Woolworth's

"So we went into the Woolworth's, and immediately I felt much more cheerful. Even now, I like places like that: a large store with lots of aisles displaying bright plastic toys, greeting cards, loads of cosmetics, maybe even a photo booth" (Never Let Me Go, 157).

When the Woolworth's was introduced as a place where Chrissie and Rodney get birthday cards, I highlighted it and annotated, "I've heard of that." Then I thought about it a lot and remembered that it was a significant place in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.

It started with four black students who sat at a Woolworth's counter in Greensboro. They were not served because of their race, but they stayed at the counter until closing. Each subsequent day, more African Americans gathered at the counter as part of a large-scale sit-in.

I don't even know if the two Woolworth's stores are connected in any way, but I still wonder if the author choose Woolworth's for allusion purposes. I could easily draw a parallel between the students' sitting where they weren't allowed and Kathy's eavesdropping on Ruth and Chrissie. It's probably just a coincidence, but I'm going to pretend that it's an allusion. Either way, I think it's an appropriate choice of store.

". . . I'll stroll into somewhere just like that, where you can hang around and enjoy yourself, not buying a thing, and the assistants don't mind at all" (157).

One time, I went to Walmart for the sole purpose of putting stuff on my head, so I can totally relate to Kathy on this one.

My Predictions

"Since each of us was copied at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life" (139).

Way to throw in something else that I don't understand; my first prediction is that it's all going to be spelled out for me at the end of the novel, which would be nice. Sometimes it's kind of annoying, though -- Kathy's very withholding right now. Parks and Recreation quote opportunity!

Leslie: That fish over there kinda reminds me of my mom.
Justin: Why?
Leslie: It's just being very withholding.

I've read thirteen chapters so far, and I'm very confused about what's going to happen with the characters, so I'm going to make some predictions that will probably turn out to be embarrassing later on (organized from most likely to most far fetched):

1. All of the donor/carer/possible/deferral business will be explicitly explained to me by the end of the novel. I think it's just that kind of book.
2. Ruth and Tommy are going to continue their relationship way too long before anyone realizes that he should be with Kathy.
3. The trip that Kathy and Tommy will take to Norfolk later in the book will be the climax of the story.
4. The reason that Kathy is a carer for twelve years is that she managed to get a super-long deferral from donating.
5. Each person is actually two people. I'm not talking about emotional duality like the "two quite separate Ruths" (129) discussed in chapter eleven. I mean that there are two physically separate Kathys and Ruths and Tommys walking around England who share thoughts and memories.

Sex, Setting, and Split Infinitives

"As you'd expect, sex was different at the Cottages from how it had been at Hailsham. It was a lot more straightforward -- more 'grown up'" (127).

I wanted to choose a quote that reflected the idea that the new setting of the Cottages is a new experience for all of the characters. I figured this would be the most awkward one.

Now that Kathy, Ruth, Tommy, and other, less significant characters are at the Cottages, they have to make adjustments. It's hard to adjust to a "new life" (131), which Kathy expressed in chapter eleven. Hailsham was more sheltered under teachers like Miss Emily. Some things like donations and sex were mysterious, hushed topics. At the Cottages, the characters have more opportunities to freely talk about things that were previously forbidden for them.

I think the setting of the Cottages is a kind of bridge for the characters, connecting childhood at Hailsham to adulthood (and I figure I'm supposed to have a bunch of questions about what happens to adults in this book). I'm not sure if it's appropriate to compare it to college because I don't think academics have been discussed at all, but I suppose it's kind of like that. It's an awkward transition period, and I think I'll get to learn a lot more about things I'm not quite sure about yet.

Also, there are two split infinitives in chapters eleven and twelve: "to first violate" (129) and "to just listen" (143). It could be Kathy's "voice" or something silly like that, but I think I'm going to blame all of these insignificant-to-most-people errors on British publishers.

(Also, title alliteration? FTW.)

"We've run out of time. We have this one-minute discussion period going on here."

"It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to" (Never Let Me Go, 124).

Though I'm still bitter about the oxford comma issue, I have to admit that Ishiguro is very good at making analogies. The other one I can remember is the puddle one, which also happened in a conversation between Kathy and Ruth.

It's an interesting idea to compare a quarreling conversation to a game of chess, but it's kind of accurate. There are some moves of little consequence that are kind of like pleasantries. There are moves where you put your opponent in an unfortunate situation, which is like being on the winning side of a debate. Then there are the moves that Ishiguro described, which are like when you slip in the middle of a conversation. Also, clocks in chess are the scariest things of my life; they're kind of like the Obama-McCain town hall debate when Tom Brokaw kept cutting them off.

Both this analogy and the puddle analogy described "mistakes" Kathy made when she was conversing with Ruth, and both of them allowed Ruth to embrace her annoying, manipulative side and dominate the conversation. Their characters really don't go well together. You know what characters do go together? Kathy and Tommy. I just . . . don't . . . like . . . Ruth.

Kathy, don't go there -- it's forbidden!

"I shrugged. 'As you say, Tommy and I, we've always been able to talk.'

'Yeah, and he really respects you. I know because he's often talked about it. How you've got guts and how you always do what you say you're going to do. He told me once if he was in a corner, he'd rather have you backing him than any of the boys.' She did a quick laugh. 'Now you've got to admit, that's a real compliment. So you see, it's got to be you to our rescue. Tommy and I were made for each other and he'll listen to you. You'll do it for us, won't you, Kathy?'" (Never Let Me Go, 104).

GAHH.

People are actually this stupid, aren't they?

Anyway, I have more important things to discuss in this post. Chapters eight and nine were full of mysterious teachers, dramatic relationships, and sex stories. Naturally, I'm going to talk about Harry Potter.

That's the third floor corridor of Hogwarts. The first picture is from the sixth computer game, which really wasn't particularly fun -- Hogwarts was well designed, though. But that's not the important picture; the second picture is from the first movie when the third floor corridor was actually dangerous:

"'And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a very painful death'" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone [paperback], 127).

And now, Never Let Me Go:

"Anyway, that was what I was doing that morning after I'd fetched whatever it was I'd left in the classroom and come back out onto the third-floor landing" (90).

And then a creepy thing happened with Miss Lucy! I'm telling you, the third floor is the scariest one. If you numbered the floors at Roncalli one-two-three, it'd be the one with all (but one) of the scary English classrooms.

That's all I really wanted to do for this post: do a headdesk in response to Ruth and Tommy's relationship and then make a loose comparison to Harry Potter.

Thus ends Part One.