Despite being written twenty years apart, these two novels have many similarities. Both novels are presented through first person narration and have a reflective story-telling quality to them. Both novels seamlessly shift from past and present throughout the narrative. In both novels, the narrator addresses the reader. One example of this arising in Never Let Me Go is the various times that Kathy says: “I don’t know how it was where you were” (13). In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred says: “ I am coming to a part you will not like at all, because in it, I did not behave well” (268). Both novels have a great deal of internal conflict, but The Handmaid’s Tale has a conflict against society, where Offred is going against the totalitarian government,
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In both novels, individuality is stripped from the members of the society (although this isn’t as obvious at first in Never Let Me Go), and the characters have no free will due to the restrictions and destiny that has already been chosen for them by society. For Offred, it is to be a handmaiden, whose sole purpose is to provide children for the commander and his wife. There is no freedom in being a handmaiden, but her life is better than some other women in her society. However, when her usefulness runs out she will be forced to work manual labor. Women are treated very poorly in this society. In Never Let Me Go, the characters are actually clones, and they were made with the purpose of donating their organs to humans. Hailsham works hard to show the clones individuality to try to create social change, but they fail in the end, and Kathy must still face the fate of her …show more content…
This method may put off some less patient readers, but is highly effective for the curious reader that treats the novels like a mystery. This also reflects the speed at which the narrators learn the truth, especially in Never Let Me Go, where the characters are “both told and not told” (need to find pg). Both novels are realistic fiction, and they both depict horrifying dystopian societies in which individuality is stripped away. Although both are believable, The Handmaid’s Tale is even more so due to the author’s research and incorporation of historical events within her novel. This makes the horrors even more terrifying, because not only can it happen, but it did happen to some extent somewhere. There are many references to the events of the Holocaust within the novel. Never Let Me Go deals with the concept of cloning and scientific advancements, trying to reflect on what would happen if we take science too far. This is because cloning was big at this time, and the novel was written not long after the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Cloning has always been a controversial topic, so this novel and its themes make sense for this time
In both novels, individuality is stripped from the members of the society (although this isn’t as obvious at first in Never Let Me Go), and the characters have no free will due to the restrictions and destiny that has already been chosen for them by society. For Offred, it is to be a handmaiden, whose sole purpose is to provide children for the commander and his wife. There is no freedom in being a handmaiden, but her life is better than some other women in her society. However, when her usefulness runs out she will be forced to work manual labor. Women are treated very poorly in this society. In Never Let Me Go, the characters are actually clones, and they were made with the purpose of donating their organs to humans. Hailsham works hard to show the clones individuality to try to create social change, but they fail in the end, and Kathy must still face the fate of her …show more content…
This method may put off some less patient readers, but is highly effective for the curious reader that treats the novels like a mystery. This also reflects the speed at which the narrators learn the truth, especially in Never Let Me Go, where the characters are “both told and not told” (need to find pg). Both novels are realistic fiction, and they both depict horrifying dystopian societies in which individuality is stripped away. Although both are believable, The Handmaid’s Tale is even more so due to the author’s research and incorporation of historical events within her novel. This makes the horrors even more terrifying, because not only can it happen, but it did happen to some extent somewhere. There are many references to the events of the Holocaust within the novel. Never Let Me Go deals with the concept of cloning and scientific advancements, trying to reflect on what would happen if we take science too far. This is because cloning was big at this time, and the novel was written not long after the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Cloning has always been a controversial topic, so this novel and its themes make sense for this time