Sympathy

Sympathy means a mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it, a unity or harmony in action or effect. It also means an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other inclination to think or feel alike or an emotional or intellectual accord. In Never Let Me Go, in a way we may feel a lack of sympathy to the donors because it was their duty to society. There were no fighting scenes, no emotions. And, the way that it was written it seemed just a way of life. On the other hand, they are humans with thoughts and creativity. Sympathy relates to the term ambiguity. Ishiguro puts the morals into question, which brings a sense of ambiguity. On one hand, the donors are a utility for society and made it normal for them to give all of their organs and die. There is a question as to whether they are human or not. If having a sum of trillions of cells organized in a way to perform certain tasks, then yes, they are human. If they are human, then their sacrifice can be seen as a form of abuse because they have thoughts and feelings too. However, once the concept of a soul is brought up, things become hazier because there is no way to identify if the clones have souls. Therefore, we cannot determine if the clones were human or not. But does it really matter if they are human or not or should they really just be seen as a commodity to benefit the nation.

Works Cited

“Sympathy.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam webster.com/dictionary/sympathy.