“It was never true. Even before the Morningdale scandal. even back when Hailsham was considered a shining beacon, an example of how we might move to a more humane and better way of doing things, even then, it wasn’t true”(258).

It’s laughable that the guardians actually believed that their cause was humane. It’s also terrifying how realistic this book feels, how it’s not that unlikely that this could happen in our world as technology and medicine continues to improve. It’s disturbing that the guardians are able to rationalize their cause, that the world they live in accepts children being bred for organ donation, as if that makes perfect sense. The people accept it without any hesitation because they view these children as less than human, even though these children have feelings, hopes, and dreams.

The guardians actually believe that they provided a decent life for these children, but these children never really had a life at all. Sure they had a nice place to live and were able to act as normal children, their destines were predetermined. The guardians gave them false hope, letting the children believe that they actually had a choice. The most horrifying part of this novel is how easily the guardians and the rest of the world rationalized breeding children for organ donation.

Every novel we have read this semester focuses on the memories of our main characters. Most of the novels have a different narrative style, but Never Let Me Go has a style that mimics Midnight’s Children. Like Saleem, Kathy speaks directly to the reader as if she is having a conversation with the reader in real time. I both like and dislike the way in which the narrator casually mentions a memory, but doesn’t want to talk about it until later. It makes me want to continue reading, but it’s also a little infuriating that the narrator mentioned the memory in the first place if they weren’t planning on talking about it until later. I also like the way in which the narrator casually mentions disturbing information, such as when Miss Lucy informs the children that they are going to donate all of their organs. By doing this, the author keeps me hooked to the story. There were times when I was reading that I kind of zoned out, but then something as disturbing as being bred to donate organs pulls me back in to the story. I can’t wait to finish it.

Dr. Jordan is haunted by Grace and his sexual attraction to her, but he is also haunted by what he was unable to unravel. In the novel, Jordan has a dream where he is trying to dissect a dead woman, but she is fully clothed. He peels back layer after layer only to discover yet another layer. This dream shows his frustration at failing to get to the truth about the murders. Unfortunately, Dr. Jordan is unable to get to the truth by himself. He eventually asks the help of Dr. Dupont (a.k.a. Jeremiah) and here they discover that Grace was possessed by Mary Whitney. Dr. Jordan feels emasculated because he was unable to uncover the truth on his own. He feels as if he failed at his job, so he tries to find comfort in Mrs. Humphrey by abusing her in bed, once again placing himself in the role he feels he has lost. When she reveals that her husband will return, he decides to run away, abandoning Grace and his ruined reputation. Feeling emasculated by both women, he takes on the most manly role he can think of: soldier. We later learn that he suffers a head injury and fails to remember much of what happened, except Grace’s name, revealing that he is still haunted by her and what she did to him.

The way in which Atwood writes this novel makes the reader forget that we are getting information from a manipulative, accused murderess. Atwood fully immerses the reader so completely into the mindset of Grace that we accept it as the truth, until we stumble across the final sentence in Fox and Geese that states “…and I think to myself, I wonder what he will make of that”. This sentence reminds the reader that we are only given the information that Grace wants Dr. Jordan to have. We may never receive the complete truth because the majority of the novel focuses on Grace. I have not reached the end of the novel yet, but Atwood plays with emotions constantly. There are times where I feel that there is a chance that Grace is innocent, but then I remember that she is either manipulating the truth or omitting information that she knows will reflect poorly on her. It’s a brilliant narrative style that constantly surprises me and I cannot wait until I reach the end to see how the rest of the story will unfold.

“Men such as him do not have to clean up the messes they make, but we have to clean up our own messes and theirs into the bargain” (214).

This quote  refers to Dr. Jordan when he asks grace to elaborate on what she means by her everyday duties. This quote shows the overall ignorance shared by the men.  The men don’t understand the work that goes in to keeping a household running efficiently. They believe that since they have deemed it “women’s work” that it can’t be extremely difficult or demanding, which also shows the ways in which the men greatly underestimated the women during this time.

The passage where this quote comes from also discusses the way in which the men disregard the consequences of their actions. Perhaps this could be linked to Mr. Kinnear, that he doesn’t understand the affect he has on the women he employs and how his ignorance may have led to his murder.

So far in the novel a theme of imprisonment permeates the text. Both Grace and her mother experience some sort of imprisonment. Grace, suffering for her crimes, is actually confined to a prison  instead of receiving the death penalty. Grace’s mother feels imprisoned in her marriage to her husband. Both Grace and her mother are also confined to the ship when they begin their journey to Canada, and Grace’s mother dies on the ship, and Grace believes that her mother’s spirit is trapped on the ship, forever haunting the inhabitants.

