“Never Let Me Go” and “The Glass Menagerie '' Analysis and Plot

Both “Never Let Me Go” and “The Glass Menagerie '' illustrate ideal familial romantic and distant relationships between characters, exemplifying the differences between generations over time. Through these relationships presented, the authors shape differences between generations between major characters in a world where different aspects of technological, historical, social and political changes occurred for writers Ishiguro and Williams themselves, as they discuss such changes in their work. As the plot develops we witness character developments, changes in the mood and tone through the setting and most importantly changes in behaviour towards other characters.

In “Never Let Me Go”, Ishiguro presents the modern-day class system and general ignorance of suffering, with the use of a clone’s perspective to tell the narrative, Kathy H, who introduces the humanization of the clones and the societal implications of the existence of the clones. In the “The Glass Menagerie”, the play reflects the values of society during the 1930s, at the time of the great depression from the viewpoint of the narrative, Tom Wingfield, exploring themes of times of struggles and national conflicts; depicting the idea that people who have lost their fortune, must work hard to survive, but who are not able to forget about their wealthy past.

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The importance of relationships between adults and younger characters are explored by both authors through that of a parental-child relationship themes such as love and guidance take president over the growing generation gap that is changing and evolving. The relation between the children and Miss Lucy is more nurturing, maternal one as Ms Lucy’s honesty gets in the way in which Hailsham is built.

Miss Lucy although is a guardian at the school, has strong views against how Hailsham is set up as she highly believes the students should be told what the future has in store for them in a straightforward manner rather than beating around the bush and upfront lying to them about how they are clones and how later they are set to die in the “recovery home” as they sugar coat any sort of hardship that's to come to them.

Miss Lucy’s attachment towards the students has caused her to act out irrationally for instance Miss Lucy expresses frustration with the other guardians who refuse to speak directly to the students about their futures due to the fact that she hears two boys discussing what it would be like to become actors and suddenly Miss Lucy gets upset, announcing that such talk is inappropriate. She repeats the phrase “you’ve been told” after eavesdropping on the students' discussion interrupting the boys who spoke about becoming actors in the sports pavilion. Her emotions get the best of her as shown through the repetition as well as the constant use of contractions attempting to inform them on how their futures are already determined. Initially her formality is dropped and the guardian uses control of the situation as she speaks in a colloquial tone. Miss Lucy’s repressed emotions overwhelms her, leaving her to what would be an inappropriate relationship with the students, eventually leading to her getting fired as such maternal feelings were not compatible with such a corrupted workfield. Her bottled aggression is often mentioned throughout the novel which Kathy H vividly remembers and describes to be frightening not only to her but to the other innocent students. Although some may say that Hailsham is not a place for an emotional character like Miss Lucy who is way too attached, others disagree pointing out that her feelings are raw and nurturing as even though she can't tell the students the truth she is still feeling.

Much like the Glass Menagerie, Amanda’s constant nagging, pesters Tom into internal conflict where he is unsure of whether he should leave leave his family behind for adventure and pursue his dreams or stay and support his helpless romantic mother and his disabled sister, working a job he evidently throughout the play dislikes. Due to the absence of their father, Tom is left with his mother blaming him for things she relies on him for financial stability. However little does he know that her dependence on her son is only straining their relationship, distancing him away from the family which is foreshadowed in how he makes use of the fire escape and the “movies” as his getaway. Given Tom’s trips, Amanda questions him on his return in act four, “Have you gone out of your senses?”. The irony here mirrors Amanda's behaviour which is ironically contrasted with Tom’s intoxicated state from actual alcohol and enjoys the reality of life whereas Amanda finds satisfaction in life through her nostalgia, living in the past memory and lost her “senses” in that way and also the way in which she treats her own children as she nags and pathetically tortures them when she relives into her past memories. Although there is a clear generation gap between the characters, the adults have an obvious feeling of maternal love where they feel as its their duty to protect the younger characters within the texts no matter how harshly it's worded or addressed.

