In Ishiguro’s book Never Let Me Go he uses the theme of Nature Vs. Nurture to show no matter what ones upbringings they support how they act, but not totally dependent upon it.
These individuals in Hailsham are brought up in a totally separate area physically and emotionally from the rest of the way of a normal person, but they end up having the same emotions and desires in life. These students are live inside a school separate from outside influences, except from the tape that Kathy discovers from the “sales”. These “sales” are their only real way of obtaining outside influences and ideas of the world and shaping their way of life. Similarly, to the minimal outside influence of “Nature” the “Nurture” characteristics provided by the guardians are very minimalistic. The guardians crush the dreams of the students as they want to become actors and famous, but as they are told to do, the guardians pull the students back into reality of they are truly built to be only donors. It is ironic Ishiguro use the word guardian to term these parental figures, in that they are more guard of the students from leaving the school and obtaining outside influences than actual parental figures. These guardians try to keep the individuals in the right direction, but these students are constantly questioning their authority from their beginning in Hailsham until their final resting place as donors.
Craig,
ReplyDeleteYou made a brilliant point that Ishiguro wrote of the parental figures as guardians which is ironic as they were much more like guards of a prison. I think that is very true. They were there to keep them in and not to ask many questions. They were also there to brainwash them in a sense. They were not there to make to sure they were fulfilling their life's ambitions.