Never Let Me Go Section 2: Foreshadowing

In both sections 1 and 2 of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro incorporates a great deal of foreshadowing into the novel so as to advance the plot and elevate the feeling of suspense experienced by the reader. While very few specific details are given, the reader is made to understand that all the students at Hailsham such as Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy are not like other members of society. Instead, they have been intentionally “modeled” after another human being for the specific purpose of being raised to one day donate vital organs. After leaving Hailsham, the reader knows that the students will become “carers” and donors, but little other information has been provided at this time as to the details of these jobs, the ultimate purpose of their education at Hailsham, the destinies and fates which they are bound to with such a unique life, etc. Therefore, because Ishiguro has intentionally chosen to exclude some important explanatory text which would clarify many details about Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy’s lives, the foreshadowing which is created by Kathy’s narration of the novel creates a great deal of suspense. For example, the fact that Kathy’s narration reveals the fact that she is currently serving as a carer, whereas Ruth and Tommy have already acted as donors. With this in mind, the reader is left to speculate the ultimate fates of Ruth and Tommy as well as what will happen to Kathy once her term as a carer is completed in the near future. The reader is also left to wonder how exactly the nature of their work has led Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy to become separated from one another. For example, when discussing how Miss Lucy was different from all the other guardians because she seemed to express more concern over the children’s future, Kathy reflects, “It’s even possible I began to realize, right back then, the nature of her worries and frustrations. But that’s probably going too far; chances are, at the time, I noticed all these things without knowing what on earth to make of them” (Ishiguro, 78-79). This clearly leaves the reader in suspense wondering what made Miss Lucy so unique and what insights and connections to her own fate Kathy was able to derive from observing Miss Lucy. Additionally, the sense of foreshadowing which is created by the fact that the story is narrated by Kathy and presented as her personal reflection on the past events of her life creates the suspense in the sense that it encourages the reader to speculate about the conclusion of the novel. I often find myself personally wondering as I progress through the book if the novel will end simply with the revelation of who exactly these special Hailsham students are, why exactly they were brought into the world, and what specifically other “normal” humans intend for their purpose in life to be. On the other hand, I also wonder if these revelations will be disclosed earlier on in the novel and will escalate into one much larger problem which Kathy must solve before the novel’s conclusion. For example, if Kathy has yet to become a donor herself, will she find a way to escape the fate of her friends and pave a new way of life for people like the students at Hailsham? Without the foreshadowing that is produced by Kathy’s narration, these questions may not be nearly as likely to linger in the mind of the reader as the novel progressed. Therefore, this foreshadowing is an essential literary technique used by Ishiguro in Never Let Me Go and greatly contributes to the overall advancement of the plot.