In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

The Narrator: Discuss the narrator; Do you like the narrator? Is NLMG in 1st person or 3rd person perspective? Is the narrator a clone or a human? How do you know?

“I don’t know how it was where you were…”

“I’m sure somewhere in your childhood, you too had an experience

like ours that day; similar if not in the actual details, then inside, in the

feelings”

What is the assumption that Kathy is making? Why would Ishiguro include this assumption that the character makes and the direct address technique?

Discussion Questions: Ch1-4

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

The characterisation of Ruth.

Ruth is a very strong figure at Hailsham. Why do you think this is? What impressions do you get of her?

“Outside, out there, they sell everything.”

How does the novel build on a feeling of ‘otherness’ and ‘isolation’ for those at Hailsham? (physically and mentally)

There is an ‘us versus them’ mentality that permeates throughout the novel. What does this suggest? Who are ‘they’?

Discussion Questions: Ch1-4

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

“Shaking with rage”

Explain the conversation that Kathy and Tommy have about Miss Lucy. What are they trying to understand? Can you make any inferences?

Find as many references as you can of Madame and her Gallery

in the first four chapters.

What do you infer about this topic? How do you explain Madame’s reaction to the students of Hailsham?

How does this reaction affect the students? Why do the feel this way?

Discussion Questions: Ch1-4

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch5 – ‘Didn’t we all dream from time to

time… ’ p.60

How does the 1st person voice and this idea impact on the reader?

Ch6What metaphor does

Norfolk provide for the students at this stage?

Smoking is sinister for students – Why?

Discussion Questions: Ch5-10

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch6 – ‘She was out in the corridor, standing very still, her head angled to one side to give her a view of what I was doing inside. And the odd thing was

she was crying. ’ p.71

Try and determine the significance of this event. Why can’t Kathy have babies? What do you think Madame thought

Kathy was doing? How do you predict Kathy’s tape

mysteriously disappeared?

Ch7 - Do a close reading of Miss Lucy’s speech to the students,

starting on page 78 with ‘No, no, I’m sorry…’ and going to page 80 with ‘you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you,

every one of you.’

What does this tell us about (a) the students lives and (b) Miss Lucy’s personal opinion?

Discussion Questions: Ch5-10

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch8 Kathy says that the

guardians were ‘normals’ (p 94). What does this mean?

What do you make of the way the guardians react to sexual relations between the students?

Why would ‘normals’ be uncomfortable with the idea of the students having sex with each other?

Ch9Miss Lucy says that the

artwork is ‘important’ as ‘evidence’. What does this suggest?

She goes on to say that there are things the students will never understand about Hailsham, and ‘about your place in the wider world’ (p106). What does she mean?

Discussion Questions: Ch5-10

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch10‘…no one would stop us if we wandered off, provided we were back by the day

and the time we entered into Keffer’s ledgerbook.’ (p116)

Are the students truly free? Are they comfortable exploring the outside world?

Ch11In what ways are the

‘collections’ something to be pitied by us, the reader?

Ruth shows embarrassment towards her collection, but Kathy does not. What does this tell us about the two characters?

Discussion Questions: Ch5-10

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch12It isn’t until chapter 12 that we hear the students discuss the fact that they are ‘clones’, ‘modelled’ on someone else (p137).To what extent do the

students feel that their models are a sort of ‘parent’ from which they were derived? Is this an accurate way to see things?

What ethical/moral issues does this novel raise, regarding cloning and humanity? Discuss in groups your own thoughts and feelings about these issues, focusing on how the world within the novel appears to treat/view cloning.

Discussion Questions: Ch5-12

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch13We learn, quite subtly,

that students are not meant to visit carers. Why do you suppose this is?

*Consider the way Ruth interacts with her peers:

‘…we can’t just go and visit him.’Chrissie sighed. ‘Okay. We’re not

supposed to visit carers. Absolutely strictly speaking. Certainly not

encouraged.’Rodney chuckled and added: ‘Definitely not encouraged. Naughty naughty to go

and visit him.’Then Ruth joined in, saying ‘Kathy hates to be naughty. So we better not go and

visit him.’Tommy looked at Ruth, clearly puzzled

about whose side she’d taken, and I wasn’t sure either.

