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Never Let Me Go - Language

Explore how Ishiguro’s careful language in Never Let Me Go uses euphemism, repetition and gentle narration to hide disturbing truths and unsettle the reader.

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Fascinating Fact:

Euphemistic terms such as “donations,” “completion,” and “carer” soften harsh realities, highlighting how language hides the cruelty of the system.

In GCSE English Literature, you are expected to analyse how a writer’s language choices shape meaning. In Never Let Me Go, calm and polite phrases like “donations” and “completion” disguise violent truths. By zooming in on individual words, tone and patterns in Ishiguro’s narration, you can show how language both reveals and conceals the reality of the clones’ lives.

Key Terms

Euphemism: A mild or indirect word used to soften or hide an unpleasant or shocking reality.
Narrative voice: The style, tone and viewpoint through which the story is told.
Connotation: The ideas and feelings suggested by a word, beyond its basic dictionary meaning.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How does Never Let Me Go use euphemistic language?

The novel uses polite words like “donations” and “completion” instead of direct terms for surgery and death. This makes the system sound normal and respectable, which is disturbing for the reader.

How can I analyse language in this novel for GCSE?

Choose a short quotation, pick out one or two key words, and comment on their connotations, tone and effect. Then link your comments clearly back to the essay question or theme.

Why does Ishiguro keep the narrative voice so calm and controlled?

The calm voice reflects how the characters accept their fate and have been trained not to question it. This quiet tone makes the underlying horror more powerful and unsettling.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

In the novel, the word "complete" is used to describe the end of donation, or the death of the donor. This use of the word is an example of which of the following?

Allegory

Euphemism

Simile

Oxymoron

The use of this euphemism leads to one of the greatest fears the donors share, which is that ''completion'' might not mean death but a twilight existence on life support as organs are removed one by one

2 .

What is implied by the use of the word "guardian" for those who work at Hailsham?

The word implies safety, but also hints at restraint

The word implies that the adults are very powerful

The word implies friendliness, but also hints at severity

The word hints at hopelessness

The adults ''guard'' the students for their own safety, but also because they are responsible for containing them at Hailsham until they are ready to make the transition into becoming carers. Prisons, too, have guards

3 .

Which word do the Hailsham students employ when they first begin to joke about the donation process?

Drifting

Guarding

Completing

Unzipping

The use of the word ''unzipping'' makes the process of donation appear as a manageable, everyday activity almost as controllable as dressing and undressing. The students turn the horror of their situation into dark humour when they joke about letting their organs spill out over the dinner table

4 .

"I tried to run to him, but the mud sucked my feet down. The mud was impeding him too, because one time, when he kicked out, he slipped and fell out of view into the blackness." Which language choices build a sense of despair in these lines?

Mud, kicked, out of view

Sucked, down, slipped, fell

Tried, impeding, time, blackness

All of the above

Nearly every word in these lines helps to create a scene of utter despair

5 .

What makes the use of the word "possible" poignant?

The word diminishes the life of the person who had been cloned

The word evokes a sense of possibility, of a future which the clones will never have

The word reminds the reader that it would be impossible to find any of the cloned people

All of the above

The word "possible" means a particular person who has a chance of having been cloned; when the clones use the word, it is laden with all the possible futures which they will be denied

6 .

The last words Madame says to Kathy and Tommy are, "You poor creatures". What is significant about her choice of language?

Tommy and Kathy are not poor

Madame has just realised how impoverished the two young people are

Madame sees the two young people as inhuman

The choice of language is not significant

Creatures are created. Although this word is used frequently as easily exchangeable with ''animal'' or ''human being'', Madame's use of the word here betrays her deep discomfort with clones

7 .

"Then that feeling would come right to the fore and I'd have to put my hand over his mouth, whenever he said things like that, just so we could go on lying there in peace. I'm sure Tommy felt it too, because we'd always hold each other very tight after times like that, as though that way we'd manage to keep the feeling away." What is significant about the use of the word "feeling" here?

Kathy wants the reader to understand how little emotion is involved in her relationship with Tommy

Kathy does not feel emotion and therefore does not want to talk much about feelings

Kathy is not comfortable with naming negative emotions

All of the above

Kathy refers to the emotion as ''that'' feeling and ''the'' feeling, rather than giving the feeling a name

8 .

To what do the donors refer when they use the word "possible" as a noun (i.e. "the possible")?

The person from whom a donor was cloned

A donor ready for the fourth donation

A donor who has escaped from control and lives free

A donor who has become a permanent carer

Ruth believes for a while that she has seen her ''possible'' in a magazine advertisement

9 .

Why are the Exchanges capitalised?

Kathy capitalises many words which shouldn't be capitalised. This habit shows that she is excitable

The word Exchange is always capitalised

Capitalisation shows that the Exchange is the title of a publication such as a newspaper

Capitalisation conveys the importance which the students ascribe to these events

Exchanges happen four times a year. The fact that the students look forward to them shows how hungry they are for some excitement and how much rituals come to mean in an enclosed environment

10 .

What is implied by the use of the word "donor" for the clones?

They are employed by a charity

They are generous to charity

They give their organs voluntarily

They are prisoners

'"Donation'' comes from the Latin word for gift. To give a gift is a voluntary act. Yet the clones have no freedom to deny the removal of their organs

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Form, structure and language

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)