The main focus of Never Let Me Go is of the main characters, their relationships with each other, and ultimately their fate. Now, this doesn’t sound all that interesting. You could say that millions of novels share these same exact themes. Why would anyone want to read this novel in particular over the millions of other novels in which the main focus is on relationships and fate? Well for one, as Ishiguro stated in his interview, he uses elements of science fiction as a sort of vehicle to convey this message and attract readers. He makes the main characters into clones and uses objects such as cassette tapes, pencil cases, and locations such as Norfolk and The Cottages to represent the personalities and the constant change of our characters throughout. 

I bring a diverse perspective into Never Let Me Go by implementing an object of interest, a timeline of events, and an interactive map of these events in order to understand the intention behind these events and how they function in the story. For example, Kathy’s cassette tape and the song, “Never Let Me Go” by Judy Bridgewater. Ishiguro would not have had Kathy go so in depth into the backstory of her favorite song and the situation in which Madame walks in on her sharing this intimate moment with her imaginary baby if it weren’t to further the story. Kathy’s attachment to the song and her very human reenactment of her hopes to become a mother were both added into the story to help our reader empathize with Kathy as much as it was to further develop Kathy’s character past just another child at Hailsham. It is through the object of the cassette tape that Kathy’s personality shines through, and this is what I represent in my website. Both the timeline and the map achieve something similar, but they do so with location rather than object. The timeline and map showcase Ishiguro’s clever use of symbolism in these locations and trips in more detail.

My website project gives Never Let Me Go a digital afterlife simply by adding to the pool of existing articles and blogs that discuss Never Let Me Go. My contributions and my unique perspective and take on the story will exist on the internet for as long as it can, and it will help others who might want to discuss Never Let Me Go further as well. This website may be inspiration for others to create their own websites or may just inspire someone to read the novel themselves. And it is through the design of my website as well that may lead someone to have an easier time digesting the material that I have written as I kept user experience in mind when creating my website. I’ve found that a simple design is very effective in an academic setting, though I do understand if my website isn’t very eye-catching to the average internet user. I did write this website with this class at the forefront of my mind though, not just my peers.

The consideration of what my website may not be able to represent or include is most likely simply the experience of reading the novel for yourself. Although you may become familiar with plot points due to my website, it doesn’t even remotely compare to reading the novel yourself and becoming familiar with each character as they change and grow throughout the novel. This is just a singular unique perspective on the novel compared to hundreds others out there, not a retrospective summary or review of the novel. I recognize that I cannot provide the experience of the novel through a presentation of my website and perspective.

When doing the Voyant reading in particular, it definitely shifted my perspective a bit to consider more how key words function in the novel as markers of both change and significance. Being able to visualize this and make a graph showing how many times as well as at what points in the story this word shows up was very interesting and was a very handy tool in crafting yet another point of discussion for the novel and for my map narrative. I feel like you can find so many different key words through Voyant and go in a very in depth discussion about why it is doing what it’s doing, why it’s there, and for what reason. I connected my Voyant visualization to my design by exporting the literal visualization to my map narrative as a supplement to my argument, helping my reader to see what I’m saying in a clearer way.

One particular way in which I chose to engage with my audience through design was by using pictures of scenes from the Never Let Me Go film as my media sources and examples for my points of growth theory. By using these literal scenes from the movie, I felt it helps the reader engage much easier to the content as these scenes in the movie literally connect to what I’m writing about and make the seamless transition from what’s happening in the novel to my discussion of it. As well as the scenes connecting directly to what I’m discussing, the pictures I chose are also very beautiful and I feel are representative of the mood of the novel. The color grading is gray and has a sad mood to it, which seems to match both the novel and some of my talking points in the map narrative.

One challenge I encountered was actually how exactly to use the Voyant website because there is so much on the screen at once, I was easily overwhelmed. The way I resolved this issue actually was by doing the Voyant in-class and having my peers help me out as they had a little more experience with it than I had and were able to answer all of the questions that I had. This most definitely catapulted my learning progression as opposed to week 6 as I didn’t have to deal with the same roadblock of being absolutely confused by how to format my assignment and doing it alone. It would have taken me much longer alone, and by having my peers help me out, my progression increased significantly.

