Never Let Me Go, as a novel, is one big metaphor for the disappointment of adulthood and the acceptance that all people must learn to have for it. The scene in which Miss Lucy dashes the children’s hopes of becoming movie stars is a prime example of this. One day, several “students” at Halisham are discussing what they would like to do for future careers when Miss Lucy overhears them and, unable to contain herself, responds by explaining to all the children that they won’t be able to do any of the things they want to do because of what their existence at the bizarre school implies about their future. It might seem unusual at first that these children already have their fates decided, but is it really? Most of us have unrealistic dreams of becoming movie stars, doctors, or musicians at one point or another, but few will actually make the cut. As the majority of people enter adulthood, and the reality of rent, insurance, and other life expenses begins to set in, they must learn to accept that their childhood dreams will remain just that: dreams.

The conflict that occurs when the aspirations of youth clash with the disappointment of adulthood is what Kazuo Ishiguro tries to capture in Never Let Me Go. If we choose to interpret the novel in this way, then Miss Lucy represents the school counselor or adult who has to break it to a kid that no, they won’t be a pilot. Or no, they won’t get into their dream school. Life is hard for the students in Ishiguro’s novel, but just like with all of us, it becomes easier once they learn to accept it for what it is.