s soul and how far we can stretch our tricks, telling ourselves that we are really humane and understanding of life around us.  We fail to miss how we would hypothetically treat clones.  Already such treatment of other organisms is prevalent today in animal testing, where we shove down our comforts on innocent life around us.  The fact that these creatures cannot emote as we do allows us to tell ourselves that it is morally forgiven by our own ideal of mercy and justice.

            Just as V believed, chaos will open the eyes of Madame Justice when she has become infatuated with the diseased ideal of right and wrong.  Madame Justice’s statue and symbol is that of a woman, a fellow homo-sapien.  If we humans can personify such an ideal as justice in the form of a fellow human, does that imply that we believe that we have a structured concept of justice within our hearts or minds?  The hypothetical treatment of the clones is proof enough that we are incapable of stopping when enough is enough.  Hailsham’s existence was for those in charge to attempt to assure the world that these abominations, which we created, would be treated ‘humanely’.  According to the dictionary, the adjective humane means “having or showing benevolence or compassion” (dictionary.com) but in Never Let Me Go, “maybe the reason you used to [throw tantrums] like that was because at some level you always knew” (275) that things would never be as the authorities claimed they would be.

            “The fantasy never got beyond that-I didn’t let it-and though the tears rolled

            down my face, I wasn’t sobbing out of control.  I just waited a bit, then turned

            back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be” (288 Never Let Me 

             Go).

            This quote is the last few sentences of the book and its significance is how it outlines the passion and passivity of these clones.  They became passive because of how badly they lost what it means to be ‘human’.  In a general sense, most of humanity today does not truly understand what it means ‘to be’.  We go through life as though it moves around us and we push through it like a thick fog.  Instead of pushing back at what we call life, we need to let it pass through us without loosing what it means to be active.  ‘To be’ is not just a verb, but also a way of life and describes the proper way to exist in a world where evil surrounds you.  Evil tempts you and promises the sweeter fruits from the tree of evil.  Though humans know that fruit may taste better, we failed to see how badly we would fall by sampling its deliciousness.

            A ‘clone’ by definition is “an organism or cell, or a group of organisms or cells, produced asexually from one ancestor or stock, to which they are genetically identical” (dictionary.com).  Really, they are just the shells of what we deem as proof of human existence.  We look at our own bodies and believe that there is something more than a brain, which dictates our lives and feelings inside.  We hope that there is more around us than really is and that is why science is the bane of our existence.  It is the bridge upwards and once you reach the top, do you see how far it plummets downwards into destruction and nothingness.

            Ishiguro reveals how science is believed to be humanity’s cure from death that we fear most, but instead reflects our true and deeper malignant nature.  We would so selflessly undermine another’s existence to preserve ourselves which returns to Darwin’s theory of natural selection and nature’s law.  Even in literature, we keep searching for monsters and explanations for what goes bump in the night.  Never Let Me Go gives us a flashlight in the dark and what we see staring back at us is ourselves.  We are the true monsters and we are the true evil of this world.

            V attempts to disregard the government who has reduced the inhabitants of England to passive and silent sheep.  The clones too were dehumanized to become animals that were eager to be herded and even at the end of the novel, Kathy was herded off to her presumed doom.

            Humanity’s fear creates a veil to attempt to shroud our deeper and subconscious desires for eternal life, youth, sex, and power.  To the core of our existence, we are reduced back to animals.   No matter how hard we try to shake what we really are, the three Fates will prevail.  Mother Nature places us all back to our most basic forms, just another organism trying to reproduce and compete for life.

            In the end, we are nothing more than our shadows and trickery.  V held a strong point, revealing to us that through our theatrics that we call daily life, there are no ideals left to guide our motives for freedom.  There shall always be evil but freedom is the path to open more eyes to the capabilities of our ‘humane’ society and it’s smoky mirrors.  The true strength behind our struggle against evil is the fact that “ideas are bulletproof” (V for Vendetta) and with ideas and with freedom in a little chaos, mankind might be able to amend our evil spark.

The Portrayal of Childhood in "Never Let Me Go"

Never Let Me Go's Portrayal of Childhood

            We humans have the longest childhood experience in years compared to any of our animal relations.  Our years of growth and development outlast all other species.  Ishiguro, in Never Let Me Go, portrays childhood well, according to most readers.  The ways he can access the mind of a young person without making them sound less intellectual as an adult but as immature as they ought to be, shows his deep understanding of childhood and word-smithing.  Also this shows his deep, premeditated characters that he knows well enough to be able to convey himself as through their younger minds.

