Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Chapters Summary 

Summary: Chapter 5

Kathy recalls her involvement with the secret guard, a small group of students dedicated to protecting Miss Geraldine from a supposed kidnapping plot. Led by Ruth, the guard collects “evidence” linking various guardians and students to the plot. Although the details of the plot are always vague, the guard believes that it will involve the woods behind Hailsham. Students generally fear the woods, passing down frightening stories about former students who died there. One rumor involves a boy found with his hands and feet cut off, while another is about a little girl who starved to death. Kathy and her friends once “punished” their classmate Marge K. for embarrassing them by forcing her to look at the woods at night through a window.

Kathy remembers that everyone in the secret guard helped to maintain the “fantasy” of the plot, even after outgrowing it. By way of explanation, she describes an incident she has with Ruth over chess. One day, Kathy buys a chess set at a Sale because she thinks Ruth can teach her to play. Ruth has often implied that she knows the game, but her attempt to teach Kathy shows that she does not. Kathy walks away from their game in anger. The next day, Ruth expels Kathy from the secret guard. Nonetheless, Kathy still defends the guard when another student calls it childish. Kathy’s memories jump ahead about three years. Ruth comes to class with a new polka-dotted pencil case, insinuating that it is a gift from Miss Geraldine. Ruth often implies that she is a special favorite of Miss Geraldine, although Kathy can never tell if she is telling the truth. Kathy is particularly annoyed about the pencil case, which she suspects Ruth purchased at a recent Sale. As a test, she tells Ruth that she has seen the register where Sale purchases are recorded. Kathy is bluffing, but when Ruth becomes visibly upset, this confirms Kathy’s theory. Kathy immediately regrets trying to catch her in a lie. She assures Ruth that she did not see much in the register, but Ruth walks away.

Summary: Chapter 6

After the pencil case incident, Kathy tries to make up for her behavior by implying that Miss Geraldine does favor Ruth. One day, another student asks where Ruth got her pencil case. Ruth hesitates, but Kathy covers for her by calling it a mystery. Ruth seems pleased, and eager to do something for Kathy in return. The opportunity arises when Kathy loses her favorite cassette tape, a Judy Bridgewater album called Songs After Dark. This tape triggers several other memories. Kathy briefly recalls a later visit to Norfolk, where she found a copy of the tape with Tommy. Norfolk reminds her of Miss Emily, who used calendar photos to teach the students about the English counties. Miss Emily did not have any pictures of Norfolk, which she called “a lost corner” of England. Because the Hailsham lost-and-found was also called the “Lost Corner,” the students began to think that all lost property found in England ended up in Norfolk. Kathy recalls believing this as a child, although it later became a joke. When she and Ruth later spoke about Norfolk at Ruth’s recovery center, Ruth recalled the comfort of believing in Norfolk. Kathy says that finding a copy of her tape in Norfolk brought back the wish to believe in its power.

Kathy returns to the story of losing her tape, which she notes has Judy Bridgewater holding a cigarette on the cover. She keeps the tape hidden at Hailsham because the students are told they must stay perfectly healthy and as such are explicitly forbidden from smoking. Kathy often plays her favorite track, “Never Let Me Go,” when she is alone in the dormitory. The refrain, “Baby, baby, never let me go,” makes her think the song is about a woman who miraculously has a baby after being told that she cannot have children. Kathy imagines the woman singing and holding her baby. The song conveys the woman’s happiness, but also her fear that the baby will be taken away. One day, Kathy is singing along to the song and swaying her pillow like a baby. When the song ends, she sees Madame watching her from the hallway. Madame is crying, and leaves abruptly. Kathy does not discuss the incident at first. She only tells Tommy a couple of years later, after they begin theorizing about Miss Lucy. Tommy theorizes that Madame cried because she knew the students could not have babies. Two months after the encounter with Madame, Kathy’s tape disappears. Ruth helps her search for it, and later gives Kathy another tape called Twenty Classic Dance Tunes. Kathy still has this tape as an adult, and considers it one of her most precious possessions.

Summary: Chapter 7

Kathy’s memories shift to her last years at Hailsham, from roughly age thirteen to age sixteen. She recalls these years being darker and more serious than the ones before, and sees Tommy’s confession at the pond as a marker between the two periods. Miss Lucy continues to behave strangely around the students. One day, Miss Lucy and a group of students take shelter from a rainstorm in the sports pavilion. Miss Lucy hears two boys discussing what it would be like to become actors. Miss Lucy, visibly upset, announces that such talk is inappropriate because their futures are already determined: when Hailsham students reach adulthood, they will fulfill their purpose in life by donating their vital organs. Miss Lucy expresses frustration with the other guardians who refuse to speak directly to the students about their futures.

