The Theme Of Memory In Never Let Me Go By Kazuo Ishiguro And The Sense Of An Ending By Julian Barnes

Memory is a complex process that involves acquiring, storing, and recalling information. Human memory involves the ability to both preserve and recover information we have experienced or learned. However, this is not a flawless process because sometimes we forget or misremember things. Sometimes things are not properly encoded in our memory in the first place. Regardless, memories are one of the most important aspects of life because they last when nothing else may. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is set in a dystopian world in which human clones are created so that they can donate their organs as young adults. The novel follows the life story of Kathy, a thirty-one-year-old clone who is raised at a boarding school called Hailsham, which is meant for future “donors.” For the past eleven years, she has worked as a “carer,” a nurse and companion to clones who are in between donations. However, when her time comes to finish the processes of her organ donations, she realizes that she will lose her memories with her friends, Ruth and Tommy who are no longer in the picture. These memories are very precious to her and the novel mainly consists of her flashbacks. In Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending, Tony Webster has retired and lives alone. He decides to narrate his life story. Flashbacks to when they were graduating high school, Tony vows to keep a friendship with Adrian Finch and goes off to college in Bristol, where he also begins dating seriously for the first time; his girlfriend, Veronica Ford. Unfortunately, they did not end up working out and during their final year of college, Tony learns from Adrian that he and Veronica are dating. Several months later Adrian commits suicide for philosophical reasons. Tony and Veronica meetup and she drives him to see a group of mentally handicapped men being escorted on a walk by a caregiver. She points out one man in particular. Tony does not understand the significance of this and Veronica chooses not to elaborate. Upon many visits to that place, Tony comes to find that the man is Veronica’s mother, Sarah’s son, he is Veronica’s half brother. It seems that Sarah and Adrian had been in a relationship and that the birth of their son was the catalyst for Adrian’s suicide. Both of these novels highlight the theme of memory through recalls of important friendships, flashbacks of the youth, and the willingness to hold onto things that no longer exist.

In Never Let Me Go, recalling of friendships is heavily mentioned throughout the novel, portraying the theme of memory. Recalling of friendships is significantly shown through the flashbacks Kathy has of the time she spent with Ruth and Tommy. ‘Those early months at the Cottages had been a strange time in our friendship. We were quarrelling over all kinds of little things, but at the same time we were confiding in each other more than ever’. This quote shows Kathy reminiscing over how her friendships came to be, highlighting the value behind them. The quarreling depicts the idea that every friendship has their ups and downs and the ability to confide in each other portrays how friendships consist of loyalty and comfort. Not only is the flashback of the development of Kathy’s friendships being shown, there are also instances where attachment between Kathy and her friends is used to portray how precious these memories were to Kathy. “Anyways, the thing was, however much we might have fallen out during the day, come bedtime, Ruth and I would still find ourselves sitting side by side on my mattress, sipping our hot drinks, exchanging our deepest feelings about our new life”. This portrays the attachment Kathy and Ruth had, an instance that became a precious memory for Kathy. Through these instances of how Kathy and her friendships developed, one can understand how as time went by, these moments became valuable for Kathy, highlighting the theme of memory.

In The Sense of an Ending, memory is shown through the flashbacks of Tony’s friendships as well as the development and significance of them. Through his narrative, Adrian Finch is the most mentioned friend. ‘You put together two people who have not been put together before. Sometimes it is like that first attempt to harness a hydrogen balloon to a fire balloon: do you prefer crash and burn, or burn and crash? But sometimes it works, and something new is made, and the world is changed.’ Tony states that although him and Adrian were two different people, when they were put together, something new was made which was their friendship becoming a significant part of his life. “And desire. I thought — at some level of my being, I actually thought — that I could go back to the beginning and change things. That I could make the blood flow backwards”. This quote from the novel is delivered from Tony. He makes a statement on going back to the beginning and changing things which refers to when Adrian committed suicide for philosophical reasons. Back when him and Adrian were in highschool, they based everything on philosophy, however, if Tony went back in time and changed that aspect, then it possibly could have prevented Adrian committing suicide and basing it off a philosophical reason. As a friend, it hurt Tony that his best friend was no longer alive. These instances of Tony and Adiran’s friendship depict the theme of memory and how significant it was to Tony’s life narrative.

In both of these novels, the theme of memory is shown through flashbacks of friendships, their development and their significance to one’s life narrative. From both novels, it can be understood that friendships play a huge role in one’s life. However, if friendships end the way Kathy’s did, or if friends pass way like Tony’s did, then memories with those people is all one is left with. This is how both of these novels depict the theme of memory through recalls of important friendships.

In Never Let Me Go, flashbacks of the protagonists’ youth contributes to the novel’s theme of memory. Throughout the novel, Kathy often refers back to how things used to be while growing up. She refers not only to friends but the neighbourhood, the school, the teachers etc. ‘Driving around the country now, I still see things that will remind me of Hailsham. I might pass the corner of a misty field, or see part of a large house in the distance as I come down the side of a valley, even a particular arrangement of popular trees up on a hillside, and I’ll think: ‘Maybe that’s it! I’ve found it! This actually is Hailsham!’. This is a quote from the novel that shows that when Kathy is driving around her old neighbourhood, she comes across things such as buildings or trees that remind her of her old school, Hailsham. Excitement falls upon her because revisiting her school, brings back her childhood memories. With that being said, there is an instance in the novel where Kathy specifically talks about remembering things. “I won’t be a carer anymore come the end of the year, and though I have got a lot out of it, I have to admit I’ll welcome the chance to rest — to stop and think and remember”. When Kathy said she will stop, think and remember, it shows us readers that she is willing to look back at her life and revisit certain aspects that helped shaped her into the person she is currently or memories that she wants to stick with her once she has completed her organ donations. These quotes depict the theme of memory in this novel because they are about the occurrences from the past that played a significant role in Kathy’s perspective of life.

