2/6/16

Never Let Me Go

The four covers of the books are very different at first glance but they contain underlying messages relevant to the novel.  Each cover alludes to a theme within the novel that is important in the characterization and purpose of the book.

Three of the covers contain a light color scheme while the final uses grey and black.  The lighter color scheme creates an undisturbed and tranquil mood for the reader while the grey cover has an almost horror mood. Three of the covers contain either people or drawings of a body but none of the covers contain a full image of a person's face.  This goes along with the importance of the clones physical bodies and the disinterest the government has about their souls.  Two of the covers that contain a person are not complete drawings of the person but only contain parts or are blurred that also support the context of the clones being treated as less than human.  The cover with the book is different in that it doesn't contain a person but rather a picture of the boat that Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy visit.  This is representative of the hope that the clones have concerning avoiding dying because they spread rumors at the center about the boat and the possible sequence of events that led it to be washed ashore. This causes the clones to have hope because they are limited on what they can do and envy the freedom that regular people have.

The cover of the blond-haired girl sitting in a patch of flowers appears peaceful and calming with the choice of the color pallet and the lighting used in the image.  Using earthy tones with lighter colors has a natural look and both the way the girl is sitting and how she is dressed creates an image that is completely normal. She also sits alone in a green landscape with her face turned away from the viewer hiding her features.  If someone hadn't read this book they would probably think that this book had a romantic aspect and was a summer story of young woman because of the background and her attitude.  This cover does however have an important connection to a contextual theme in the novel in that the author, Kazuo Ishiguro, depicted the clones in a typical English setting with human characteristics.  This was a main purpose in the novel as Ishiguro commented on how similar the clones are to regular people and begged the question of what qualifies and makes us human.  I think this cover pictures Kathy because of her posture and how Kathy tends to be small-spoken and keeps to herself.  The viewpoint of the cover is from Tommy's eyes because he the character that views Kathy with a romantic aspect and would see her as being peaceful and contemplative.  The creators of this cover wanted to emphasize the human aspects of the clones and the relatively normal lives that they live hoping to draw in readers who typically wouldn't read dystopian novels.

This cover is extremely different from the other covers because it contains a crude drawing of a human torso with the organs as the main focus.  This cover points out the darker aspects of the novel as it emphasizes the organ donation the clones must make.  Not showing the face of the person and only sketching a torso with organs is meant to point out how the clones were treated as less than human with their only purpose being to donate organs.  The grey color scheme and the font of the words adds to the morbid purpose of the cover along with the lack of detail of the sketch and the outline of the body with stitches.  This cover aims to point out the ethical dilemmas contained within the novel concerning how the clones should be treated and whether or not they should get the rights regular humans have or if they should be harvested for organs. People who hadn't read the book would probably think that the book was a horror book about morbid things happening to people and would contain characters that would hate the situation they're in and wouldn't be content.  Although the book does contain a morbid aspect as the clones are harvested, I wouldn't consider it a horror book because of how the clones view their situation and the happiness present in their lives.  I believe that the cover is in the point of view of the authorities who make the clones donate and regular people who believe that clones aren't human and should be harvested without a normal life.  The creators of this cover wanted to emphasize the grotesque facet of the book hoping to draw in readers that enjoy horror books and wouldn't usually read a story about kids growing up.