A recurring theme in both “Never Let Me Go” and “The Glass Menagerie'' is the younger generation discovering and exploring options for themselves building complex relationships between each other. Due to the lies, secrecy and deception that they face, the younger characters somewhat defend themselves and take matters of learning the realities that have been hidden from them by adults into their own hands. They choose to take the risk and learn the consequences of going against the rules as a form of growing up and taking initiative. In “Never Let Me Go”, curiosity strikes Kathy H in chapter eight as the narrator decides that she wants to “lose her virginity” which the guardians heavily encouraged sand emphasised to students to act upon only with their “one true love”, as well as this the guardians made it out that “having sex” was forbidden within the school if they ought to be caught. Given the typical behaviours of high school students, the students at Hailsham went against what they were taught and instead repeatedly discussed the topic of sex until peer-pressure got the best of Kathy H herself prepares herself into having sex with someone she doesn’t care about at all. Evidently the theme of growing up is highly emphasised within this chapter as the students are learning about such topics and presents how they are getting more mature. Kathy in particular has a change in tone where is adamant on losing her virginity for the soul purpose of gain experience as she felt she “needed to get familiar with sex” as she emphasises on how she simply doesnt care who it is as long as when its the right purpose shes educated enough to have a chance of “doing everything right”.

The students simply sees such act as a chance to learn and gain experience and in order to do so they are comfortable with each other with talking about sex and so are able to help each other out in trying it for educational purposes. Similarly in “The Glass Menagerie'', the younger characters Laura and Tom develop a strong bond as they share a mother who lives in a delusional world where she is obsessive and controlling in the way in which her children live their lives. Tom being the younger sibling to Laura is left with the responsibilities of raising a family that their father had once abandoned them from, whilst his sister who has a low-self esteem and a disability, is left with the pressures of having to find a “gentleman caller” by Amanda. In light of Tom’s character, in one sense, the whole play is a dramatized apology to his sister Laura...for abandoning her to find his own freedom as an artist and as a man, As he feels trapped and confused, working hard to support his family, given his never-ending care for Laura. 'I would have stopped, but I was pursued by something'. 'I would have' expresses the past modals, the author’s intentional use of this presents Tom's present feelings over a past decision or action.

This being his decision to leave not only his home but also his family behind, in order to pursue his dreams. It also reveals the complexity that concerns familial relationships. His absence isn't the end, as the strains in their relationship has not been resolved, it rather hangs in the air. The use of 'but' here mimics an interjection. In this instance, it's expressive of both Tom's hesitation and or doubt, concerning his decision to leave. Laura being the factor that would have initially “stopped” him from pursuing this. Tennessee Williams’ sister Rose mirrors Laura Wingfield’s character as both were ill whether it be mentally or physically, the author's intentions with character Tom was to identify with such character, presenting a reflection of his own feelings and relationship with his sister throughout the years, one that was both close but troubled. Just like Tom, Williams struggled to balance his love and attachment to his sister with establishing his own identity and having walked out on his family too, he is left with the guilt as this relationship haunted him and influenced his writing evidently. It's apparent that in both Ishiguro and Williams works acknowledge relationships between the younger characters as a significant one as they rely on each other when situations get tough and escalate to the point where they need each other for support.

Other critics argue that in fact “Never Let Me Go” and “The Glass Menagerie '' were written to present the importance of the past as well as relationships. “The past is not dead. It is not even past.''- Faulkner. A reoccuring theme within both texts is the past whether its high school years or past relationships and both authors present such themes significantly.Modern critics of “Never Let Me Go” argue that Ishiguro captures the complexities in relationships between the young, there of the same generations, rather than that between adults and the young. Kathy is obsessed with the past whether it's with Hailsham, her friends or her old cassette tape. The narrator's past experiences are so heavily emphasised within the novel that she barely tells us anything about her present life. The entire novel is a series of flashbacks picturing a life as at Hailsham, recalling her ideal everlasting friendships with characters such as Ruth and Tommy only to be left alone as they've passed, leaving Kathy to only recall their existence only in her memory as a result, reflecting back is one way Kathy can cope with all the things she's lost over the years. “The Glass Menagerie '' as a memory plays an important part. Thematically we see the detrimental effects of memory in the form of Amanda being unable to escape

from memories of her past life. The entire story is told from the memory of Tom. Tom himself explains that his memory is selective, that events are remembered with music, with particular lighting, that reality is altered and amended and made presentable in certain ways. As Tom recollects only certain memories of his mother presenting the generation gap that keeps them distant.

Despite the fact that the motif of the past and reminiscing is continuously challenged throughout the works of Ishiguro and Williams, its evident that the relationships of the past shape the current relations present in the text due to the generation gap between adult and younger characters in the texts transformed by their different perspectives. The importance of relationships within both texts is to allow for the reader to feel something to relate to acknowledging the relations the reality that exists in a world that once was, like Tennessee’s play set in the 1930s or a world that could be, in Ishiguros’s dystopian science fiction novel.