Discussion Questions: Ch12-14

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

‘I heard about this girl up in Wales,’ Chrissie said. ‘She was Hailsham, maybe a few years

before you lot. Apparently she’s working in this clothes shop right now. A really smart one.’

There were murmurs of approval and for awhile we all looked dreamily out at the clouds.

‘That’s Hailsham for you,’ Rodney said eventually, and shook his head as though in

amazement.‘And then there was that other person’ –

Chrissie had turned to Ruth – ‘that boy you were telling us about the other day. The one a couple of

years above you who’s a park keeper now.’Ruth was nodding thoughtfully. It occurred

to me that I should shoot Tommy a warning glance, but by the time I’d turned to him, he’d

already started to speak.‘Who was that?’ he asked in a bewildered

voice.‘You know who it is, Tommy,’ I said quickly.

Ch 13 Chrissie and Rodney believe

in the ‘myth’ of Hailsham; that being a student there automatically affords you

more rights. To what extent do you feel Hailsham provides more opportunities than other

places?

Discussion Questions: Ch12-14

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch 14In groups, discuss the incident with Ruth’s possible. You should comment on: How the group acts prior to seeing

Ruth’s possible. How the group acts/reacts to

seeing Ruth’s possible from afar. How the group acts/reacts to

following Ruth’s possible and seeing her up close.

How the group acts/reacts after they agree the woman is not Ruth’s possible.

Re-read the passage starting with ‘Somewhere behind me…’ (page 164) to ‘…then they too began walking again’ (page 165).

How does Ishiguro build mood and atmosphere in these lines?

Discussion Questions: Ch12-14

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch 15How is it increasingly

evident that Tommy and Kathy have feelings for each other?

Why do they resist these feelings? Is this right/fair?

Tommy brings up a popular idea about art being a window to the soul. To what extent do you agree or disagree with him? Is there validity in the argument that artistic ability is proof of a soul?

Is his concern about his lack of ability something worth caring about?

Discussion Questions: Ch15

In pairs, answer the following questions.

Be prepared to share with the rest of the class.

Ch 15Consider the irony of

the following:

Tommy sighed. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘Well, I suppose we’ve got time. None of us are in any particular hurry.’

Re-read the passage starting with ‘You know,’ said Tommy…’ (page 178) and ending with ‘…but I didn’t laugh with him’ (page 179).

What impressions do you get about the relationship between Tommy and Ruth in these lines?

Discussion Questions: Ch15

Why is it important that Kathy decides to leave the cottages to

become a carer after her conversation with Ruth?

Chapter 16 + 17

Even so , I kept worry ing that one o f the s tr ings would come unrave l led and a s ingle ba l loon would sa i l off up

into that c loudy sky.Ly ing awake that n ight a f ter what roger had to ld

me, i kept see ing those ba l loons aga in . I thought about Hai l sham c los ing , and how i t was l ike someone coming

a long wi th a pa i r o f shears and sn ipping the ba l loon s tr ings jus t where they entwined above the man’s fi st . Once that happened, there ’d be no rea l sense in which those ba l loons be longed wi th each other any more…it was unnerv ing to th ink th ings weren ’ t s t i l l go ing on

back there , jus t as a lways . (P209)

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THIS METAPHOR?

Chapter 18Explore the following metaphor, used

by Kathy:

• Why does Kathy become Ruth’s carer? Do you think this was a wise decision?

• Why do things become tense between Ruth and Kathy? What does this tel l us about their

relat ionship?

• The thing that changes their relat ionship is ‘ the boat ’ , which is nothing more than an abandoned

boat , ‘ just s i tt ing there, stranded in the marshes’ . Ruth says that ‘ things l ike that matter

more than they once did’ (p212). Why?

Chapter 18

• Examine the relationship between tommy, Ruth and Kathy on the trip to the boat. Kathy says that ‘ it felt as thought tommy and I had come

close together again, after all the years’ , whereas Ruth seems much more tense and detached. What does this tell us about the

relationship(s) between the three? • What diff erences exist between the three, in

terms of physical and mental health? What does this suggest?

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Ruth admits that she ‘kept [Kathy] and Tommy apart…It should have been you two.’

Look closely at the way Kathy and Tommy react to her confession (pages 228 to 230).

Chapter 20

Find and locate 5 quotes that you could use, from chapter 20, which would help answer the following question:

How does Ishiguro build a sense of

sympathyfor Tommy and

Kathy?