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Desiree Champagne­Terrell

Ms. Gardner

English 10H, Period 4

10 November 2014

Unveiling Ishiguro

"An Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro." The Man Booker Prizes. N.p., 16 July 2012. Web. 16 Nov.

2014.

In this interview, Ishiguro is asked a few questions to which he gives novella­sized,

philosophical answers to. The interviewer, whose name was never mentioned, asks

about Ishiguro’s recent Booker Prize win and how it felt as opposed to the one he won

in the eighties. Ishiguro humbly replies that winning that prize is always an amazing

experience. Next, he asked about the movie he is involved in; to which he says that he

tries to not interrupt the filming. The interview goes on in this fashion, asking him

various questions about the works he is involved in.

The interviewer posed decent questions: not too in depth so that the audience is

invading Ishiguro’s privacy, but not too polite so that we learn nothing about him.

Ishiguro’s answers however, were a different story: some delved into his feelings

about the prizes he is winning and the work he is doing briefly, and some, were

completely avoided by making sweeping generalizations about how one could feel

about what Ishiguro’s current interests are. Ishiguro’s interview wasn’t particularly in

depth; however, it provided a substantial amount of information on his life.

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Faber, Faber &. "Kazuo Ishiguro Discusses Never Let Me Go." YouTube. YouTube, 8

Apr. 2008. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.

This video is of just Kazuo Ishiguro, in what looks to be an office chair, speaking to the

people of Youtube about his book, Never Let Me Go. With scholarly glasses and

educated diction he tells viewers the reason for writing this book; to explore human life

spans. In two minutes he spoke of how he wanted to write a book where people

experienced the same stages of life in a span of thirty years instead of eighty.

With grainy video quality and the most casual look on his face, Ishiguro captivates

audiences. The simplicity of the video itself collates with the simplicity of the

characters in his book. In the brief minutes he speaks of the origin of this brilliant

novel, the audience gets to look into the amazing mind of Kazuo Ishiguro.

"Human Cloning." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

This article was straight to the point: human cloning is possible, identical twins are

evidence of that, however its not considered ethical to be artificially done. The article

also states that clones however alink they are in looks, are not alike in personality;

they’re like identical twins separated at birth.

In relations to the novel, this article reinforces the facts that the characters, the clones,

are desperate to believe­­ whether it’s a prostitute or a president, they will never be the

same as their clones in anything, except for looks. This completely informational article

states the facts that the clones in Never Let Me Go find hard to accept.

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Kerr, Sarah. "When They Were Orphans." The New York Times. The New York Times,

16 Apr. 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

The New York Times writer, Sarah Kerr, questions Ishiguro’s writing techniques in this

novel, in her article. She writes of the way he blatantly displays the mystical elements;

how he does not hide what is going on behind the scenes in this novel. Kerr

speculates that with this fiction book, Ishiguro is slipping into the pop­culture of sci­fi

thrillers; a far cry from his other novels.

This article is chock­full of criticism, constantly questioning every move made by

Ishiguro. The speculations are credible when one is looking at his usual repertoire;

however, the come off borderline accusatory, elegantly formulated to seem like polite

questioning. Overall, “When They Were Orphans” is a well thought out, but litigative

article.

Truog, Robert D., M.D., Franklin D. Miller, Ph.D., and Scott D. Halpern, Ph.D. "The

Dead­Donor Rule and the Future of Organ Donation — NEJM."New England Journal

of Medicine. N.p., 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

This article explores the ethics of donating the deceased organs, then takes it one step

further­­ donating dying patients organs. With consent, these doctors speculate, why

wouldn’t it be acceptable to donate a dying patient’s organs? The medical

professionals give examples of why it should and shouldn’t be allowed, weighing the

pros and cons to give readers an accurate view from both sides.

Though well written and thoughtful, this article is not of much use to someone reading

Never Let Me Go. Organ donation in this novel is simply a means to an end: a way to

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have the characters die early in life so that their development towards that death could

be clearly shown.

Wood, James. “The Human Difference.” New Republic, 2005. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.

This article, written by James Wood, explores the simple surface that covers the

complex ideas, emotions, and scenes throughout this novel. He summarizes, then

analyzes the way the narrator is completely bland and ignorant though the course of

the novel. He theorizes that this is a way to keep the readers ignorant as to the ending

of the novel.

This article has shed a new light on this novel; with it’s insightful understanding of the

characters, the plot, and the reasoning behind their actions. The author made very

clear statements on what Ishiguro’s intent was with his main character, Kathy, how her

ignorance was to keep not only her in the dark about the events to come, but his

readers too. His formal syntax adds to the article, making it seem more credible and

overall, James Wood’s article, “The Human Difference” was insightful and illuminating.