On The Construction Of Kathy’s Identity In Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the “Three Immigrant Giants” among today’s British literary writers. His seven novels have attracted a worldwide attention from readers and literary critics. The fiction Never Let Me Go follows the author’s minute and touching narrative style of past memories. In the fiction, a society where human cloning is permitted for organ harvest is fabricated. In the story the clone protagonist Kathy suffers from the anxiety of her identity as a clone. She endeavors to construct an identity as a social person, but has to yield to the imposed clone identity and die of a brutal death from organ plundering. This thesis analyzes the fiction Never Let Me Go from the angle of identity construction. Through the analysis of Kathy’s anxiety of her identity and her endeavors of constructing her identity, it aims to cast light on the metaphor of identity construction in the fiction and reveal the author’s perspectives about identity in the modern society.The thesis consists of five parts. The introduction includes literature review, theoretical basis and thesis statement, a review of the researches on Ishiguro’s works at home and abroad, especially those on Never Let Me Go, an introduction to the identity construction theory by the sociologists such as Eric Erickson and Erving Goffman, and a statementof the structure of this thesis. Chapter one deals with three aspects of Kathy’s anxiety of her identity as a clone: Hailsham, the boarding school,is in essence a panopticon, which triggers her anxiety of being an imprisoned clone; the guardians look on the clone students as non-human beings, which causes Kathy’s anxiety as a parentless clone; the perception of her destiny of dying from brutal organ donations makes Kathy feel desperate and decides to yield to the fate. These are the three facets of Kathy’s identity anxiety. In chapter two, Kathy’s construction of identity as a social person is analyzed from the perspective of social identity theory. Firstly, Kathy’s seeking for a homeland gives her a sense of belonging, and the identity as a “Hailshamer” is a primary constituent of her social identity. Secondly, in intimate relations with Ruth and Tommy,Kathy has experienced vicissitudes of social life, and has developed emotions of human beings. These experiences and emotions lead to her construction of identity as an intimate companion to others. Finally, in her twelve-year-long career as a “carer”, Kathy has been trusted by the clones she has cared and acclaimed by the society. Thus as a carer she connects herself into the society. Therefore, Kathy’s construction of identities as a“Hailshamer”, an intimate companion and a “carer” are the three parts of her construction of identity as a social person. In chapter three, the result of Kathy’s construction of identity has been summarized: her endeavors are not totally futile but are inadequate to change her destiny as a clone,and therefore her identity becomes a paradox: she is both a deviant clone and an ostracized social person.The story of a clone’s construction of Kathy’s paradoxical identities in Never Let Me Go is a metaphor about the construction of plural identities in the modern society. With an examination into the author’s identity as an immigrant, this thesis concludes that the story of constructing such an identity paradox is a metaphor of his own identity situation and reveals his pursuit of open, inclusive and humane identity.