A controversial theme of the novel “Never Let Me Go” may be Trust. Trust is very evident throughout this novel. The characters in the novel go through many problems where they must trust each other to help decide to disapprove to an action and correct another’s actions. To gain this trust most people state that someone must slowly gain the trust of another. Slowly gaining the trust of another may work but to create a very strong trust, they must go through experiences which will test that trust.
The controversial thesis that is evident in this novel can be, one cannot trust another unless both people are willing to express disapproval at times. To prove this thesis to be controversial there are claims, such as building trust through being confined in an area where Kathy, Ruth and Tommy have been sent after they graduated from Hailsham, fearing being left alone after leaving the school that she has been for the last years of her life, and losing a bond that has been kept together for many years. The day when you graduate from middle school and go to high school can be a very difficult part for your friendship.
Quite a few of your friends may not go to the same school and this is what happened with Kathy, Ruth, Tommy and quite a few of the friends that they were in Hailsham. Till this point they have been studying and living at Hailsham so when they graduated they were sent to multiple locations. The location that Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were sent to is called the cottages which is a bunch of old barn houses and stables converted into living quarters. “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. (97)
Kathy states quite a few things in this statement which shows her trust. She says that they were “quarreling over all kinds of little things”. This states that they had a nice friendly environment which had little problems along the way but were solved quite quickly. She also says that they were “confiding in each other”. This means that they have been trusting each other more and more during their times there. It would have increased their friendship and trust which would have helped them conquer problems that will happen later on in their lives.
Kathy enter a new world after her years at Hailsham at the cottages but she has her friends to comfort and help her through this situation. The trust between these friends help them get through the next years in her life before going on to become a carer or a donor. Before entering into the cottages they go through their final years at Hailsham, Kathy seems to miss the days at Hailsham since she talks about how when she wakes up in the cottages to the sounds of students talking about poetry or philosophy. She talks about the long winters and the steamy breakfasts.
Because maybe, in a way, we didn’t leave it behind nearly as much as we might once have thought. Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and no matter how much we despised ourselves for it-unable quite to let each other go. ” (92) The trust between these friends is expressed twice in this quote. One of these points is “maybe, in a way, we didn’t leave it behind”, this explains how Kathy is feeling as if she hasn’t left everyone’s trust at Hailsham and that everyone that she brought with her are the people who she has the most trust with.
As Kathy states that “unable quite to let each other go” shows how she trusts her friends enough to not even let them go away from her. This shows the trust between these friends. This states that she has a very strong bond and trust between her friends through disapproval and bumps. Kathy has a very long and strong relationship with her friend Ruth, they have been together since her days at Hailsham. She has a strong trust with Ruth but throughout the years at the cottages, their trust has slowly been depleting. She leaves the cottages a while after Tommy shows Ruth and Kathy his drawings.
Ruth says to Tommy that “Kathy thinks your drawings are a hoot” which Kathy doesn’t really agree with. Ruth also says that if she and Kathy make fun of him he shouldn’t really care since that is just between them. This lowers the trust between these friends to an all-time low. “It never occurred to me that our lives, until then so closely interwoven, could unravel and separate over a thing like that. ” (153) Kathy is the calmest person in the group in her ways of dealing with problems that occur. In the example of what happened which made Kathy leave the cottages, Kathy didn’t deal with the problem in a way that she would normally.
She had very strong friendship and trust between her and Ruth and because of one situation it slowly ends. This is evident where Kathy says “until then so closely interwoven”. This shows how Kathy agrees how she had a very strong Throughout the novel there are events that modify the trust that Kathy and Ruth have. The three claims discussed revolve around the situations and problems that they face in the “cottages”. A few of the problems that occur are arriving at the cottages themselves, as this created problems, such as leaving all of the other friends that the three had at Hailsham.
They also create a better trust through being confined together with people that they didn’t know, this increased their trust within each other. Finally they also have problems occur after they leave the cottages where they have lost the friendship that they once had truly cherished. These claims relate back to the thesis which is, one cannot trust another unless both people are willing to express disapproval at times. Kathy and Ruth have a friendship and strong trust which may have been brought down at times but because of this their trust has become stronger.
