Never Let Me Go Dystopia Essay

767 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A literature essay on a dystopian society

The best dystopias invoke audiences to reflect upon their own societies and instigate a further awareness of the concept of humanity, providing a picture that can be utilized as a warning against the trends of the contemporary society. Dystopian fictions explore the impact of the societal control within a teeming civilization on the values and qualities of the human condition. Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian fiction Never Let Me Go captures protagonist Kathy’s reflections on price of ethical values in her society, the parallel dystopian universe of 20th century Britain. Heavily influenced by period of increasing biotechnological advancements in the public agenda, Ishiguro allegorically portrays the inevitable oppression that exists within a teeming civilization and its deterioration of essential human facets. Ishiguro reflects the anxieties of the contemporary society through his question of the lack of moral values in a dystopian society and the need to preserve the essence of humanity. Para 1: The individual’s loss of free will due to the societal controls that are born from a teeming civilization. Never Let Me Go illustrates an individual’s loss of free will as a result of the societal controls born within a dystopia, ultimately causing a deterioration of the many facets of …show more content…

By exploring the mass dehumanization aspects of with a dystopian society, Ishiguro depicts human nature as fragile and easily manipulated within the existence of a teeming civilization. In Never Let Me Go, the lives of the minority of clones are given up for the ‘normal’ humans, as a notion for the ‘greater

Show More
Related

  • 1984, by George Orwell and Gattaca, by Andrew Niccol

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    Destruction of individuality is an idea both authors explore to expose the broad social wrong of an oppressive society. Both Orwell and Niccol use their protagonists to demonstrate how dictatorial governments that destroy any semblance of individuality are inherently wrong. Orwell uses third person narration, which directly follows his protagonist as he fights to maintain his individuality in a society driven to eliminate the capability of “love, or friendship, or joy of living” by making him “hollow”. By employing the use third person narration Orwell portrays to the reader that even an individual with powerful intent to remain different can be broken down and made to believe that “2+2 = 5”. Similarly, Niccol uses extreme close up shots focusing on Vincent’s cleaning process and the motif of constant DNA checks to reinforce how authoritarian societies can demolish all sense of individuality. Vincent, an “in-valid” must take extreme measures to overcome the prejudices of soc...

    Read More

  • Fahrenheit 451 And 1984 - The Fear Of Utopia

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.

    Read More

  • The Dystopian Society Depicted in Brave New World, V for Vendetta, and Handmaid's Tale

    926 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is commonplace for individuals to envision a perfect world; a utopian reality in which the world is a paradise, with equality, happiness and ideal perfection. Unfortunately, we live in a dystopian society and our world today is far from perfection. John Savage, from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, V, from V for Vendetta by James McTeigue and Offred, from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Attwood, are all characters in a dystopian society. A dystopia is the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and are characterized by oppression, corruption of government, and abridgement of human rights.

    Read More

  • Theme of Control in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Brave New World"

    1879 Words  | 4 Pages

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley both deal with enclosed cultures tightly controlled by an authority. Cuckoo’s Nest takes place in a psychiatric ward ruled by the ‘Big Nurse’ while Brave New World encompasses a wider society governed by the World State. Both societies function because dissent is prohibited. In each community an outsider appears who attempts to disrupt the control by exerting his free will. In both texts, free will must be eradicated because it is seen as a threat to the authority and stability of the society. By examining the manner in which control is exerted, the outsider as a subversive element and the necessity of the outsider’s death, one can determine the effectiveness of the protagonist’s sacrifice in these two novels.

    Read More

  • The Quintessence of Humanity in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

    2515 Words  | 6 Pages

    Often in life, people take their freedoms, a gift that allows them to express their individuality, for granted. However, in the dystopian societies of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, people are reminded of just how easily their freedoms and humanity can be stripped away. Attwood and Ishiguro urge people to never lose sight of the core values that define who they are. The compelling novels chronicle the life journey of two protagonists as they fight to define their own existence and worth in life. Offred, the central character in The Handmaid’s Tale is exploited as a baby making machine, while Kathy, the leading role in Never Let Me Go, is degraded as a lifeless android in a sea of clones. From Atwood and Ishiguro’s provocative coming-of-age novels emerge two beautiful and inspiring heroines. Whether it is through their remembrance of the past, their loss of innocence, their capability to hope, or their ability to establish relationships, Offred and Kathy prove that they are every bit as human as the rest of society. Ultimately, despite the many differences in their distinct masterpieces, Atwood and Ishiguro share the same intent in their haunting portrayal of the protagonists’ dehumanizabtion—to shed light on the true essence of what it is to be human.

    Read More

  • Unincorporated Man And A Clockwork Orange Analysis

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Madeleine L’Engle aptly said, “because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person,” taking away freedom of choice is equivalent to stripping off humanity. Mankind has evolved to have the ability to use the mind for reason and understanding, which separates humans from beasts and machines. It is this ability that allows man to analyze and formulate different choices, and have the freedom over them. Despite the knowledge that freedom of choice is fundamental in making humans human, social control has always been one of the leading reasons to justify the removal of that freedom. Through showing the need for the loss of freedom for social stability and the resulting problems, both The Unincorporated Man and A Clockwork Orange highlight the conflict between control and freedom.

