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Never Let Me Go By Kazuo Ishiguro

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Beginning to end, Kazuo Ishiguro’s speculative novel Never Let Me Go leaves readers wanting more—more closure, more answers, more facts. Throughout the entire novel, readers are left in the dark with few explicit details of the society or its origins. The shadowy, obscure Madame Marie-Claude is a paradigm for the motif of mystery and uncertainty throughout Never Let Me Go. Two to four times a year, preparations begin for Madame’s arrival at Hailsham without warning to the students. She visits, takes pieces for her gallery, and vanishes without a trace (Ishiguro 30-1). While little is known regarding Madame in the exposition of the novel, the more readers learn about her, the more enigmatic she becomes. Like several other aspects of Never Let Me Go, the paradox of Madame’s initial displays of disgust towards the clones and yet her sacrifice for the betterment of the clone’s lives does not have an obvious explanation. Despite the vast possibilities for rationalizing Madame’s perplexing behaviors, her actions and words, coupled with Hailsham’s background story told by Miss Emily, point towards an internal conflict in Madame that presents itself in her actions. Madame is sympathetic towards the clones, as one might be towards animals, but ultimately, she is not willing to sacrifice her own life so that the clones have the right to theirs. Inquiries about the true essence of Madame’s character are not only asked by readers of Never Let Me Go, but by the clones at Hailsham, as

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