            When first introduced to Kathy, she seems unable to properly get herself through to readers because her mind is so active.  She scrambles through thoughts as though her fingers can barely keep up with her.  However, this leads to a little inconsistency and getting very off topic.  Even she notices it sometimes.  Readers seem to connect this style with Ishiguro’s method of portraying a younger person and by having them narrate, he makes them more believable as being an adolescent rather than a miniature adult.

            Ishiguro’s overall portrayal of adolescence is extremely actuate because he reacts just as any other adolescent would in the situations he puts Kathy through at Hailsham.  In one instance where the girls are talking about sex, Kathy portrays it as any other girl would: curious, a hint of dangerous excitement, and wonder.  But, in the end, she really does wonder “where we had all this sex” (97) which shows the mind of an adolescent in its simplest form, always questioning what others say and deem as the ‘norm’ or ‘cool’.  Also how she believes that sometimes “there was no way people would understand my reasons for doing such a thing” (134) as we all feel sometimes at an age, connects to how our prefrontal cortexes are not properly developed yet, therefore making us self conscious and unpredictable.

            What is most realistic about his portrayal of the children is in the passage of time where they begin to be told more, as the readers are as well.  Ishiguro bridges the gap between the innocence of the children and the innocence of the reader.  To the children, their eyes are slowly opened to the world around them and for the readers; our eyes are opened to the plot of the novel.  The minor plot points of Never Let Me Go relate to the character development and serve as a test for the readers.  Then as more is revealed and about how Kathy is really a clone in some sickened world, the readers can relate to what it feels like to be a child once again, when the world hits you in bits and pieces, most of them not making sense until a bigger piece is added.

            This technique of adding a little breadcrumb of plot as the novel continues is parallel to what the true meaning of growing out of adolescence is and with the talks of sex and seeing Kathy’s “possible”, it only shows the stronger connection.  These child clones offer up their organs and body parts to humanity or their ‘original’ as children in our reality would offer up pieces of their innocence to a darker yet more ‘real’ world.  Perhaps this is Ishiguro’s true intension but even incorrectly, this metaphor still might serves as evidence to bridge our adolescent reality with the portrayal of adolescence in Ishiguro’s mind.

            The portrayal of children and the mind of a child in Never Let Me Go flaunts it accuracy in the ways Ishiguro places Kathy in more mature situations and plays off of how her mind does not see the way an adults’ would, thus guiding her actions to be slightly immature or awkward.  Also how he alludes to a connection between our reality and the novel in the growth of each child to what he reveals in the plot per chapter depicts a deeper connection, which reflects the gradual growth of a child into an adult, not forgetting the occasional tangents and side-plot.

Works Cited

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. 1-155. Print.

The Flight of Grief

The Flight of Grief

            Grief is an interesting human emotion.  Science shows us that even our animal cousins can feel this unique pain but humans have always wondered if they comprehend what it is to go through grief.  In my life, my mother has plaid a huge part in allowing me to become who I want to be and as a child, she molded me as a potter would a soft piece of clay.  As any child does, deep emotions are often times lost, the true meaning not fully understood.  Dealing with an emotion such as grief, how could any child know how to truly comprehend the longing pain, which cuts through your heart?  I learnt young, saying goodbye to my father’s father not long after I just met him.  I knew he was gone, but I didn’t know where he went.  My mother was there for my father and our family.  Being from New York, the first quote that struck me was by Dorothy Parker in how she pointed out that “as only New Yorkers know, if you can get through the twilight, you’ll live through the night.”

            This quote from her not only brings out the emotion of longing in my heart, but also a more senile acceptance to the meaning.  New York, being sometimes a hostile place when the sun goes down, also holds great beauty.  The quote is saying that if one can get through the transition into the darkness, you will come out of it and live on to see the next morning, which holds meaning to the metaphorical connection to stages of grief.  This quote brings out a feeling of longing, the sweeter kind, mind you.  But also, it reminds me of my mother’s father who passed right before I was born.  In my family, there is a tender story of how my mother, learning she could not have children of her own, asked her father at his deathbed for a child when he meets God.  He promised her he would send down a child for his daughter and the day after he passed, I was born in a small town in Russia.  This story came to my mind as I read this quote because my grandfather was a passionate New Yorker and loved living there, bringing up my mother in Flushing Queens.  The loss of this man whom I never got to meet in the flesh has stayed with me until this day and this quote seems like him, something he would believe in and the true meaning of pressing on to the brighter days was something he held close to his heart.

