NLMG Cheat Sheet

Never Let Me Go Cheat Sheet (Paper 2, Question 2)     Getting an A/A*

Commentary Question: (10 Marks – 20 minutes)

Make sure your points are tailored to the question - if it’s about atmosphere/mood  OR characterisation.

Remember the mood/atmosphere is likely to change and the characterisation is likely to be nuanced/complex

Focus on language and the writer’s techniques – try and be CONCISE + DETAILED

Be confident - talk about the interesting moments in the extract and suggest perhaps how mood/atmosphere changes over the course of the extract/how the readers’ understanding of character changes over the course of an extract /how different readers may respond in different ways

Try to cover the breadth of the extract – something from beginning/middle/end

‘Ishiguro highlights/emphasises/suggests/creates/implies/hints/portrays…’

Essay question: (24 marks – 40 minutes)

!!!! Do not tell the story - analyse the text as a deliberately constructed work of art!!!

4 marks are available for spelling, punctuation and grammar – make sure you know how to spell key terms

NB You do not need context for this question at all. Instead concentrate on IDEAS + LANGUAGE, STRUCTURE + FORM

Key techniques/ideas:

·         Setting – a disturbingly idyllic dystopia that seems very similar to our own world. Horrific wide scale harvesting of the clones is taking place yet we are lulled into forgetting this/going along with this for most of the novel because we see everything through Kathy’s eyes. Why did Ishiguro write this way?

(video interview)

·         Euphemistic language ‘donation’ ‘completion’ ‘carer’ >>>again lessens the impact of the dark realities of what is happening to the characters

·         Unreliable first person narration – invites confidence/creates a sense of intimacy yet constantly alerts us to Kathy’s biases

·         Form – bildungsroman – it’s about coming of age, growing up yet ironically growing up for these characters is essentially preparing to die. Love and Friendship become key

·         Dramatic Irony – Dramatic irony is one of the key features of Ishiguro’s work – not just in this novel but throughout. Dramatic irony is key in Kathy’s portrayal of her relationships with Tommy and Ruth – we as readers understand her feelings for Tommy more than she could at the time, and we can see the superficiality/conflict in her relationship with Ruth in a way that neither she nor Ruth could at the time. E.g. ‘Tommy’s right. You’re just the person to have when you’re in a corner’.

Dramatic irony in portrayal of Tommy – later we come to suspect that Tommy’s tantrums are in fact because he is wrestling with his fate>>> he is most attuned to reality and emotionally authentic character. Yet for the majority of the novel we see him through Ruth and Kathy’s eyes ‘Mad animal’.

·         Symbols – the Judy Bridgewater Tape, Hailsham, the balloons that fly away (Ch18) art and creativity

·         Humanity/humaneness – Ishiguro wants us to question our assumptions about what it means to be human.

·         Tragedy/fate – the clones cannot escape – in fact one of the surprises of the novel is they don’t even try and through this Ishiguro encourages us to face our own limitations, our own mortality and value love and friendship more because of this.

·         Fantasy/Reality – the clones want to believe that deferrals are possible but they aren’t. In the end their hopes are dashed. Could this be a metaphor for something else?

·         Images of water/forceful currents/images of rubbish – recur throughout the novel suggesting the inescapable nature of fate and (rubbish) how the clones are perceived by society

·         Passivity/Acceptance - Ishiguro wants us to accept our mortality. We are not as different from the clones as we might think.