Globalization comes in waves and punctuated advancements in technology that make our lives easier. In a globalized world there are of course some that will be better off than others. For example the U.S. would be an example of the better off countries while other less developed ones are used for their resources and underdeveloped human rights laws. After people get used to a new technology, it is almost impossible for them to go back “to the dark ages” as the book puts it. In a globalized world you will often get people trying to correct for the wrongs committed to the underdeveloped peoples. One form through which people will try to correct for the social destruction of globalization is through social entrepreneurship.

NLMG presents a pessimistic view of globalization.  Hailsham was an attempt at social entrepreneurship to better the living conditions of the clones. Ishiguro’s novel presents an extreme of our world where human life becomes commoditized. Through the Failure of the Hailsham project Ishiguro demonstrates a likely future for globalization: one in which people will continue to turn a blind eye to human rights violations so they can get maintain their elevated standard of living at the cost of others. Ishiguro’s idea of the future becomes even more demoralizing when one notes that not even the oppressed show any effort to change their material situation.

I found the scene where Ruth and Kathy travel to see the boat and visit Tommy to be a telling reflection of their time at Hailsham. Momentarily the mission to see the boat distracts them from their reality, much like their childhoods at Hailsham distracted them from their inevitable futures as donors, and allowed them to experience a degree of wish fulfillment that often unavailable to them in their normal lives. “At first I thought she was still staring at the boat, but then I saw her gaze was on the vapour trail of a plane in the far distance, climbing slowly into the sky.” As soon as Ruth takes her eyes off the boat she returns to conspiracy theories and commiserating, and I think she is the first to do this because her condition is the worst. Initially as a reader I found it frustrating that Ishiguro chose a dilapidated boat for them to visit, because boats are a means of travel and escape, but I think the boat’s state draws necessary parallels to the society that they are imprisoned by. They don’t forcefully question their positions or take any actions to negate it, they just kind of marvel temporarily and then accept it. Earlier in the book I thought that the clones clung to the idea of their “possibles” because they represented a vessel of possibility that they would never experience, and I thought that the boat section perfectly embodied the sense of longing they experience and attachment they feel to the idea of hope, as well as the simultaneous detachment they have for fear of getting burned.

I was glad to finally hear the truth about Hailsham from Miss Emily towards the end of the novel, but I was a little troubled by the calm, nonchalant way Miss Emily acted about the whole situation. Madame was an emotional mess when talking with Kathy and Tommy, but Miss Emily on the other hand was very matter-of-fact when explaining her “project,” and she seemed kind of emotionally detached from Kathy and Tommy. For instance, it takes her awhile to remember who Kathy and Tommy were at the beginning, and throughout their conversation, Miss Emily kept mentioning how some men were coming to move her cabinet. This was a very important conversation for Kathy and Tommy, but Miss Emily didn’t seem to be giving it much of her attention at all.

Furthermore, Miss Emily claimed to not have any regrets about Hailsham being shut down since she succeeded in temporarily giving her students a happy life, but she didn’t end up making any lasting impacts on her students’ lives since they still will end up being donors all the same. This made me wonder what exactly was her goal for Hailsham. She said she wanted to improve living conditions for the clones and to show that they had “souls” like normal humans, but clearly she didn’t want to go so far as to make the clones actually equal in status to normal humans. She admitted to feeling disgusted by them so she does see them as inferior, and she doesn’t seem to be against donations. In fact, Miss Emily was in a wheelchair at the end so maybe we can assume that she benefited from receiving a donation recently. Looking back at it now, maybe Hailsham was just a way to more easily manipulate the clones by making them content so they have no reason to revolt. Miss Emily certainly was manipulative in the way she kept information about from her students about their doomed futures, and I’m not sure if it really was all for the benefit of the students.

Never Let Me Go is a novel that has an increasingly clear connection with globalization as it progresses towards its conclusion.  The clones, or “students,” as Miss Emily prefers to call them, clearly represent those marginalized by globalization.  To the rest of the world they are a resource, but in the end, despite people not wanting to think about it, they are people.  The clones are faceless to the wider society because that is how society wants to view them, much as workers in horrible conditions in poor countries.  The fictional Britain in the novel lies to itself about and rationalizes the use of the clones as being something less than human because it is convenient.  This attitude towards the clones is all too reminiscent of the not too recent past and even the present day in the real world.  Colonization of foreign countries was often justified in the Imperial era by using the idea that the inhabitants of the countries being invaded were “noble savages,” they were in some biological way lesser than the people taking them over.  The treatment of the clones in the novel reminds me of how cases of worker mistreatment are covered, or, more accurately, not covered, by the media today.  Treatment of workers that could in many respects be viewed as human rights violations are rarely discussed in popular media, and when they are (and this is only for a brief period of time,) it is only because of a truly disastrous event that forces the world to recognize it (such as the collapse of the Bangladeshi factory in 2013, or the Bhopal disaster in 1984.)  Hailsham could be viewed in many ways as an equivalent of a modern-day human rights group.  Much as groups campaign for the recognition of marginalized workers, Hailsham campaigns for the recognition of the clones as nothing less than human.  Much like many of these well-intentioned rights groups, Hailsham is eventually ignored and shut down upon losing the interest of the public.  The novel ends with a pessimistic view of the future.  The group that campaigned for clone rights, Hailsham, is shut down and the clones continue to be ignored, chewed up, and spit out for the benefit of the rest of the society much as workers from different parts of the world are used to produce the goods we crave in the cheapest way possible.

