- what is her relationship to sex?
- has sex with Tommy very thoughtfully
- doesn’t have other people to give good information
- why does she look for her own face in porn magazines?
- looking for an existential sense of self, identity, someone to be like
- if she’s a clone, is she really exactly the same? is everything from her genetics?
- if she’s abnormal, is it genetic?
- why was Hailsham closed?
- not the only school — there are others
- Hailsham is special
- others had worse conditions
- cruelty to the clones maintains distinction between clones and human
- Madame calls them “creatures” — maintaining distinction
- clones make the individual expendable
- death/mortality is what makes us individuals
- clones never die — they “complete” — fulfilled their purpose — not a life cut short
- starts with Kathy remembering Hailsham for donor
- establishes Hailsham as special, establishes key relationships
- why does this unnamed donor want Kathy’s memories?
- he wants better memories than he has — happy way to end his life — wants imaginary life before he dies
- he got the life that was set out for him
- wants to live vicariously through her
- wants to feel love
- clones don’t have memories of who they’re based on — looking for their “potentials” — trying to figure out memories, identities
- centrality of memory to the novel — why is the novel organized the way it is?
- the whole thing is a memory
- “Never Let Me Go” — reference to a memory
- special tape that she kept hidden, lost it — joke was that all lost things go to Norfolk — Tommy finds it for her at a thrift store later
- as a child, danced to it like she was holding a baby; thinks for a while Madame knew she was thinking about a miracle baby; later thinks Madame thought she was pretending to hold a lover; it turns out Madame perceived a girl clinging to an old world
- symbolism of memory shifts throughout the novel
- can’t detach yourself from humanity of clones — each repeat gets closer and closer to understanding
- Kathy imagines a character clinging to a future; Madame imagines a character clinging to the past — dystopian — loss
- “a little girl” ” creatures” — recognizing and not recognizing humanity
- who vs/ what
- what is the significance of rumor?
- went to see the boat
- how do they control the clones?
- it’s normal
- desire to be normal — don’t want to be deviant
- group — threat of being excluded/shunned
- everyone filling their roles — performativity, even down to Kathy and Tommy’s relationship
- keep them happy so they don’t ask questions
- role of education?
- tapping into creativity, imagination
- gallery
- to prove that they have souls
- indicates that souls can be interpreted — abstract thinking — thinking symbolically
- “they do something like us”
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