Examine the four covers of Never Let Me Go below. Choose two to compare, using the guidelines provided to complete a thorough analysis.
Cover 1 Cover 2 Cover 3 Cover 4
Surface Level Analysis:
Cover 1: The first object on this cover which draws attention is the sitting figure of a young female, possibly a teenager. She is looking away from the camera, and is wearing a conservative outfit that covers her arms, chest, and most of her legs. Her clothing may suggest that she lives in a formal setting, such as an elite school that requires herself to be covered. In addition, she is sitting next to a bush by herself, which is not a traditional place for a teenage girl to be situated. The purpose could be to show how her solidarity is intentional, and how she is possibly avoiding someone or something. Lastly, the font used is commonly found in science fiction movies or books, its technological influences hinting at the involvement of a futuristic advancement.
Cover 2: The color scheme of this cover is mostly browns and yellows, signifying the novel may have a bleak story. Since the book also takes place in London, the fog shrouding the background and objects is a nod to England's imperfect weather. An empty rowboat is floating in shallow water by a pole, with a long wooden dock in the background. The author's name is large and above the title, with the intended purpose of advertising a famous, award-winning name to act as an incentive to read the book.
Cover 3: This cover features the shape of the human body, in the form of a crudely-drawn outline. Many of the major organs have been drawn in, including the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestinal tract. These organs are all common sites of life-threatening cancer, suggesting these are the primary organs taken from donors. Though the entire cover is blue, a darker shade shows a shadow of trees or a building in the background, possibly a place of some significance to the protagonists. The font is rather scraggly, using multiple colors for the author's name and uneven letters to give a feeling of unease. This type of font is often used in association with horror or mystery novels, suggesting these could be themes within the novel.
Cover 4: The most simplistic of the designs, this cover features a yellow-orange background and a watercolor image of a girl. Her back is facing the audience, but a pillow can still be seen in her arms. She is swaddling it like a baby, and is meant to represent the scene where Madame watches Kathy dancing around to "Never Let Me Go". Since Kathy's back is to the audience, the purpose was to show Madame's perspective of when she walked in on this intimate moment and how she chose not to interrupt it.
Basic Similarities and Differences: Three of the covers, numbers 1,2, and 4, all acknowledge Ishiguro as an acclaimed writer. Whether they mention his awards, such as "Nominated for the Man Booker Prize" or give a quote from a critic, it gives a buyer insight into the credibility of the author. The third cover only includes the book title and author's name, since the main focus was to be on the image. Cover 1 and Cover 3 are also the only ones that display the author's name smaller than the title, and also use a different font color that blends into the background more so it is less noticeable. This is different than Covers 1 and 4, which place the author's name on top of and larger than the title if the publisher felt that was the main selling point. Finally, covers 1 and 2 feature images of actual people and places, to give a sense of realism to the story. It allows a reader to place the plot's context in the real world, where the other two covers allows the reader's imagination to create their own locations based on Ishiguro's descriptions.
Analyzing Cover 2 and Cover 3:
1) What are the first words that come into your mind when you see this image? What does it make you think of?
When looking at the boat on Cover 2, the first word that comes to mind is "stranded". Though the boat is sitting in open water, the melancholy atmosphere evokes feelings of sadness and inability to escape. The boat appears to be tied to a single pole, showing how unless these ties are cut, it can never move. It appears to be a metaphor for the lives of clones, and how their fates are bound. For example, Kathy and her friends are able to travel the country with ease, leaving for Norfolk unopposed. No one could stop them from leaving the Cottages permanently, because there were few supervisors watching them. Yet, despite this freedom and the desire to live full lives, the clones always return to the places they have always known. This is likely because even if they escaped they would be trapped in a discriminatory world, where they would be persecuted as clones and how they left their "duty" behind. So, the boat on the water represents the ability to escape to the great beyond, but how they will always be tied down and unable to escape. On the other hand, the first word that comes to mind for Cover 3 is "inescapable". If the outline of the torso is looked at closely, one can see irregular black marks alone the outside. While these could be stitches, they immediately reminded me of barbed wire. Barbed wire is mainly used to keep people out, and thus, how the clones were purposely kept out of human society. As I mentioned in my surface-level analysis, the organs featured in the torso are commonly associated with deadly forms of cancer and disease. Yet one important organ is missing: the heart. The reason for not including the heart was likely intentional in showing the dilemma of whether a clone is truly human. As explained by Miss Emily, the Gallery's purpose was to "Prove you had any souls at all" (Ishiguro 260). By not including a heart, or other organs associated with being humane (like the brain), it showed how it was easier to take a clone's organs if they were considered "other than". As a result, the word "inescapable" can be applied because with a flawed mindset of the value of human life, the clone would be forced to donate even when it cost their life.
