Never Let Me Go

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.01: Me, Me, Me

Welcome to Hailsham!

Check it out in all its weird, creepy splendor! Stroll its weird, creepy grounds!

Actually, wait a sec.

Kathy H. looking for Hailsham, a.k.a. spooky, dystopian Hogwarts.
(Source)

We're not getting a documentary, a "The Sights and Sounds of Hailsham," as much as we're getting one woman's memory of her experiences of Hailsham. This ain't the Discovery Channel. There are no Hailsham experts coming out of the woodwork to tell you the history and give you insights into the architecture and whatnot.

For one thing, that would be super weird since, uh, Hailsham isn't a real place.

For another thing, it would be way less intimate. And that's why we think Mr. Kazuo Ishiguro made a wise decision in having Kathy H. talk to us directly. Because of the first-person narration, we're more emotionally invested in Kathy and feel more compassionate toward her.

All that from a type of writing style. Way to go, literature.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01a: Chapters 1–2

Go ahead and read Chapters 1–2 of Never Let Me Go. And if you get creeped out, have a nice cup of English Breakfast tea and check out what we have for you over at the chapter summaries.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.01b: Point of View

Even NPR has something to say about first-person narration.

Point of View: How So Many Rooted For 'Breaking Bad's' Walter White

Give it a read, and then come back here.

So what do the world's greatest meth cook and a sweet-seeming carer named Kathy H. have in common? Very little, but there is one thing: we get the story from their point of view. And that, as we've read in the NPR article, is super important.

Point of view can make us root almost unconditionally for a character. In Walter White's case, viewing that mustard stain in the pilot gives us unlimited empathy, no matter how murderous our protagonist gets. In Kathy's case, it gives us the staying power to listen to her narration when we're not sure exactly what she's talking about.

It also bonds us to these characters—we care about their fate. Depending on how you look at it, it's either a super-generous exercise in compassion or major manipulation by the author…or both.

Remember back to the part of the article that explains how the point of view shot works:

"You show a close-up shot of an actor's face," Magliano says. "Then you show a shot of what he's looking at—say for instance, a candy bar. Then the camera cuts back to the actor's face."

The audience immediately has an idea of what the character is thinking, even when he is silent, Magliano says. "We just know, 'Oh, he's hungry.'"

Now head over to the activity to see how it works in Never Let Me Go.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.01a: Never Let You Go

Let's take a look at the first two chapters of Never Let Me Go for instances of a literary point-of-view shot.

Think of Kathy's memory of driving around looking for Hailsham:

I might pass the corner of a misty field, or see part of a large house in the distance as I come down the side of a valley, even a particular arrangement of poplar trees up on a hillside and I'll think "Maybe that's it! I've found it! That actually is Hailsham." Then I see it's impossible and I go on driving, my thoughts drifting elsewhere.

This passage contains a whole boatload of emotion. There's hope (she looks for Hailsham in everything from fields to buildings to trees); there's excitement (check out the exclamation points and the italics—she's totally into it); and then there's disappointment without surprise (she doesn't really dwell on it at all—she keeps on driving).

Your task:

Find five examples of similar emotionally charged point-of-view moments, where the emotion isn't stated. Something like "I looked excitedly for a cat. I found a cat and was so happy! I lost my cat and was sad" doesn't work here. Also, it's poorly written. Sorry, peeps.

In each space below, you'll do three things:

1. Copy down the quote.
2. List the emotions contained in the quote.
3. Jot down how you know those are the emotions if they're not clearly stated.

When you're ready, enter your answers in the spaces below.

Sample Lesson - Activity