            The second quote that sparked my interest was how “grief is itself a medicine” by William Cowper annoys me because of the truth behind it.  In literature, I have noticed how grief moves the plot and introduces major character development on that subtle scale.  In one of my favorite graphic novel series, Naruto, the main character goes through enough grief for thousands of lifetimes and just before he gives up, something inside him reminds him of why he is living and whom he is living for.  In this process of realization and learning from his grief, he becomes a stronger person and the protagonist of the eighty book series.  It indeed is interesting how authors and illustrators portray grief and how one can morph it to fit their feelings about the potency of this feeling.

            In the animal kingdom, grief shows the difference between our animal cousins and us.  However, wolves are known to show grief in severe ways, shown in the tales of how animals have died waiting for their master to return home from a war that took their lives.  Also elephants have been known to go on rampages when a beloved one of their social group passes or is hunted down.  Though, humans do not show the same behavior, we have the cranial capacity to process and pull apart our grief into stages.  Represented by Cowper’s quote, the stages of grief end up at acceptance that promotes a positive push forwards into the world.  Indeed grief arrives outside of losing someone; it has similar effects when related to another situation.  I know when I tore my ACL and was out of all physical activity, which I love, the grief almost made me believe that there would be no tomorrow, no beautiful horizon to gaze at when I pulled through.  Even while still recovering from after a year of hard work, I can almost taste the sweet honey of success as I can run and jump without worrying about re-injury.

            These things are the signs of grief healing you and the soul, making people better than they were before.  Granted, some may take longer than others as Henchard did while ‘grieving’ over his malignant marriage to Susan.  By selling her due to his grief, he realized his fault and worked to improve himself.  Even in Never Let Me Go, Madame’s reaction to Kathy dancing with her imaginary babies shows grief, an older and staler grief than the sharpness of fresh bad news.  However, a sense of happiness or a tender atmosphere is written into the words on the page, though they are just 2-D images before my eyes.

            The key to portraying grief, which follows some sort of loss in literature, is in how it impacts the world the author has created in their minds and place down on paper before the readers.  What makes reading so interesting and powerful is how everyone can relate to something, emotions.  The characters go through emotions, which we all are familiar with; no matter how isolated the situation is from us.  This is the true impact of writing and I find it funny or peculiar how our emotions can be so severely taunted by simplex words staring back at you on a page.  Without strong emotions like grief or love, no story will be able to properly draw out who each reader is individually or allow people to connect.  Human beings connect with each other and being social creatures, we love one another, no matter how much we would like to deny it.  With emotions like grief, we all have been there and empathy comes naturally.  These two quotes have brought me back to times I would like to forget but also times where I feel blessed to have learned from.

Works Cited

Hardy, Thomas. The Mayor of Casterbridge; the Life and Death of a Man of Character. New York: Modern Library, 1950. Print.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. 1-89. Print.

Translation of Richard III's Solilioguy in "Richard III" AI, Sc1

Translation of Richard’s Soliloquy

I, 1

Now is our problem,

Exemplified by the sun of York,

And all a the troubles are falling to our family,

In this house.

Now we are blinded by out victories,

Our battered armor hung on memorials,

Grim-visage war settled,

And now instead of preparing for war

To fight against the weaker,

We stay in our chambers

To have sex.

But I, I am not interested in sex,

Nor court these ladies for my appearance,

But I clumsily fashioned my love

To walk before my love,

But I am fearful of this presentation,

Cheated on and depressed at my appearance,

Sent ugly

In to this world

Where I am so depressed and afraid

That even animals scorn me.

Even in this time of peace,

I have no want to sleep away these nights,

Unless I become handsome,

And finally feel confidant.

So, I can be no lover,

To kill the time,

I am determined to go against the current,

And be jealous of others.

I have schemed,

Through dreams and visions of the future,

I sent my brother to see the king,

With distasteful reasonings,

And if Edward is as I thought,

As I am evil,

Clarence will surely succeed in making mischief,

In the prophecy I see,

Where I murder Edward’s heirs.