"'What does it matter anyway? What's the rhubarb patch got to do with anything? Just get on with what you were saying'" (Never Let Me Go, 190 and 202).
My goal of this post is to support this hypothesis: Kathy's motivation for leaving the Cottages is that her unique connection to the past has weakened her ties with her friends.
My first piece of evidence is the symbol of the "essays" (197). Few people at the Cottages took their assigned essay as seriously as Kathy did. The essays didn't seem all that important even to Kathy, but she read and took notes enthusiastically. She figured that since essays were important at Hailsham, if she treated them with importance at the Cottages, she could maintain the binding between the Hailsham students.
My second piece of evidence is the above quote that showed up twice in chapters sixteen and seventeen. Kathy continued to make references to things that happened at Hailsham to Ruth, but Ruth never responded to them well. Kathy wanted to keep her present life connected with her past, whereas her friend was more intent on cutting off that connection.
Once Kathy's difference from her friends weakened their relationships, she had no second thoughts about beginning her training to become a carer (202). I've known since the beginning of the novel that Kathy is, for some reason, a special person (since being a carer for twelve years is apparently a big deal [3]), and I think that stems from her special connection with the past.
Thus ends Part Two.
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