Here is the timeline of the trips that Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy make

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1NEWsyfRroKRTgJnZ7s_N8b9xqt1qMgKWcapYdB2aBkc&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=800

Reflection:

Revisiting the trips themselves and being forced to read what happened again most definitely made me engage with the text more than I would have normally. Having a goal in mind when you read, such as collecting information for a timeline made me focus much more on what was actually happening in the text rather than just reading for the sake of catching up and finishing the novel in time. The way I connected my media sources to my text was by giving an appropriate setting through the media that related to the location I was writing about and how it functioned. For example, I included a picture of the fishing boat from the Never Let Me Go film to give an accurate representation of what the boat might have looked like in order to immerse the reader. I think any time you are able to include a multimedia source into your writing, it will create new perspectives by default as it causes the reader to stop for a moment, look at the multimedia source, and then read the text with that source in mind, causing the reader’s focus to increase as they are reading with a goal in mind as well. I also tried to engage my audience with eye-catching media sources that are of high quality and resolution and not simply a pixelated picture that you might not be able to make out what it is. One big challenge I encountered was that my slides were not appearing in order. First, I tried to see if it was because they were given the “title” attribute, but that wasn’t it, and then I changed the dates on each slide in order to see if it was a problem of chronological order, and it was! It still did take me quite a bit of time to fix though, as even when I did change the dates, some would appear out of order, but that was because the TimelineJS preview wasn’t updating as fast as I was making the changes, so I had to have some patience with that. I am really happy with the way my timeline turned out in the end after having updated my images especially because they weren’t showing up at first. I am also happy with my revised descriptions under the media sources themselves as I don’t think my arguments were as strong as they are now. I added stronger topic sentences as well as completely changing my description in the Kingston Recovery Center slide.

Timeline Link

https://www.last.fm/music/Judy+Bridgewater/+images/b3b9dd2b115a4245a3b1b69a21450119

Object of Choice

The object that I chose to analyze for my post is Kathy’s cassette tape with the song, “Never Let Me Go.” Being that the memories of Kathy are given in the first person perspective, the reader is able to get a true glimpse into Kathy’s thoughts and feelings, regardless of whether or not she is leaving out or embellishing information. You can clearly see from the passage in page 67 about Kathy’s favorite tape that, among other things, it represents her innocence, naivety, and true emotion. Kathy tells us that she interpreted the song as a mother told she was never to have children again, yet by miracle she now has her own baby, and the song reflects her love for and fear of losing her precious baby. While listening to the song, Kathy holds a pillow and imagines it to be a baby, rocking back and forth with it. This scene shows a part of Kathy hidden from the others, a side of her that is much deeper, and more intimate than merely words could describe.

Kathy’s Restrictive Environment

Another thing I noticed was the fact of Kathy only being able to listen to her deeply personal song in specific places as the Walkman wasn’t a big thing yet, and the rooms that had cassette players in them were almost always too populated. I feel that this limitation is very reflective of the restrictive nature of the school they’re in. Kathy is only able to experience this deep emotion during certain hours and under certain conditions. Though, I feel that the song isn’t so much of an object, as it is a representation of Kathy’s human-like characteristics as she lives vicariously through the song whenever she listens to it. The song is an experience that allows Kathy to be her true self and show the reader Kathy’s true intentions and feelings separate from all the noise that is Hailsham. Another interesting thing I noticed is that Kathy obviously understands the theme of loss in this song despite this “less-than-human” narrative spun about clones, and later loses that same cassette tape along with her favorite song, “Never Let Me Go.” I feel that this almost supernatural moment in the book represents very clearly the metaphysical themes in “Never Let Me Go.”

Kathy’s Personality

I feel that this is a very accessible object to look deeper into and try and decipher the hidden voice, as music can be such an emotional, almost otherworldly experience for a lot of people. More importantly, I think it was crucial to have Kathy, a clone, to be the character that is so deeply affected by this song, and so deeply attached to the cassette tape as well. Because we have to remember, it isn’t just the song that makes the cassette tape special, but the cassette tape itself and what it represents. The cassette tape itself holds so many memories for Kathy, and being able to possess an object in her own hands and ponder the life it’s had under her ownership adds a whole new dimension of sentimentality about this object. And I think Ishiguro Kazuo puts a voice behind the cassette tape in a great way, as instead of having Kathy explain her whole personality and motivation to the reader, we are able to witness her personality and feelings through her favorite song. The experience Kathy has with the cassette tape, we witness how it affects her, and we read the thoughts she has about it, both through her exposition, and through the moment itself. The cassette tape exposes a deeper background behind Kathy and gives us that honest glimpse into her soul with nothing to block it. “… Partly because she’s so happy, but also because she’s so afraid something will happen, that the baby will get ill or be taken away from her.” (70) This quote is telling us how Kathy interprets the song. This sentence in and of itself gives the reader a clear look into Kathy’s mind, as we understand everyone interprets music differently, whether or not that interpretation is what the songwriter intended. I know that I would not have interpreted the song this way, and knowing this, we can see that Kathy is capable of empathy, and has agency over her thoughts. The ability to think, interpret, and empathize are all massive parts of being human, and we can see through this passage that Kathy is able to display all three of these with ease.

