Ishiguro uses the childhood of Kathy to set the stage for the entire story. At the end of the story he ties everything back to all the experiences in childhood. This is what every human being deals with. Not only does their childhood form who they are, but it decides what choices we make to shape our future. Being raised at Hailsham made the clones who they are and gave them the confidence to feel that they could change their destiny. Other clones treated them differently because they had been raised at Hailsham. It was not just a place, but a symbol of who Kathy, Ruth and Tommy are and how they are special.
When Ruth, Kathy and Tommy were at the cottages it was their first experience with how the outside world viewed kids from Hailsham. “I heard about this girl up in Wales,” Chrissie said. “She was Hailsham, maybe a few years before you lot. Apparently she’s working in this clothes shop right now. A really smart one.” “That’s Hailsham for you.” Rodney said eventually, and shook his head as though in amazement. (P.152) This summed up how the other clones felt about the Hailsham kids and how they instilled an idea that the rules could be bent for the special kids from Hailsham. This was their childhood affecting their present and forming their future.
Eventually, Kathy viewed her time at Hailsham as special and something that nobody could take away from her. Once she had left Hailsham and her childhood, she was faced with the harsh realities of adulthood, responsibilities and the prison like conditions of social expectations. Kathy clung to the happiest days of her life at Hailsham which was during her childhood. This was different than what other clones experienced and like the rest of humanity, you learn that if you had a really good childhood then you were one of thelucky ones in life.
Like you mentioned, Kathy's childhood truly shaped her life and who she was as a person. I believe if Kathy had grown up at one of the other houses, which we truly don't know very much about, then she would have been a completely different person. I felt that the children were sort of babied at Hailsham. They were never taught about how the outside world operated or how cruel it could. They basically got to live the life of luxury in an estate in the country side while making a lot of art. I feel this made them very unprepared for what was lying ahead for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that childhood was a very important part to this novel. Every time something had happened in her life, whether is be in the cottages, or while she was a carer, she referenced back to Hailsham. It shaped every single one of them, and when the other schools were referred to it seemed to only make Hailsham stand out more.
ReplyDeleteYou raise a good point that people learn that they are lucky to have had a good childhood. I never really considered that or thought like that but it’s true. Mainly because none of us are in control of our lives as children. We are at the mercy of adults or our parents. Just like the children at Hailsham were at the mercy of the guardians and society.
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