Kathy explains that the guardians tended to lecture on donations and sex at the same time, and she wonders if they did so to keep the students from focusing on or questioning donations. She also recalls that Miss Emily urged the students to be cautious about having sex in the outside world, where non-students attach more significance to sex because they are capable of having children. Although the younger students avoid discussing donations, Kathy and her classmates begin to joke about them as teenagers. In one running joke, students pretend to “unzip” themselves and hand over their organs. This joke emerges after several boys pull a prank on Tommy, convincing him that a cut on his elbow will “unzip” unless he keeps his arm straight. After Miss Lucy’s speech in the pavilion, the students avoid talking about donations again.

Summary: Chapter 8

During her last summer at Hailsham, Kathy is daydreaming in a quiet hallway when she hears a strange hissing noise. Following the noise to a nearby classroom, she finds Miss Lucy angrily scribbling out a stack of handwritten papers. Kathy apologizes and leaves the room, feeling ashamed and confused. The adult Kathy pauses to note that Tommy also had a strange interaction with Miss Lucy that summer, although he did not tell her about it until years later. Kathy does not describe the interaction, but says that Tommy’s old temper returned around the same time. She recalls showing Tommy a hand-painted Hailsham calendar, which she had just purchased at one of the Exchanges. Instead of praising it, Tommy walked away. At the time, Kathy assumed that his strange moods related to his recent breakup with Ruth, whom he had been dating for six months.

Kathy reflects on the guardians’ contradictory messages about sex. Although the guardians encouraged the students not to be ashamed of sex, they also discouraged students from having sex at school. The students developed many theories about whether or not the guardians actually wanted them to have sex, but Kathy thinks that Ruth’s theory was the most probable. Ruth thought that the guardians wanted to prepare students for sex in the outside world, but did not want to deal with them having sex at school. Kathy recalls feeling left out at Hailsham because many of her friends claimed to be having sex. While she doubts many of these claims were true, she does know that Ruth had sex with Tommy. Kathy says that she also wanted to have sex, as a way of practicing for the future. She spent several weeks preparing to ask her classmate Harry C., but Ruth and Tommy’s breakup changed her mind.

Summary: Chapter 9

Kathy explains why she postponed her plan to have sex with Harry C. Soon after Tommy and Ruth’s breakup, Kathy's friends began to hint that she was Ruth’s “natural successor” to be Tommy’s girlfriend. Kathy adds that she saw Harry at a recovery center a few years ago. He had just given a donation, and she isn’t sure that he recognized her. She returns her focus to Hailsham, where Ruth soon asks her for help in getting back together with Tommy. Ruth says that Tommy respects Kathy and will listen to her advice. Kathy worries that Ruth will hurt Tommy again, but Ruth claims to be done playing games. Ruth points out that they are adults now, and will soon leave Hailsham. Kathy agrees to meet with Tommy.

Tommy tells Kathy that he is not upset about the breakup, but about a recent conversation with Miss Lucy. Earlier in the summer, Miss Lucy admitted she had made a mistake in telling him that it was okay to be uncreative. She said that Madame’s Gallery was more important than she had first realized, and alluded to the students' artwork as “evidence.” Miss Lucy urged Tommy to begin making art again. Kathy is intrigued, but focuses on encouraging Tommy to get back together with Ruth. Tommy says that he cannot rush back into the relationship, especially since they will be leaving Hailsham soon. The next day, the students hear that Miss Lucy has left Hailsham for good. Tommy and Ruth get back together that evening.

Summary: Chapter 10

Kathy arrives at the Cottages with Ruth, Tommy, and five of their Hailsham classmates. They meet the gruff caretaker Keffers and the “veterans,” a group of older students already living at the Cottages. None of the veterans attended Hailsham. Kathy and her friends slowly adjust to life at the Cottages, which are a group of run-down farm buildings converted into living space. They spend their days discussing literature, philosophy, and art with the veterans. They also work on their final essay assignments from Hailsham, although the essays begin to feel less urgent as time goes on. Several of the veterans are in established relationships, and Kathy notices that these couples unintentionally mimic the gestures of television show characters. Ruth begins to copy the veteran couples, adopting a gesture of lightly tapping Tommy on the arm to say goodbye.

One day, Ruth annoys Kathy by summarizing the plot of Daniel Deronda aloud while Kathy is reading it. Kathy asks Ruth why she hits Tommy on the arm to say goodbye. When Ruth claims not to know what she means, Kathy says that the gesture isn’t worth copying because it comes from television. Ruth brushes off the comment, but Kathy senses that she is angry. Ruth says that Kathy is jealous of her new veteran friends, and accuses her of associating only with the Hailsham students. Kathy accuses Ruth of not looking out for Tommy. In response, Ruth ambiguously acknowledges that Kathy has made friends with “some of the veterans.” Kathy walks away angrily.

