Ew Art

Of all the subjects, math science, history, art, which do you most admire? I'm going to be blunt about myself here, I'd say science, and venture as far as "art isn't even core subject". I could clump myself along with that group of people who raise there eyebrows and smirk, thinking too highly of themselves when they hear "art major". I am (or should I say was) a STEM snob, through and through, and Ishiguro will simply not allow that simple-minded kind of thinking in his books.

While reading my book, Never Let Me Go if anyone needs reminding, art is emphasized.  "How you were regarded at Hailsham, how much you were liked and respected, had to do with how good you were at 'creating'''(15). The students at Hailsham study art, collect it and try to make creations good enough to get into 'the gallery'. It was believed among students that if your art was good enough, if you showed you had something undeniably human, a soul, then you would be saved, not destined to die in your 30's, but allowed to live a good and full life.

So I thought, why art, why not something more easily judged, and less subjective? For example, over break I visited a few museums, I saw a piece called "Kiss on a Rope". When my dad noticed the painting he promptly mimed gagging and walked quickly away I, however, found the piece interesting and liked its ideas about love (for anybody interested here it is,

gag-worthy or interesting?)

My point is, art is subjective, why not judge the clones based on say math ability? It'd be very easy to determine whether they are right or wrong, and the society could let the 'geniuses' live. Perhaps, if you're a cynic, you'd think the society choose to judge art because it is subjective, therefore they could justify harvesting the organs of anybody they wanted based on 'well Picasso was better'.

Or, you could take a different perspective and say Ishiguro was making a point about the complexity of human life and the importance of art.

Trying to prove that you have a soul is a tough thing to do, especially as a clone. The idea of a soul is religious in origin and is widely accepted now, but we from the science world cannot prove that even we humans have a soul, or that it really exists (in other words there is no place in the brain that we know of where consciousness resides). My interpretation of Ishiguro's decision to use art as a motif tied to worthiness comes from this, that we are more than just bundles of nerves, instinct, and hormones, we have developed beyond that. There are simply some things that science can't explain, like a soul, or consciousness. Ishiguro shows us that our worth as humans isn't dependent on, in Kath's case a natural birth, a person's usefulness to society, or any ability at all, we're all humans and worthy of life regardless of our talents and situations.

In today's world, we recognize the importance of the STEM fields. Despite what some today may think, the STEM fields are fact, not reliant on what you believe in, they simply are. Which is why the world needs art, something more human, and more complex. In the novel, Ishiguro shows us how great, or evil, science could be, and that it is the job of the arts to determine not what can be accomplished but what should be. Looking at a piece of art or reading a poem or book speaks to humans in a way that facts cannot.

All of us humans can get something different out of reading Never Let Me Go because we are all different. After letting the book sit in the back of my mind for a week what sticks with me is the commentary on science contrasted with art. However, my fellow readers could be left remembering the tragic love of Kath and Tommy, the political remarks made by way of the guardians and society as a whole (communism anybody?), the value of life and freedom, or simply the theme of death. With Never Let Me Go it really could be anything, there's something for everybody in it.

At the start of my blog, I mentioned my reason for reading Never Let Me Go was to understand the "hype" around Ishiguro, and I believe it is this: he writes for everyone, and somehow manages to write about nearly everything.