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Never Let Me Go - Language
Exchanges happen four times a year.

Never Let Me Go - Language

This Literature quiz is called 'Never Let Me Go - Language' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at high school. Playing educational quizzes is a user-friendly way to learn if you are in the 9th or 10th grade - aged 14 to 16.

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This high school English Literature quiz will test your language skills in Never Let Me Go.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is narrated in the first person. Kathy’s voice is consistent throughout. Most of the language in this text fits her idiom, which means her own personal way of speaking. We have a very clear sense of Kathy’s character through her manner of speaking. She also reports the dialog of others and because she is a fairly reliable narrator, the reader can easily distinguish the voice of other characters. The reader can almost hear the condescension when Ruth speaks, although it is important to remember that this is filtered through Kathy’s memory and her own idea of Ruth.

Language choices in the text often tell us what Kathy is thinking, even if she does not tell us directly. We can recognize emotions that she refuses to recognize, or understand her feelings through the way she describes what she sees in her environment. The way that she expresses herself tells the reader much more about her thoughts than the literal meaning of her words does.

Analyzing language in a text

Although visual elements, including illustration, layout and font, certainly have some effect on the reader's understanding and interpretation of a text, language is the primary medium through which meaning is conveyed. Without words, there would be no text.

Authors choose the language that they use carefully. Every word has its literal meaning, but it will also carry a weight of symbolic meanings and other associations. Language can convey literary effects through the use of imagery, such as metaphor, simile and personification. Dialogue, setting and characterisation all depend on language.

Pay close attention to language choices in a text; greater understanding will reward your effort. Remembering that much of the meaning of a text is not apparent from a surface reading, take time to consider what is going on below the surface. Pausing to think about language will help you to decipher these deeper meanings.

Answer the questions below on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go to develop your understanding of the way language choices affect our interpretation of a text.

1.
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
2.
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
3.
Why are the Exchanges capitalized?
Kathy capitalizes many words which shouldn't be capitalized. This habit shows that she is excitable
The word Exchange is always capitalized
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
4.
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 realized 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
5.
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
6.
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
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.
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 humor when they joke about letting their organs spill out over the dinner table
10.
"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
Author:  Sheri Smith

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