    Read More

  • Sherri Jackson: The Theme Of Conformity

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    Society has always functioned on the premise that a person must adjust their behaviour in accordance with what is deemed socially acceptable at that time. If administrated to the fullest extent, the theme of conformity can be detrimental to the stability and growth of a community. Through analyzing the dystopian narrative elements of Sherri Jacksons’ works, readers are able to distinguish how the theme of conformity is still prevalent to humans today as it expresses the need for order and organization, eliminates fear of the unknown, and promotes society functioning as a whole with limited individuation. The author depicts this reoccurring normative event, to stress the notion that there is something fundamentally wrong with society.

    Read More

  • Never Let Me Go

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    An author’s way of writing and portraying a character are one of the important things to note when reading a novel. Whether they use third or first person as their view point, have their main character have an underlying dark secret that is not revealed until the end of the novel. However an author wishes to write their novel, there is always a drawback to it. Kazuo Ishiguro’s way of writing his novel Never Let Me Go is in a first person perspective where the narrator, Kathy H., reassess her life of being a clone but the way Kathy remembers and discusses her memories of living in Hailsham is hindered by the fact she inputs her own feelings and thoughts into what happened in the past.

    Read More

  • The Giver, by Lois Lowry

    2270 Words  | 5 Pages

    Wright, Juntus. “Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics.” Read Write Think. NCTE, 2011. Web. 25 Jan. 2011

    Read More

  • Dystopias Displayed in The Lottery by Jackson and The Pedestrian by Bradbury and Never Let Me Go

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    A dystopian text is a fictional society which must have reverberations of today’s world and society and has many elements and rules that authors use to convey their message or concern. Dystopian texts are systematically written as warnings use to convey a message about a future time that authors are concerned will come about if our ways as humans continue, such as in the short stories called The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury. Dystopias are also written to put a satiric view on prevailing trends of society that are extrapolated in a ghoulish denouement, as in the case of the dystopian film Never Let Me Go directed by Mark Romanek. Dystopian texts use a variety of literary devices and filming techniques to convey their message, but in all three texts there is a main protagonist who questions the rules of society, and all citizens carry a fear of the outside world who adhere to homogenous rules of society.

    Read More

  • Individuality Vs. Social Stability

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Social restriction robs individuals of their creative personalities by preventing freedom of thought, behavior, and expression; but is vital to the World State for maintaining complete control over the society. Social restriction’s purpose is to enforce obedience conformity and compliance out of people. The World State achieves this through two methods; hypnopaedia and shock therapy. Hypnopaedia is sleep-teaching where morals are taught on on repeat during the infant years of children while they are asleep, these messages become permanently embedded in their mind and become their permanent, new, artificial personality. This is proven in the quote “... drops of liquid sealing wax, drops that adhere, incrust and inc...

    Read More

  • Dehumanization in Never Let Me Go vs. Gattaca

    828 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie Gattaca and the novel Never Let Me Go, both display a form of dehumanization and the relationship between those who have been dehumanized and those who are brought up in a more ‘ideal’ way. Gattaca and Never Let Me Go, try and show an alternative future based on the advancement of genetics and how they affect our world in a possible future. They do this by genetically cloning individuals for organ harvesting and attempting to create a perfect world by creating “perfect” humans.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Frankenstein And Never Let Me Go

    1335 Words  | 3 Pages

    When denied by his creator he seeks revenge and kills everyone Frankenstein cares about. In Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go people are cloned and the clones are sent to live at Hailsham, a boarding school for clones. When the clones reach the age of about twenty-five they are taken to donate their organs. When all of their organs have been removed or they die they have completed. Two of the children at Hailsham-tommy and Katie- fall in love; they final realize that they are meant to be when tommy is almost completed. They both end up completing and later on the program is shut down. Ishiguro and Shelley force the reader to contemplate the negatives of scientific progressions. Although Shelley and Ishiguro present some similar ideas, their stories are too different to be considered the same. Most in literary culture view Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go as a contemporary interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, although both authors’ works deal with similar concepts the differences between the creators and

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Fahrenheit 451 And V For Vendetta

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dystopia represents an artificially created society to where a human population is administered to various types of oppressions, or a human population lives under the order of an oppressive government. The novel Fahrenheit 451 and the film V for Vendetta both effectively display this dystopian concept in their works. The nature of the society, the protagonist who questions the society, and the political power that runs the society are examples of how the novel and the film efficiently capture the main points of a dystopian society. The authors of the novel and the film use their visions of a dystopian future to remark on our present by identifying how today’s society is immensely addicted to technology and how our government has changed over the past decades. Furthermore, the authors use our modern day society to illustrate their view of a dystopia in our

    Read More

  • Kazu Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

    1073 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout Kazu Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, he choices to depict children as outsiders to the world which can be furthered by the setting in Britain’s countryside because it helps give a sense distance from true reality. In the framework throughout his novel Ishiguro focuses on three main characters Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy. These three students are seen by others to have an advantage because they were lucky enough to be raised at Hailsham by the guardians. Over the watchful eye of the Guardians the children were able to grow accustom to being different than others. This can be seen when the characters all mature and grow after they leave Hailsham and become accustomed to life at the cottages. There newly found freedoms at the cottages lead them to question many of their previous schooling standards and beliefs. These freedoms can be seen by every student trying to hold on to their sense of individuality through small and random collections. This suggests that humans attempt to create an appearance through their own belongings and incorporate into their own lives. The students at Hailsham are encouraged to seek creativity and individuality in the things they create which could include sculptures, paintings or poems. These many collections that each student holds close to themselves offers them a small chance for control in their life because they can pick and choose the pieces they would like to incorporate into their individual collections.

    Read More

More about Never Let Me Go Dystopia Essay

Open Document