In his book Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro gradually builds a story that progressively gets more dystopian and shocking as pages turn. Ishiguro tells his story through the lens of Kathy, a girl raised in a privileged environment in the 1990s tweaked version of England. He seems to portray a marginalized group of, yet surprisingly privileged kids, at least among their kind. Their kind, of course, refers to clones which takes a while for the reader to find out. Kathy, the main character lives in an institution that is raising Kathy and her friends to be obedient units to be exploited by the ˝real people˝ outside the walls of their prison. It is somewhat morbid that the children are not questioning the institution, even until their late teens, and assume that their guardians want the best for them.

This story connects to globalization in that way that it dehumanizes and exploits its characters. People are portrayed as intrinsically worthless, and replaceable with only a few characteristics that allow us to connect to them. Similarly, workers in many industries that are running the often ˝invisible˝ parts of globalization are treated as an input to the system that produces goods and services. People are often seen as disposable and replaceable, something to be exploited. The workers and the children have many parallels. They seem to be brainwashed into their function, to the point where they do not question their position within the system. Nevertheless, Ishiguro adds very human values to the children and makes them personable by telling the story from their perspective. He wants to emphasize that, although treated as disposable; they still are able to produce

Kazuo Ishiguro’s stylistic approach is very eccentric. His main character/narrator Kathy has the tendency to, almost in a schizophrenic manner, skip from one story to another, from one time period to another. These tangents are a crucial part of storytelling, and many of the stories do create a really coherent whole. One stylistic approach that is strange is that the build-up and the character development is relatively slow, and it takes over 100 pages for the reader to understand that the main character is artificially created.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go feels almost completely washed of identity.  Everything in the novel just feels intentionally anonymous, faceless almost.  The novel’s semi-anonymity is its greatest signifier of globalization.  Everything in the book could seemingly take place anywhere in the world – everything is generic.  Hailsham could, except perhaps for its very British name, be anywhere.  The reader never receives a distinctive image of the school, merely that there were dorms, classrooms, fields, and woods surrounding it.  This anonymity of place seems to signify the increasingly uniform global world – a world where two places on opposite sides of the globe could look exactly the same.

It is not just the locations in the novel, however, that lack identity.  All the characters in the novel never really feel fully fleshed out or real.  The reader never receives a physical description of a clone in Never Let Me Go.  All the reader knows is the sex of a character and their age, though even their age can be vague at times.  Lack of identity pervades the clones’ lives.  They begin their lives as unoriginal and in many ways anonymous people due to the fact that they are copies.  The clones then seem to go about their lives grasping for something to give them an identity – the “creativity” that is so stressed at Hailsham.  The reader observes, however, that the clones can never truly grasp a fully unique identity – they seem eternally stuck in the childhood stage of basing their actions off of the actions they observe from others.  Only Kathy and Tommy seem to at times have flashes of fully unique identities – it is Kathy who calls out Ruth on her TV-based interactions with Tommy and understands others’ attempts at recreating what they see and hear and it is Tommy who actually paints original works of art, his imaginary animals, rather than just observations of the world around him.

Never Let Me Go shows a dystopian, shrunken-down view of a globalized world where identity and individual expression do not truly exist, as they are always based not on creation but copying and cloning.

In part II I found Ruth’s desire to find her “possible” to be one of the most compelling and confusing aspects of the book. I think in many ways the clones wanted to hold onto the idea of finding their possibles, to see what their future could have been had they come into the world under different circumstances. When Ruth disappointedly comes to the conclusion that the women they had been following is not in fact in her “possible” she states, “we all know it. We’re modeled from trash. Junkies, prostitutes, winos, tramps.” She seems to give up on the idea that the people they were modeled after would lead lives worthy of their imaginations. Ruth’s character is constantly trying to mold her reality into something that suits her and the idea that she was modeled after someone living an undesirable life is hard for her to swallow.

Love and sex are fascinating topics addressed thus far in Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go. The topic of love is brought up throughout the novel as something that is elusive and unobtainable. Love is a fascination, a fantasy, creating an escape for the clone’s cold world.   For example, when Chrissie speaks about deferrals, she states “ that if you were a boy and a girl, and you were in love with each other, really, properly in love, and you could show it, then the people who run Hailsham, they sorted it out for you.” (Ishiguro 153) Chrissie in this instance is looking for an escape, a way out for her impending demise, and she uses love as a possibility for that escape. She is one of the few characters who are in a monogamous relationship, and although Ishiguro notes how her and Rodney are always inseparable, they are never mentioned being in love. Tommy and Ruth’s relationship is also constantly mentioned, but the audience can tell that they are not in love. Love seems to be unobtainable for these clones, yet it is something they desire, a beacon of hope, heard through the mythical stories of deferrals.

