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Literary Devices
Definition of Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given situation, and that of the... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a character's understanding of a given... read full definition
Dramatic irony is a plot device often used in theater, literature, film, and television to highlight the difference between a... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Donation:
Early on in Never Let Me Go, Kathy mentions the "donation" process multiple times, both in her present-day narration and in flashbacks to her time at Hailsham. During one such flashback in Chapter 3, Tommy and Kathy discuss Tommy's conversation with Miss Lucy about creativity. Tommy mentions that Miss Lucy does not think they are being "taught enough" about donation, in a moment of dramatic irony:
"[Miss Lucy] said we weren't being taught enough, something like that."
"Taught enough? You mean she thinks we should be studying even harder than we are?"
"No, I don't think she meant that. What she was talking about was, you know, about us. What's going to happen to us one day. Donations and all that."
At this point in the novel, readers are not yet entirely aware of what "donation" entails, nor that the children are human clones. In the above flashback from Chapter 3, however, the reader possesses more information than young Tommy and Kathy. An older version of Kathy, serving as the novel's frame narrator, provides some insight into the donation process at the beginning of Chapter 1:
But these days, of course, there are fewer and fewer donors left who I remember, and so in practice, I haven't been choosing that much.
In both this passage and the passage from Chapter 3, Ishiguro uses language that just barely tips the scale from banal into foreboding. The statement "there are fewer and fewer donors left who I remember" could simply mean that the donors have finished donation and moved on with their lives. The statement could also imply that all donors eventually die during the donation process. In the passage from Chapter 3, Tommy refers to donation as "what's going to happen to us one day"—vague and harmless enough a statement, but with similarly ominous undertones.
While the reader may be unsure of exactly what future awaits "donors," by Chapter 3, Kathy's narration and Ishiguro's word choice imply that donation is a difficult, ominous process. When Tommy and Kathy discuss Miss. Lucy in Chapter 3, then, their optimism (or lack of pessimism) about donation reads as dramatic irony.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Donation:
Early on in Never Let Me Go, Kathy mentions the "donation" process multiple times, both in her present-day narration and in flashbacks to her time at Hailsham. During one such flashback in Chapter 3, Tommy and Kathy discuss Tommy's conversation with Miss Lucy about creativity. Tommy mentions that Miss Lucy does not think they are being "taught enough" about donation, in a moment of dramatic irony:
"[Miss Lucy] said we weren't being taught enough, something like that."
"Taught enough? You mean she thinks we should be studying even harder than we are?"
"No, I don't think she meant that. What she was talking about was, you know, about us. What's going to happen to us one day. Donations and all that."
At this point in the novel, readers are not yet entirely aware of what "donation" entails, nor that the children are human clones. In the above flashback from Chapter 3, however, the reader possesses more information than young Tommy and Kathy. An older version of Kathy, serving as the novel's frame narrator, provides some insight into the donation process at the beginning of Chapter 1:
But these days, of course, there are fewer and fewer donors left who I remember, and so in practice, I haven't been choosing that much.
In both this passage and the passage from Chapter 3, Ishiguro uses language that just barely tips the scale from banal into foreboding. The statement "there are fewer and fewer donors left who I remember" could simply mean that the donors have finished donation and moved on with their lives. The statement could also imply that all donors eventually die during the donation process. In the passage from Chapter 3, Tommy refers to donation as "what's going to happen to us one day"—vague and harmless enough a statement, but with similarly ominous undertones.
While the reader may be unsure of exactly what future awaits "donors," by Chapter 3, Kathy's narration and Ishiguro's word choice imply that donation is a difficult, ominous process. When Tommy and Kathy discuss Miss. Lucy in Chapter 3, then, their optimism (or lack of pessimism) about donation reads as dramatic irony.
Related Themes:
