Exploring Unease : A Study of How Unease is Produced in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

Abstract:

This paper deals with the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and explores the feeling of unease established by the author. The theoretical framework for this paper is based on questions of humanity and thus makes use of existentialism as established by Sartre and Kierkegaard. Initially the essay explores how the setting of the novel helps establish a familiar world with unfamiliar elements. After that questions of humanity are raised and how these questions relate to the clones by showing that the clones have human qualities yet are not treated as human. These questions are expanded in the following part about ethical issues and it is shown that the reader is tempted by the author to cross certain ethical boundaries leading to a feeling of unease. Special attention is given to freedom of choice in the third part of the analysis and it is shown how the choices of the clones are very limited, especially if they are considered human. The fourth part then discusses the narrative perspective and how the narrator Kathy H. is used by the author to establish a connection and a perception of the narrator as human.