In The Sense of an Ending, Tony, the protagonist is narrating his life story, making the entire novel a flashback. In his life narrative, he speaks about the people and the situations involved that helped shape him into the person he is currently. ‘But school is where it all began, so I need to return briefly to a few incidents that have grown into anecdotes, to some approximate memories which time has deformed into certainty’. This quote is Tony stating that school is where his life journey mainly began. This is simply about the memories he’s made since then and how they’ve become anecdotes which are short interesting stories. These anecdotes for each instance within his life narrative shows how far back his memory goes and for him to recall such things means those aspects hold value. “History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation”. This is a quote being delivered by Adrian. While narrating his life story, at a certain point Tony brings up this statement from Adrian. He says that although he is telling his life story the way he remembers it, if we were to hear this from Adrian’s perspective then it would be somewhat different. He uses his friend’s reasoning to justify the way he tells his story. The theme of memory is shown through Tony’s anecdotes which are stories within his story as well as how the way he remembers things may not be completely accurate as there are more perspectives to be offered. Nevertheless, this is Tony’s version, the version that us readers are being given.

Memory is shown through flashbacks of the protagonists’ youth. In some cases, one may tell stories within a story like Tony, while others will physically revisit spots that help enhance the memory better the way Kathy did. Regardless, both novels depicted the same theme by having Kathy and Tony narrate their life story or refer back to significant instances that occurred throughout their lifetime which exercised their memory.

In Never Let Me Go, there are instances where the willingness to hold onto things that no longer exist help portray the theme of memory. This is mainly shown through Kathy and her feelings towards her memories with Ruth and Tommy. ‘I was talking to one of my donors a few days ago who was complaining about how memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t see them ever fading. I lost Ruth, then I lost Tommy, but I won’t lose my memories of them’. Memories tend to fade when clones finish their organ donations. However, in this quote, Kathy is speaking to one of her donors about how her memories with Ruth and Tommy will never fade even if her organ donation process is complete, simply because they hold a lot of value. This shows the ideology that one doesn’t realize the value of something until it’s gone as Tommy and Ruth are no longer in the picture. When Kathy has completed her donation process her memories will fade because that’s just the fate of clones, they are not given a choice. Here, it can also be understood that Kathy is in denial about losing her memories with her old friends, she says they will not fade when indeed they will as that is how the process of completion works. By her being in denial, us readers can only understand the value and truth her friendships held and because they are no longer in contact, holding onto those memories gives Kathy satisfaction. She is holding onto friendships that no longer exists exercising her memory, which once more supports the theme of this novel.

In The Sense of an Ending, Tony holds onto his friendship with Adrian because Adrian is a significant part of his life narrative. ‘It was more unsettling because it looked and felt quietly wrong, as if some small lever of the universe had been pressed, and here, just for these minutes, nature was reversed, and time with it.’ (Barnes, 78). Keeping in mind that the novel itself is Tony’s life narrative, when this quote is portrayed, Tony is expressing his feelings about Adrian’s death. At one point he admired the fact that Adrian justified his reasoning for his suiceide in a note, claiming that is was all philosophical. However, coming to terms with the fact that one of your closest friends is no longer alive can still upet an individual no matter the reason. This was Tony’s way of expressing it, in a philosophical way. He states that it was unsettling and that it felt quietly wrong. He then brings in metaphors regarding time and the universe to express his sorrow. With that being said, us readers can understand this took a toll on Tony at the time and still did years later. He mentions Arian significantly throughout his narrative and still expresses his feelings about his suicide in a way where we can understand that it hurt Tony and that this friendhsip meant a lot to Tony. This narrative itself with Adrian paying a significant part shows that Tony still holds onto something that does not exist anymore, which is Adrian. Although Adrian is dead, the friendship that was there while he was alive held a lot of value and still did even after he passed away. The memories are all Tony has, which relates back to the theme of the novel.

Figuratively holding onto things that no longer exist is a process which individuals use to keep themselves happy or satisfied. This is clearly shown when Kathy is in denial about losing her memories with Ruth and Tommy because it helps keep her happy. It is the only thing she has left of them. As for Tony, his friend has passed away and since bringing him back to life was not an option, the memories in his life story narrative is all he has of Adrian to keep himself happy. Either way, both protagonists are holding onto memories because memories are a way of keeping something that held a lot of value close to you even if reality has changed.

Never Let Me Go and The Sense of an Ending both portray the theme of memory which is depicted through the protagonists’ relationships, stories and events. Kathy and Tony both had developed friendships that were significant to their stories showing us readers how friendships playa a huge role in our memories. The flashbacks and the telling of their life narrative was enough to depict this theme as well as their willingness to hold onto something that no longer existed. As mentioned above, both protagonists held onto memories because memories are a way of keeping something that held a lot of value close to you even if reality has changed or says otherwise. Overall, this is how both novels depicted the theme of memory.

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