Each year, the first-year class dean asks students to read a common text. The first-year reading connects you to the Holy Cross community through a shared reading experience, welcoming you to a culture that values the thoughtful discussion of ideas.
In preparation for beginning your education at Holy Cross, Debra Gettelman, Class Dean for the Class of 2027, has selected Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, as the first-year class reading.
At first, Never Let Me Go seems to be like other novels about the ups and downs of middle-school friendships. There are, though, no last names and mysterious references to becoming “donors” and to “students” being different from others outside of their boarding school. Then understanding creeps in, slowly but devastatingly, for both the characters and the reader, that this is a dystopian world in which the young people’s futures will be neither their own to shape nor very long.
Below are some of the many questions the novel provokes for me. Your first assignment as a Holy Cross student will be to write a brief reflection essay (about 300-350 words) in which you respond to one (or more) of these questions. You should email your essay to your academic advisor and your Montserrat professor (both of whom you will find out over the summer) before move-in day.
Reading a physical copy or listening to an audiobook version of Never Let Me Go are equally great options. As you read or listen, you might think about:
- What is your understanding of a dystopian world? Do Kathy H. and her friends realize they are living a dystopian life? If you were in their position, how much would you want to know?
- The narrator, Kathy H., is both easy and hard to relate to. She speaks in a conversational, friendly way, but also in a flat tone of voice that represses her feelings. How much can you sympathize with Kathy H.? How aware are you of her difference from “normals”?
- The novel invents an alternate history: the real world of 1990s England also has a vast scientific program that the public both supports and does not to want to recognize. Does the program’s humane goal justify its means? What possibilities does science offer now that pose similar ethical dilemmas?
- Kathy, Tommy, Ruth and their classmates are prevented from realizing their dreams. How different is their situation from the world we live in? Are there other conditions imposed by society, in a less systematized way, that unfairly keep some young people from realizing their dreams?
- Tommy has moments of anger, and he and Kathy seek answers, but they never think of escaping or rebelling. What would you do: accept a somewhat comfortable daily existence, or confront hard truths?