Judged by its Cover

The different cover images, for the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, each capture different themes or ideas that are presented in the novel. The two covers on the left, of the girl sitting alone outside in some grass and bushes and of the single boat moored on land with an empty dock on still water, both portray the theme of alienation. They respectively depict an isolated object in nature with no sense of anyone else being around. The cover in the top right of the four seems to more focus on the blurred line between Kathy's, the narrator's, life and reality. This is found from her seemingly great life at Hailsham in contrast to her sole purpose being to donate her vital organs. Lastly, the fourth cover, in the bottom right, is very different from the other three. Instead of leaning towards the ideas of alienation and the contrast between Hailsham and reality, the image of the organs is an explicit expression of the purpose of the lives of the characters at Hailsham.


When I first look at this cover, the words that immediately come to my mind are: loneliness, peaceful, ominous, and still. The reason for this is that there appears to be not a single break or ripple in the water, with only a single boat in the image. The image itself makes me think of a calm spring morning on a lake, when there is no wind and only the sounds of birds. Yet, the color selection for the cover gives it a more ominous sense than this peaceful image. Yellows and greens can be seen before the coming of a tornado, signifying chaos and disruption of the calm. If I had not read the novel but simply saw the cover with the title, I would most likely think that it was about a sailor who was going to be gone for awhile with predicted storms and his wife or lover was worried that he wouldn't return. However, now that I have read it has a very different connection to the novel. The solidarity of the boat is a good representation of not only the alienation of the students/children as they are being raised for the sole purpose of donating their vital organs, but of each of them as individuals as well. Although they form their cliques or friend groups, many of their relationships are artificial or forced as they attempt to imitate what they see on T.V. or read in books about real humans. This is what they do to try and feel more real or normal, showing their loneliness or alienation from the world and hence represented in this cover image. It is also connected to the text, mainly the later part when they have left Hailsham and are staying at the cottages. If the image were viewed as the boat waiting to be taken out, it is like Kathy and the others who have the freedom to leave the cottages and yet do not take this opportunity because they fear what may happen or simply the change of no longer having the security and structure of their lives. There are many ways in which this cover could be connected to the novel aside from the ways mentioned above. The boat could be seen as a symbol of their moving on from Hailsham to the donors and carers, or from life to completion (death) when their bodies can no longer survive the donations.

The words that first come to my mind when viewing this cover are much different than the previous one. They include ones such as life, death, health, tragedy. It makes me think of one of the movies or stories where an individual within a couple is either in a horrible car accident or develops cancer, either way receiving terminal sentences due to damage or disease affecting their vital organs and the other not wanting to lose them. These ideas came from the fact that the image appearing to be hand drawn gives it a more fragile sense, as if it could fall or be taken apart at any moment. As well as with the title being written different size font, spread around the cover, and not all in line with each other, it portrays the uncertainty or tragedy that has or will happen as those are generally associated with disorganization. If I hadn't read the novel it would make me think of one or more of the situations that I described at the beginning of the paragraph as not only do books and films of the sort become quite popular, but they are tragedies that happen all the time to people in life with no warning and with no sort of control over them. After reading the text it still reminds me of the situations I discussed, however it also makes me think more of the relationship between the novel and the film The Island, where clones are living in a compound and when selected by a lottery get to leave to live on this island. However, they discover that their fate isn't so great when selected because their purpose is to donate their vital organs to rich people in need, similar to the children in the novel. For this, the cover has a literal and direct relationship to the text as it depicts the main organs that are taken from the characters to be donated to the humans in need of them for survival. With this, it would seem that the image is viewed from the perspective of one of the doctors, looking at the body of Kathy or one of the other subjects as they remove an organ for donation.