The object that I chose to analyze for my post is Kathy’s cassette tape with the song, “Never Let Me Go.” Being that the memories of Kathy are in first person, the reader is able to get a true glimpse into Kathy’s thoughts and feelings, whether or not she is leaving out or embellishing information. I can clearly see from the passage starting at page 67 about Kathy’s favorite tape that, among other things, it represents her innocence, naivety, and real emotion. Kathy tells us that she interpreted the song as a mother told she was never to have children again, yet by miracle she now has her own baby, and the song reflects her love for and fear of losing her precious baby.Kathy as well holds a pillow and imagines it is a baby and she rocks back and forth to the music. This shows she is pure at heart and is capable of deep empathy. Another thing I

 noticed was the fact of Kathy only being able to listen to the song in specific places as Walkmans weren’t a big thing yet, and the rooms that had cassette players in them were almost always too populated. I feel that this limitation is very reflective of the restrictive nature of the school they’re in. Kathy is only able to experience this deep emotion during certain hours and within certain mediums.

I feel that the song isn’t so much of an object as it is a representation of Kathy’s human-like characteristics as she lives vicariously through the song whenever she listens to it. The song is most definitely an experience that allows Kathy to be her true self and show the reader Kathy’s true self apart from any exposition. Another interesting thing I noticed is that Kathy understands the theme of loss in the song, and later loses that same cassette tape with her favorite song titled, “Never Let Me Go.” I feel this most definitely represents the metaphysical themes in “Never Let Me Go” as this feels almost supernatural.

I feel that this object is a very accessible object to look deeper into and try and decipher, as music can be such an emotional, almost otherworldly experience for a lot of people. And I think Ishiguro Kazuo puts a voice behind the cassette tape in a great way as instead of having Kathy explain her whole personality and motivation to the reader, we are able to witness her personality and feelings through her favorite song. The experience Kathy has with the cassette tape, we witness how it affects her, and we see the thoughts she has about it. The cassette tape exposes a deeper background behind Kathy and gives us that honest glimpse into her soul, nothing blocking it. “… Partly because she’s so happy, but also because she’s so afraid something will happen, that the baby will get ill or be taken away from her.” This is how Kathy interprets the song. This sentence in and of itself gives the reader an honest look into Kathy’s psyche as we understand everyone will interpret a song differently. I know that I would not have interpreted the song this way, and knowing this, we can see that Kathy is seeing herself in the mother in the song.

The difference between reading a physical text and engaging in digital literacies is the effect it has on your brain and the way your brain processes the information. The act of physically turning pages and taking in information in a linear fashion is much easier for your brain to process and hold onto. Whereas digital literacy is usually read in a nonlinear fashion and can be difficult for the brain to process. The presence of any text with meaning behind it is where reading and digital literacies converge. Although there is quite a bit of nuance to digital literacies, more specifically the nonlinear nature of a digital text, you can still apply the same close-reading methods you use in regular reading. Because at the end of the day, you are still dealing with a text that someone else wrote, excluding the possibility of artificial intelligence. I think the number one way you can apply your regular close-reading method to digital literacies is to have a familiarity and understanding with digital literacies first, or else you’ll become overwhelmed. The way I do it is I try my hardest to isolate text the same way I’d underline a passage in a book, and go from there. 

The two digital competencies I’ve already acquired are troubleshooting and strategic web & database searching. Troubleshooting has improved my learning skills greatly as each unique problem I run into and am required to troubleshoot presents a new learning opportunity for me and adds a new method to my toolbelt. Troubleshooting also forces you to learn as if the steps you’ve taken in the past and applied to your current problem doesn’t work, you’re forced to come up with or research new ways to troubleshoot. Strategic web & database searching has most definitely improved my learning skills as the ability to effectively research is the core of all my work I do as a college student. Understanding how information is organized and knowing how to access that information in the most efficient way possible has made learning incredibly easy. 

I think by acquiring the competency of design thinking it would expand my knowledge to very different territories as I am not familiar or very comfortable with computer programming and recognize that design is not one of my strengths. The ability to understand computer code and have a design mindset would greatly increase my digital literacy. Acquiring the skill of data analysis would even further my current research skills and give me the ability to analyze even more data that may have been unavailable to me in the past. Acquiring the skill of audiovisual analysis and production would help me to reach a larger audience and understand the nuance of different mediums and recognize which would be the most appropriate to get my message across.