Never Let Me Go--- Ten

Quote from page 120:

There was, incidentally, something I noticed aout these veteran couples at the Cottages- something Ruth, for all her close study of them, failed to spot- and this was how so many of their mannerisms were copied from the television.

I think this apostrophe serves to indirectly characterize Kathy as extremely perceptive. This builds upon the comments Tommy has made in previous chapters about how Kath "notices everything". This apostrophe is Ishiguro's way of showing that this is a real characteristic of hers, not just a light-hearted comment made by a friend.

I also noticed something else on page 120 that I'd like to mention:

But then again, when I think about it, there's a sense in which that picture of us on that first day, huddled together in front of the farmhouse, isn't so incongruous after all. Because maybe, in a way, we didn't leave behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and- no matter how much we despised ourselves for it- unable to quite let each other go.

 With senior year- and graduation- fast approaching, I can't help but wonder if I'll feel this way as I walk through the halls of Roncalli for the last time as a student. I'm excited for the road ahead, and though it'll have some bumps and wild turns, I'm ready to take off. However, I do feel a slight pang of sadness whenever I think of graduation. By the time I leave, I'll have spent four years with people I've grown to love or learned to hate; either way, it's only natural to feel strange leaving these people behind and beginning something new and unfamiliar. Now matter how much someone tells you they can't wait to leave high school behind in the dust, a part of them- however small it may be- will be scared.

I also found that the essay Kathy mentions on page 110 is a sort of  tangible symbol for Kathy's connection to Hailsham. Once she left the school, she clung to that essay like Linus to his blanket.

My point is, the essay is meant to represent the students' connection to Hailsham, and the less the person worked on those essays, the less that person felt the need to have that connection- in other words, the better they were coping with their new home.

Until Next Time,
Alysse