Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguru [Book review]

 Title: Never Let Me Go

Author: Kazuo Ishiguru

 

 

Pretty much the only novel that brought me to tears. I loved it. Having said that, it is still not a patch on the work of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley that, I believe, rule(s) the domain of modern dystopian literature.

Post Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty Four (1949) and Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), I find most dystopian scenarios - both in novels and onscreen - to be regurgitations under some guise or the other. Aside from Ishiguru’s work, the only other novel that somewhat stood out was Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaiden’s Tale (1985). Rather than tackling the entire civilizational structure (which was already masterfully handled by both Huxley and Orwell), both Atwood and Ishiguru mostly tweak a particular aspect of society. For Atwood, it was the role of women in society being streamlined along titillating lines.

In his work, Ishiguru tackles the notion of humanness, by focusing on it’s overtly-pragmatic denial, in the face of obvious evidence regarding it’s existence. The novel revolves around how the protagonists are denied any and all human rights (including the right to life) owing to the conditions of their birth: They are clones created for the specific purpose of harvesting organs and are therefore considered non/sub-human.   The protagonists, are children, who exhibit all the ranges of emotion, desire and aspirations, like any other human being, thereby implying the sheer ridiculousness of denying that which is obvious i.e., their humanity.

The theme itself has been used quite often so it is the writer’s prowess that made the book stand out. I believe that this work is better than Ishiguru’s Remains of the Day (for which he was awarded the Booker in 1989) in the way that it brings the reader into the plight of the children.

A fascinating thread running through the book, is the emphasis that the children indulge in artwork. This is carried out in an effort to convince the decision makers that the children are more than mere things. Putting down thoughts on paper/canvas was an attempt to prove that the children experienced aspects of humanness i.e., an imagination (1) and thoughts that evoked human sentiment.  Via this earnest belief, Ishiguru brings home the centrality of the arts in understanding what it is to be human. The beauty of this fine point and how it falls on deaf ears reiterates how considerations for what constitutes humanity or, well, sub-humanity, cannot be understood coldly along logical, scientific and utilitarian lines.

 

Onscreen the line demarcating the human and the non-human has been violently explored in serials such as Westworld and, albeit less violently, in movies such as Bicentennial Man (2), Steven Spielberg's A.I and My Sister’s Keeper(3). The captioned novel has also been made into a cinematic experience (4). Of course, such scenarios are also allegorical in exhibiting how reasoned ignorance serves to propel xenophobic designs, prejudices, etc. (5).

Despite his name, Ishiguru’s writing is more western than Japanese. The writing of Haruki Murakami, on the other hand, represents more of the – sometimes complex - cultural nuances of Japanese society. Unfortunately, some of these nuances appear to be lost in the translation of Murakami’s works from Japanese to English. While many prefer Kafka on the Shore (2002) and Norwegian Wood (1987) I found his short stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2006) quite fascinating. 

 

Ishiguru’s novel, though published in 2005, throws open pertinent questions regarding how it may be decided who is to be treated as human and the lack of humanity that it may reflect in those who make such declamations. 

Today, legally, human cloning falls into a grey area. As of now full human cloning is illegal. On 8.3.2005, the United Nations passed the Declaration on Human Cloning GA/10333 whereby member states were called upon to prohibit all forms of human cloning. Many member states made it very clear that they were not in favour of an absolute ban on cloning and would adopt the appropriate domestic legislation, that they thought best, qua therapeutic embryonic cloning (6). Thus while some countries (eg. United States) authorize the cloning of embryos for research purposes, others (eg. Canada) are staunchly against it (7). What comes next remains to be seen.

  

(1) In other words:

                                                         “....The imagination is not a state,

it is the human existence itself”

 Milton

by

William Blake (1804-1810)

Blake believed that the ability to imagine was the cornerstone of being human. It might be mildly noted that my admiration for Blake in no way quells my love for Wordsworth (of whom Blake was a complex critic): .....Therefore am I still/ a lover of the meadows and the woods/And mountains; and of all that we behold/ From this green earth; of all the mighty world  - Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth (1798)

Side note: Blake also inspired Aldous Huxley’s Doors of Perception which is intoxicatingly brilliant – come for the drop of mescaline but stay for Huxley’s emblematic observations.

(2)Originally a novelette by Isaac Asimov (1976)

(3)Originally a novel by Jodi Picoult (2004)

(4)Not seen it

(5) There are few better examples of the cruelty of prejudice than India’s own harrowing and shameful history regarding the practice of untouchablity; a practice which is now, thankfully, outlawed.

(6) United Nations Press Release regarding the Declaration on Human Cloning GA/10333: https://www.un.org/press/en/2005/ga10333.doc.htm [visited on 21.5.2021 at 8:45pm]

(7) Weldon, D., (2002) “Why Human Cloning Must be Banned Now” Dignity (8) 1:1,4;

Under section 5(1)(a) and 5(1)(c) read with Section 9 of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, the Canadian government has prohibited all forms of cloning per se.  Though section 5(1)(b) regarding conditions for the creation of an in vitro embryo appears a bit discomfiting in some part(s). Link to the website of the Canadian government:

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/biologics-radiopharmaceuticals-genetic-therapies/legislation-guidelines/assisted-human-reproduction/prohibitions-scientific-research-clinical-applications.html [visited on 21.5.2021 at 9:05pm IST]

On the other side of the ecological spectrum, genetically engineered plant species i.e., genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) are considered to be intellectual property. The Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is currently the core legal agreement influencing the intellectual property rights that are enacted in most domestic legislation(s) today. Link: https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/27-trips.pdf