During their childhood, students at Hailsham embrace their
position and make no attempt to escape to the outside world. For example, Kathy
explains that during her time at school, “any place beyond Hailsham was like a
fantasy land” (Ishiguro, 66). While at school, many students seem content with
their life, and eventually reflect on these memories with fondness. Throughout
the book, Hailsham serves to protect students from reality and to distract them
from their eventual fate as donors.
For students, it becomes taboo to discuss anything related
to life outside the school. The guardians discourage these topics of
conversation to help protect students from the negativity that surrounds their
future and status. In fact, Kathy explains the “unspoken rule” that students
never discuss the Gallery in the presence of guardians (Ishiguro, 31). Minimizing
these discussions prevents students from contemplating the meaning of their
lives. As Kathy eventually learns, the guardians intend
to “give [them] childhoods” by shielding students from their troubling future (Ishiguro,
268). Rather than hurt the students, the guardians implement this method to allow
students to enjoy the simplicity of life before becoming donors.
Additionally, guardians occupy students with normal human
tasks to distract them from asking questions. For example, they emphasize
creativity in the context of building collections as well as the idea of sex.
Overall, this proves successful as students tend to focus their attention on
these concepts with minimal contemplation about the future. Students begin to
consider their future only when Miss Lucy reveals their role as donors.
However, Kathy explains that there’s “little discussion” even after her
revelation (Ishiguro, 82). Thus, these techniques delay students from questioning
their position in society, which forces students to accept their eventual fate.
Once leaving the school, students continue to value their
roots at Hailsham. Additionally, the students feel shocked upon their arrival at
the Cottages as they were “expecting a version of Hailsham” (Ishiguro, 116).
Their surprise shows the true isolation of students at Hailsham, as they could
not imagine life outside their own world. Additionally, their shock reveals the
success of the guardians’ plan to shield students from reality. Furthermore, even
when presented with new tasks, the students were “clinging to [their] essay…as
they helped keep [them] afloat in [their] new surrounding” (Ishiguro, 115). Despite
the presence of other tasks, students choose to focus on the aspects that
relate to their origins at Hailsham, which shows their overall dependence on
the school. Even with Kathy finally accepts her place as a donor, she expresses
that she will always “have Hailsham with [her] safely in [her] head” (Ishiguro,
286). No matter how much time passes, students continue to reminisce their time
at Hailsham. For students, this school represents the only time of innocence
and normality in their lives. Thus, students hold on to their memories of
the school as an attempt to replicate these peaceful feelings.
Overall, Hailsham serves as a place to protect students from
their pending fates as donors by allowing them to enjoy aspects of normal human
life. Once leaving, students continue to reminisce their memories from the only
innocent time of their lives. Life after school becomes complicated as students
embark on their journey to become donors, but the memories of Hailsham allow
students to relive these times of hope.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the role of Hailsham in relation to the students. It serves as a barrier for the students from the outside world. As the students are clones, the outside world is also not ready for the clones to be a part of society therefore it is a form of protection for the students. While they are in Hailsham, they are with all of those like themselves rather than mixed in with the human world. I think that Hailsham serves an important role for the students as throughout the novel there are times when the outside world reacts uncomfortably around the clones. For example, Madame was perceived as snooty by the children when in reality she was stand offish (32-33). She was stand offish due to the fact that she was uncomfortable because she knew that the students were clones. The students, however, did not understand that as they did not realize they were clones at the time. Hailsham is a way to protect the outside world from the students and vice versa. Hailsham in the students’ eyes is their home and they never exactly address the idea of escaping. The school is a place of safety in the minds of the clones.
Your points and comments are really interesting and something I didn’t think much about before, but that I agree with. Hailsham really does act as a shield because just as much as it teaches and informs, it hides and protects. Still, Hailsham is referred to as a better place than many others even in the very beginning of the novel. Kath recalls explaining Hailsham to a donor who wanted to remember the memories Kath has there as his own and then she “really understood, just how lucky we’d been - Tommy, Ruth, me, all the rest of us” (6). Having Hailsham be put in this light in the very beginning of the novel puts an idea of prestige on the institution before readers learn the truth.
ReplyDeleteThe meaning of Hailsham and the comfort it provides never really fades even later on in the book. Although the characters are able to understand what their fate is and how Hailsham hid most of it from them, it still was the closest thing they had to home and is what brought each other together. The feelings of Hailsham towards the end when Kath says, “I’ll have Hailsham with me, safely in my head” are still similar with her associations of Hailsham throughout the novel (287). The comfort of Hailsham and all the memories it provided overpowered the other negative qualities and inevitable fate it tried to protect them from.