Ishiguro brings his characters close to obtaining love, yet it seems there are always boundaries for his characters, keeping them one step away from achieving this human emotion. Ishiguro shows the clones imitating love the best way they can. The clones form couples. These couples however do are not displayed as passionate lovers. Their snogging seems fictitious and is explained as childish. The couples described thus far often have a negative connotation to them. They are seen as obnoxious or mischievous entities. Ishiguro does not give them any positive attributes. Ruth and Tommy do not even seems happy. They seem like they are together because that is what is expected. Clones, who are not with someone else, still have sex. They pleasure themselves using nude magazines. They do all of these things, yet they seem informal and a response to their sexual desire/biological needs. Sex is very casual. Nude magazines are a curiosity more than anything. Ishiguro makes his audience wonder whether it is the clone’s genetic makeup that holds them from obtaining true love or the social constrictions that society has placed on them. I would say that thus far I believe it is the social constrictions that keep these clones from achieving love because it seems these constrictions and limitations have formed the clones perception and imitation of what they believe love must resemble. Ishiguro has limited his narrator and her fellow clones to imitate and learn from a world designed to keep them ignorant.

The ignorance of the characters in this book about their future fates is a little bit frustrating. They are being raised with the primary purpose of having their organs harvested and yet this topic is only brought up a few times. I understand their lack of questioning creates this “ignorance is bliss” type of atmosphere, but their future is something that is necessary to be talked about and understood. The absence of these conversations is only going to lead to a disaster when they finally have to face the scalpel.

Miss Lucy seems to be the only one who actually cares about the children’s understanding of the matter. At one point she is so frustrated after hearing one child’s plans to go to America to become an actor that she explains, “you’ve been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way…You’ll become adults, then before you’re old, before you’re even middle-aged, you’ll donate your vital organs…If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you” (81). This is probably the most important explanation of these kids’ lives and they shrug it off like it means nothing. When any children talk about Miss Lucy’s warning, they only reply, “well so what? We already knew all that” (82). Well, sure, maybe they knew it, but they did not and still do not understand it.

This misunderstanding is continued even after Miss Lucy’s warnings. While they are in Norfolk looking for Ruth’s “possible,” Chrissie says, “you know, Ruth, we might be coming here in a few years’ time to visit you. Working in a nice office. I don’t see how anyone could stop us visiting you then” (151). Then, the group agrees that they will visit and they then proceed to talk about other Hailsham children whom they heard are now living happily working in different parts of the UK. It is conversations like these in the book that just make you want to scream at the characters to open their eyes and just see the real futures that society has in store for them. They really do not understand what is going to happen to them in the future.

The reader’s frustration with the characters is only exacerbated by the fact that no one is hiding the truth about their fates. They do not put even the littlest bit of effort into inquiring about their futures. At Hailsham, they have the opportunity to ask any of the guardians about their future. Miss Lucy even tries to encourage this inquiry, but still, no one inquires. Of course, one might say, that they are too young at this point. But even later, at the Cottages, they have the opportunity to ask other residents of the Cottages who leave intermittently for “courses” to become a carer. Surely, these individuals understand the donation process after these courses and they could help share their understanding. But still, even upon their return, “no one really ask[s] them anything” (132). All of the evidence and information is available for their understanding, but no one dares to inquire. I am interested to see how the future will unfold as they learn to truly understand their purpose in life.

So what do Artsy clones that are worried about sex have to do with globalization you may ask? Well I am not quite sure, but here are some parallels that I have found throughout Ishiguro’s novel.

This book is relevant to Globalization because the clones represent the masses in a globalized world. The masses or clones belong to different schools. The schools can be likened to states in that they are unified bodies loyal to their “guardians” or governments.  In a globalized world such as the one we live in, all states are not equal. For example in the novel Hailsham is supposed to be special and better than the others. Hailsham students enjoy certain privileges that students from other schools do not. While at the cottages, Chrissie and Rodney which are students from another school ask the Hailsham kids about deferrals and how they too can apply for them. Ruth lies about the deferrals to the other kids in order to maintain the high opinion that other kids hold of Hailsham kids.

With globalization and industrialization there comes social dislocation. Social dislocation arises from the changes in social structure that come from industrialization.  In Ishiguro’s world, the autonomy of the individual is ripped away from them. Every aspect of their lives is controlled by the guardians or government.

In a globalized world the masses will tend to converge culturally. We see this today with the increasing westernization of the rest of the world. A similar case arises in Ishiguro’s novel.  In an effort to fit in, the characters take their social cues from television and adopt these habits and make them their own. Throughout the novel the kids are represented as socially dislocated and confused. Ruth is a good example of this social confusion because she cannot make her mind up about where her loyalties lie. Sometimes she is good friends with Kathy while at others she will have her and play with others.