Summary : Chapter 11

Kathy explains why Ruth’s comment about the veterans bothered her. Kathy and Ruth quarrel often at the Cottages, but also confide in one another more than ever. They spend long evenings in Kathy’s room, talking privately about their new lives. Kathy believes they have an unspoken agreement not to use anything they discuss against one another. Ruth’s comment refers to the fact that Kathy has had sex with a few of the veteran boys, something that Kathy admitted in one of their private conversations. Kathy pauses to explain that attitudes about relationships and sex were more straightforward at the Cottages than at Hailsham. The veterans did not gossip about sex, and treated one-night-stands casually. When Kathy told Ruth about her “one-nighters,” or one-night-stands, she also admitted to having strong sexual urges. Ruth was sympathetic, but agreed that Kathy’s urges seemed unusual and denied having such urges herself. Kathy admits that her own comment about arm slapping may have provoked Ruth to make the comment about her one-nighters. Ruth tried hard to impress the veterans at the Cottages, often ignoring Kathy and Tommy. Kathy says that the arm slapping comment violated her unspoken agreement to support Ruth’s attempts to fit in.

Kathy remembers a conversation at Ruth’s recovery center, where Ruth expressed regret about throwing away her “collection” of Hailsham items at the Cottages. While Kathy kept her collection, Ruth asked Keffers to donate hers to charity because the veterans did not have collections. Kathy returns to recalling life at the Cottages. Although some of the veterans are training to be carers, they never discuss their training courses. The veterans also avoid talking about students who have left for good, only mentioning them in connection with objects they have left behind. One day, Kathy picks up a stack of pornographic magazines left behind by a veteran named Steve. She takes the magazines to the boiler room, where she flips through the pages and looks closely at the faces of the models. Tommy walks in, and is surprised to see her with the magazines. She tells him that she is looking at them just for fun, but Tommy suspects that she is not telling him everything.

in the window of an open-plan office. Kathy pauses the story to explain the “possibles theory” that circulated among students. Since they are clones, the students assume that each of them has a model living in the outside world. A “possible” is someone who looks like a possible model for one of the students. Some students think their models must be older than them, around the age of normal parents, while others think the models can be any age. Many believe that seeing their models will tell them something about who they are or offer a glimpse into their future. Kathy notes that possible sightings tend to come in waves, and are not usually substantive.

Summary: Chapter 12

Chrissie and Rodney, a veteran couple, visit Norfolk at the end of winter. They return claiming that Rodney saw Ruth’s “possible” in the window of an open-plan office. Kathy pauses the story to explain the “possibles theory” that circulated among students. Since they are clones, the students assume that each of them has a model living in the outside world. A “possible” is someone who looks like a possible model for one of the students. Some students think their models must be older than them, around the age of normal parents, while others think the models can be any age. Many believe that seeing their models will tell them something about who they are or offer a glimpse into their future. Kathy notes that possible sightings tend to come in waves, and are not usually substantive.

Although Chrissie is kind and welcoming, her many questions about Hailsham make Kathy suspect that she has a hidden motive. Rodney is also friendly, but generally follows Chrissie’s lead. Kathy doubts his story about seeing the possible in Norfolk, especially since the possible is living Ruth’s “dream future.” Earlier in the winter, Kathy and Ruth saw a magazine on the ground while walking to a nearby village. The magazine lay open to an advertisement featuring an open-plan office. A few days later, Ruth began to talk about her dream future of working in an open-plan office. The veterans listened eagerly, but Kathy realized that Ruth was describing the office from the magazine. For days, Chrissie kept encouraging Ruth to talk about the office. Kathy explains that the veterans thought Hailsham students had access to special opportunities, and believed it possible that Ruth might work in an office one day. Chrissie and Rodney invite Ruth on a trip to Norfolk to search for her possible. Kathy and Tommy decide to come too, which does not seem to please Ruth.

Summary: Chapter 13

Rodney arranges to borrow a car for the Norfolk trip, but his plans fall through just before they are supposed to leave. Ruth becomes visibly upset, although she has, up until now, treated the trip like a joke. Rodney secures another car and the trip proceeds as planned. On the way to Norfolk, Ruth sits between Kathy and Tommy in the back seat. She spends most of the drive leaning forward to speak with Rodney and Chrissie, which prevents Kathy and Tommy from talking to one another. Kathy suggests that she and Ruth switch seats, but Ruth angrily accuses her of trying to make trouble. Ruth sulks in silence for the rest of the drive. The mood lightens when they arrive in Norfolk and go to a local café for lunch.

Kathy expects to discuss Ruth’s “possible” over lunch. Instead, Rodney and Chrissy suggest visiting their friend Martin, a carer who lives in Norfolk. Kathy points out that they are not supposed to visit carers, provoking a sarcastic comment from Ruth. Tommy asks about Ruth’s possible, but Rodney seems reluctant to discuss the subject. Chrissie says that one day Ruth herself may work in a Norfolk office, then shares a rumor about a former Hailsham student who supposedly got a job in a clothes shop. She adds that that Ruth told her about another Hailsham student working as a park ranger. Tommy expresses confusion and denies ever hearing these rumors, but Kathy pretends to know about the student. Chrissie brings up a rumor that Hailsham couples in love can apply to defer their donations for a few years, and asks how to apply. Ruth claims to know about deferrals but not to know about the application process. Tommy tells them that he does not know what they are talking about. Ruth tries to explain Tommy’s cluelessness by saying that he was left out at Hailsham, and then says that she wants to go see her possible.

To be continued...