Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro - Discuss

Résumé du document

A dystopia is the idea of an imaginary society ruled by a repressive and controlled state, often in order to reach an utopian goal. It comes from the Greek "bad or hard place". The society described by Ishiguro uses human cloning in order to heal people, without any regards for ethical considerations. Criticizing this form of government doesn't seem to be Ishiguro's first aim, this book being about human relationship or about love which throws away the fear of death. It is about the fragility of art to protect us from the cruelty of the world.

However, we can argue that Ishiguro is describing not a soft dystopia, but a potent one, whose appalling power cannot be hidden by the "delicate" style of writing. Indeed, the society depicted in Never let me go has some of the main features of a "classical" tyranny. This is done in the sake of public good (in this case, public health) which makes the system even more powerful, creating a post-modern dictatorship with neither moral sense nor escape.

Extraits

[...] That is what is said here in Ishiguro's less explicit style. Besides, those “poor creatures” are not only sent to death, they are also forced to be who watch their peers dying. Their work is so inconvenient that “completing” (that's the euphemism they use!) almost becomes a relief must sometimes wish they'd tell you you can stop”). Thus, it makes them resigned about their death; they come to terms with their fate. More insidiously, like the kapos in Nazis camps, they all have to be part of the process: unconsciously, everyone is both the accomplice and the victim, the victim and the executioner”[3]. [...]

[...] In Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley explained how a dystopia was more dangerous because more likely to happen. He spoke about scientific conditioning of casts” and “regular happiness” as some of a good dictatorship's features. Unlike 1984 by Georges Orwell, Brave New world and Never Let me go's societies are not dominated by “punishment and fear of punishment”[6]. It makes them both more powerful and more dangerous, because people are not encouraged to rebel against the dictatorship. The lack of resistance is maybe what makes this dystopia more than a one. [...]

[...] All this tyranny is supported by a blind bureaucracy which makes it impossible to fight. The political power is not personalized, there is no one to blame clearly but the entire society. Tommy speaks at one point about his dream of two people trying to stay together. the current's too strong, they've got to let he ends up saying. The current he is talking about, it is the Kafka's bureaucracy, pointless and invisible, that doesn't allow any hope or any exception. There is a refusal to confront those whose human status has been withdrawn. [...]

[...] Would I accept this totalitarian regime to have my wife, my husband or my children cured from mortal diseases? It is the best thing that a tyranny can offer to a population, that's why this regime is so strong. Mrs. Emily explains it very clearly: “However uncomfortable people were about your existence, their overwhelming concern was that their own children, their spouses, their parents, their friends, did not die from cancer”. Then, the totalitarian regime benefits from the passivity of the population. [...]

[...] Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro - Discuss A dystopia is the idea of an imaginary society ruled by a repressive and controlled state, often in order to reach an utopian goal. It comes from the Greek or hard place”. The society described by Ishiguro uses human cloning in order to heal people, without any regards for ethical considerations. Criticizing this form of government doesn't seem to be Ishiguro's first aim, this book being about human relationship or about love which throws away the fear of death. [...]