2) If you hadn't read any of the novel, what would this image make you think the book was about?
Now that you've read the novel, what kind of relationship(s) does this image have to the text?
Since the most prominent image on Cover 2 is a boat, I would think the story would have to do with sailing, or at least take place in a city by the water. Since the boat is small and can only fit a few people, it would hint that the protagonist(s) prefer to interact with small groups or by themselves. It is also not a sophisticated boat, so it could be representative of a sailing dream or leaving for better places to increase a person's livelihood. Now that I have read the novel, I know that the boat is only present in a single scene at the end of the book. It is the last adventure Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy have together after being separated for so long, and is when Ruth finally apologizes for her behavior and asks that Tommy and Kathy try to have a relationship. This tied up boat can be representative of how it is too late for this relationship, because Tommy is preparing for a donation and Kathy is his Carer. The open water shows how much time and opportunity they once had to be together, but now they are limited to a short, frivolous relationship since their fate had already been decided. When looking at Cover 3, I would immediately think of Frankenstein and other supernatural Gothic texts due to several features. For one, the text is haphazard and not a formal font, which I associate with the credits from old horror films. Secondly, the previously mentioned "barbed wire" also looks like stitches from a Frankenstein-esque monster. Knowing the context of the book, I can now see how this represents the ultimate outcome of the clones' lives. They will be dismembered into faceless body parts, being identified more by their anatomy than personality. The purpose of this cover was to therefore show how every clone is equal at the end of their life, and how not even love or distinguishing features can differentiate one from the other.
3) Who seems to be portrayed? From whose viewpoint are we looking?
The image of the boat could be from various perspectives-Kathy, Ruth, or Tommy. They all went to see the boat, because it was considered a final adventure to experience together. The distance of the boat from them is also important, because it is not directly in front or below them. Despite having made the journey to see the boat, the most important aspect is the apologetic conversation Ruth has with the others. This means that they never get to see the boat up close, and how they are unable to complete their mission. This shows the unfulfilled tension between the trio of friends, and how even with this event, they are unable to make amends and make up for lost time. The perspective from Cover 3 is more ambiguous, since it is a simple illustration. However, if we imagine the torso to be real, it could belong to any clone during their final donation. Since a clone can only have certain body parts taken and be able to survive, their "completion" means their entire torso can be opened and used. As a result, the person looking at their open chest would be a doctor sent to extract the most important organs. The exact doctor will always remain unnamed, because clones do not have the luxury of having a personal doctor to oversee their completion. They are simply considered a job to these surgeons, and thus the torso is displayed as faceless and impersonal.
4) Does this image spark any ideas about the cultural construction of the book?
Since cover 2 is meant to be in London, the foggy location near the water alludes to this location. The foggy weather is not uncharacteristic of English weather, yet the yellow hue would not be common in the 1990s. The unusual color is meant to signify something unnatural is afoot, and that this London is not the same as the one that once existed. If one looks carefully at the dock in the background, it can be seen that it is slightly askew. This effect was achieved by taking the picture at an angle, to show society was bent out of the normal and there were new implications in the world. The cultural construction of the book can also be seen in the images of Cover 3, because of how it includes illustrations and actual images. The illustrations, in dark ink as if freshly drawn, give the impression of something new and inventive that has redefined society. It is overlapping a shadow of real trees, symbolizing how the new has overtaken the natural. This sparks ideas about the cultural construction of the book and how the setting may take place in a familiar environment. If a reader can find parallels to a similar world, the plot will seem more realistic and as if it could actually happen. This would draw focus to the "new" element, so that an audience could see how a controversial issue would take place if it was implemented into modern culture.
5) What kinds of people would make this book, and what kinds of people would read it?
As the image of the boat does not spark immediate interest in the topic of clones, the creator of Cover 2 would likely focus on the metaphorical aspects of the book. The author(s) could pay more attention to the "what makes you human" aspects of the plot, as well as the relationships between the three main characters. Since the setting of the coastline and boat is the main focus of the cover, an author may go into further detail into the weather, location, and the objects that affect the characters. The type of people attracted to this would be those who enjoy realistic fiction or romance novels, because there would be less focus on the supernatural and more on complex relationships. The classic love triangle could also be appealing, especially with the concept of a "lost love" being a popular theme in literature. The type of people who made Cover 3 would be those who wish to highlight the society Kathy lived in. This is because the main focus was on the clones' role of donating organs, and not so much the personalities involved. A rendition of Never Let Me Go by this publisher may reveal more information about 1990s London and how the society developed, and also may explore the lives and opinions of humans in this scientific world. Readers of this version would also share interest in modern dystopian fiction, since popular novels like The Hunger Games feature oppressive governments. These readers would enjoy learning about this society and may draw parallels to their own, and how discovering the truth in a fictional world may lead to truths about their own.
