Oscar Menjivar

Professor Azeem
English 114B
7 May 2015
iHuman
In the dystopian novel, Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, humans have discovered a
way to clone themselves and use them for medical reasons. The medical reasons include, raising
the clones and then harvesting them for organs when they hit a certain age. The actual humans
used the clones for this even though the clones and humans were exactly the same, emotions and
all. The story of this novel follows a clone named Kathy H from 3 different time periods in her
life showing her growth and experiences she went through as a clone. Throughout these 3 parts
of the book Kathy shows multiple human traits and emotions that. The clones were exactly like
the humans but they still used them for science, which I think is still murder. The clones were
completely self-aware and could control their instincts so they could not have been considered
animals. Throughout the novel they exhibited behavior of a human in the way they acted
independently and together with each other. There would be no clear way to identify a clone by
the way they acted. The clones were exactly like the humans in every way possible, they even
had souls, but in this novel the humans did not want to acknowledge the fact of their similarity,
as the only way one could be human is if they were not born in a laboratory.

People argue that what makes a human, is their soul. Souls are what separates people from
each other, and want gives us personalities and emotions. Even though the reader knew that the
clones had souls just like humans, society did not believe it in the novel. Miss Emily tried to
prove that all clones had souls at Hailsham as she says, We took away your art because we
thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at
all. The clones art and the creativity they put into the art, helped prove that they were humans
and revealed the souls but the humans still purposefully did not want to accept this fact. But I
have to tell you, my dear, it wasnt something commonly held when we first set out all those
years ago. And though weve come a long way since then, its still not a notion universally held,
even today.(260) Miss Emily even address the fact directly that humans just through away the
notion of them having a soul and being human. It could be that the humans felt that the clones
were just like them but did not all want to accept it. The excerpt, not a notion universally held
shows the reader that this question is being brought up in the world but the humans inability to
acknowledge or even question it is helping the fact that they do not consider the clones as
humans.
In the novel, the only difference between the humans and clones was just that humans
were not born the traditional way, being born by woman. Thats what each of you [were]
created to doyoure not even like me, even as a guardian at hail sham, whose goal is to prove
that they are just like humans, Miss Lucy treats them as they are different. (81) She interacts with
the students and they adore her as well because she has always been the kindest towards them.
By observing them during class she would know through their creativity, they do act just like
humans. This lack of acknowledgment also brings up the inability for humans to accept the fact

that the clones are just like them and that what they are do is wrong. Many people share the same
school of thought, as Miss Lucy in their inability to accept that the clones are exactly like them.
This mentality does not seem to change, but just worsens as time goes on in the book. If
the humans started to see the clones as people and not as monsters, they can get closer to
accepting that they had just created humans just like themselves. But instead, there are comments
made by their former guardiansMiss Emily and Madame, that show that even they did not see the
clones as humans, Poor creatures. What did we do to you? With all our schemes and
plans?(255) this is said by Madame, and while they tried to prove that the clones were human
and had evidence for it, they themselves did not refer to the students as humans. The
condescending tone in this quote shows more about humans in this era, and the level of
superiority they believe they have over the clones. It makes the clones feel like they had no
control over their life and they were just science experiment to only benefit the humans. The
word creature, makes them sound unnatural and almost like a monster even though the clones.
This novel raises the great question as to what it means to be human, by using clones to
see how humans would coexist with them. Ishiguro used this to explain what humans were and
even though we may be humans and not animals, we still have flaws. He exposed the humans
and their selfishness as they would do anything just to better their lives and no matter what. In
the novel, humans create a way to allow themselves to live longer without addressing the
negative effect that it may cause. Humans did not put into consideration negative global
problems that having humans live longer and using resources to support the clones. Just like in
todays society were people pollute and water resources thinking that it does not affect them. It
also shows how humans push the truth aside so they can feel better with themselves. This is

shown in the book, when the humans acknowledge the fact and evidence that prove what they
are doing is wrong. However, they do not want to accept all of this since it would make they are
doing morally wrong. Never Let Me Go questions the reader and makes them think about what it
truly means to be human.