Never Let Me Go, Section 2 - The Characterization of Miss Lucy

While the reader is introduced to Miss Lucy, a guardian, of students at Hailsham, a school in England, in the first few chapters of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, she truly begins to evolve an interesting and different character in the second section of the novel. Throughout the book, the idea of being creative and having creative talent is held in high esteem. It is expected of students to do well creatively and perform to the best of their abilities – an intriguing but confusing prospect. However, Miss Lucy tells a student named Tommy who is struggling with creativity that it is okay to not be overly creative. As Tommy and his friend Kathy, the speaker, get over the initial shock of this statement, Miss Lucy surprises them yet again in the second section. While it is hinted throughout the entire book that the students of Hailsham are different, the reader never truly figures out what is going on until Miss Lucy lays it on the table. While the topic has been kept a secret or a taboo subject by the other guardians, Miss Lucy finally tells her students that they are all copied from living people, and their purpose in life is to later donate their vital organs. Her statement makes me curious as to why Miss Lucy shared this information. It seems as though she was not supposed to talk about it, so if the risk of losing her job was a possibility, why did she tell her students of their fate? It seems as though she may have felt a sense of guilt over the unknown situation. Students would talk of their future plans to travel or begin to form relationships, all of which she knew would not be permitted to last.

Furthermore, Miss Lucy’s character further develops as, out of the blue, she retracts her previous statement to Tommy about creativity. Ishiguro writes, “Then she’s saying I should forget everything she told me before. That she’s done me a big disservice telling me not to worry about being creative,” (Ishiguro, 107). This statement makes me wonder as to whether something will happen to Tommy if he cannot contribute acceptable art, or whether Miss Lucy was told something would happen to her if she did not retract her previous statement. Perhaps her job is being threatened, which would explain the random reverse of opinion.

Lastly, the final shock over Miss Lucy occurs when the students discover she has left Hailsham. It seems as though he controversial opinions or statements finally got to her, or perhaps she could not deal with the guild over the futures of her students. Throughout section two, Miss Lucy’s true character is developed.