Both women also experience imprisonment at the hands of the patriarchy. During this time, women were only deemed useful for household duties and procreation. Women were judged by their looks and their abilities, and as they aged they were desired less and less. Grace’s mother rushed into her marriage because she was pregnant outside of marriage, and therefore deemed “dirty” or “undesirable” by other men. Women were confined to household work and were also severely limited on their choice of suitors. They lacked control over much of their lives, much like prisoners who also lack control.

“Everyone who attempts to forge ties with our household ends up by sharing our fate.”

In my first blog post on Midnight’s Children, I talked about the recurrence of disappointing relationships throughout the narrative. This quote further proves this, but it also makes it seem as if the problems that each family member faces in their relationships is due to a curse. Looking back at the beginning of the novel, we learn that Saleem’s grandfather renounced his religion, and one could argue that this would later affect his relationship with Naseem and would also lead to other relationship failures within the rest of the family. The relationship of the grandparents starts off strong, but then devolves into something toxic. The relationship of Saleem’s parents mimics the rise and fall of a roller coaster, correlating directly with the success or failure of his father. Though Saleem is not a direct descendant of the Sinai family, he tried to forge a relationship with this family and it also affects his relationship with Padma.

However, I don’t think a lack of religion is completely to blame. One of the recurring images throughout the novel is the perforated sheet. The perforated sheet kept Naseem hidden from Aadam which in turn made the relationship more thrilling because each had to imagine what the other looked like. Take away the sheet and the mysticism evaporates. Each person in this family holds high expectations, which in turn affects their relationships.

The author’s use of ellipses throughout the novel seems to serve different purposes. One classmate stated that the narrative feels more like a conversation and I couldn’t agree more. The ellipses could be interruptions from other characters or Saleem’s thoughts interrupting his speech. We find evidence of this when Padma interrupts Saleem’s tangent on her name and Saleem makes a special passage just for her to assuage her hurt feelings.

The ellipses could also serve as a means for Saleem to not discuss things that make him feel uncomfortable. We find evidence of this when he describes his grandmother’s body when his grandfather meets her. Saleem may feel uncomfortable describing his grandmother’s naked body, so he gives us just enough information and then ends that line of conversation with an ellipsis. 

But what if the ellipses are used to show the gaps in Saleem’s knowledge? We know that Saleem is telepathic, and this could be where he gets all of his information. Saleem knows some pretty intimate details about his grandparents and his parents, things he wouldn’t know unless his parents told him. We also know that Saleem has to search through someone’s mind in order to find what he is looking for. Maybe the ellipses serve as a gap in information because he wasn’t able to find the whole story, so he tries to piece it together with the information he has.

The first half of the novel explains Saleem’s backstory, going as far back as to when his grandparents met and fell in love. Their marriage begins with the hope of new love, but soon devolves into a toxic relationship. In one instance, we learn of Naseem’s cruelty to Aadam by refusing to feed him due to their differences in how to raise their children. The two constantly disagree on nearly every subject, leading Naseem to take a three year vow of silence. Saleem’s mother also experiences dissatisfaction with her husband. When Saleem talks about his parents’ marriage, he reveals that his mother had to force herself to fall in love with her husband, focusing on one piece of his appearance or personality at a time, eerily similar to the way in which Saleem’s grandparents fell in love. Still, there are parts of Ahmed that Amina can’t love no matter how hard she tries. She also continually expresses her distaste over the estate they buy from Methwold, yet Ahmed ignores her complaints and forces her to move in anyway. Even Padma experiences unhappiness in her relationship with Saleem due to the lack of sexual intercourse between them. For now, I’m unsure of why Saleem won’t engage with Padma. Is he not attracted to her? Is he disinterested in that act? Or does he feel as if he can’t perform that act because he feels as if he is actually falling apart?

“It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation: I cling, obstinately, to the notion that something can also be gained.”

Rushdie begins this passage by talking about his memories of his past in Bombay. Our memories, however, are not always reliable. Memories change. What was once vivid and clear becomes muddled with the passage of time. One may remember a certain event happening one way while another person remembers it differently. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Though the volatility of our own memories may frighten us, there is in fact something to gain: a new perspective. Juxtaposing what you remember with what actually happened gives you a new viewpoint to consider. A child would often remember an event in a more optimistic perspective. Revisiting that place or memory as an adult allows you to go back and look at what you may have missed.