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ABSTRACT
The researcher seeks to analyze and demonstrate the concept of biopolitics and its originators. Biopolitics is an
interdisciplinary field that explores the intersection between human biology and politics. It involves the exercise of
political power to administer and control life and populations. The research will examine how biopolitics is portrayed
in Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, ''Never Let Me Go'', which presents an alternate universe set in 1990s England. In this
fictional society, cloned humans are created for the sole purpose of donating their organs. Through the novel's
characters, the research will explore different manifestations of suffering from an existentialist perspective. The
concept of organ donation in the novel can be interpreted as a metaphorical expression of human life and its universal
awareness of finitude. The research will analyze how Kazuo Ishiguro presents the idea that the two seemingly distinct
groups of clones and "ordinary people" on the donor side share similar perspectives on life, death, and the overall
human experience. This aligns with Michel Foucault's concept of biopolitics, which involves securing, maintaining, and
controlling life. By examining the society depicted in Never Let Me Go, the research will investigate how biopolitical
practices have influenced and shaped that fictional world. This analysis will provide insights into the impact of
biopolitics on the individuals and the broader social dynamics portrayed in the novel.
KEYWORDS
Populations, securing, maintaining, and controlling life.
INTRODUCTION
Research Article
BIOPOLITICS IN KAZUO ISHIGURO'S NEVER LET ME GO
Submission Date:
July 19, 2024,
Accepted Date:
July 24, 2024,
Published Date:
July 29, 2024
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/ajsshr/Volume04Issue07-10
Zaid Razzaq Sadeq
Ministry of Education, Najaf Governorate Directorate, Iraq
Journal
Website:
https://theusajournals.
com/index.php/ajsshr
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
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Biopolitics marks a significant historical transformation
from a politics so Biopolitics refers to a political
framework that focuses on the management and
control of life and populations. It involves strategies
and techniques to ensure the preservation,
sustainability, and multiplication of life, as well as the
organization and regulation of life processes.
Biopower, on the other hand, refers to the practical
implementation of biopolitics within society. It
encompasses the various power mechanisms and
techniques that are employed to exert control over life
and shape its conditions. According to Foucault,
biopower represents a fundamental shift in power
mechanisms compared to the classical era of Western
civilization. It involves a transformation in the way
power operates, moving beyond mere repression and
punishment. Biopower is characterized by its positive
effects on life, aiming to manage, optimize, and
enhance it. It involves detailed surveillance, regulation,
and control over individuals and populations.
In his work "The Will to Knowledge," Foucault explores
the idea of power that acts upon life, subjecting it to
precise control and comprehensive regulation. This
power seeks to produce knowledge about life,
categorize individuals based on their biological
characteristics, and intervene in their lives to promote
specific forms of conduct and behaviors. Hence
genealogically, Foucault takes us from a ‘sovereign
who must be defended’ (Evans, 2003:413
-433). To the
society (species, group) to be defended, as the name
of his earlier lecture series affirms. In The Will to
Knowledge, Foucault explains: war is no longer waged
in the name of a sovereign to be defended, but for the
sake of the existence of all. In the name of the
necessity of life, entire populations are mobilized for
the purpose of genocide. Regardless of gender, race,
social status, or religion, the consideration of death has
haunted people from the beginning. Death has
become a subject discussed with solemnity and great
interest. While there are many different approaches,
perspectives, and beliefs about death-philosophical,
religious, spiritual, etc.-there is a pivotal point in the
fact that every imaginable assumption is mere
speculation. As Martin Heidegger reminds us, 'there is
no scientific method
for empirical examination of one’s
death, and there is no possibility for objective
experiments or analyses' (Heidegger, 1962: 137).
In Kazuo Ishiguro's ''Never Let Me Go'', the
protagonist, Cathy, gradually reveals the startling truth
about the gift program "I" and portrays herself and her
peers as survivors of an abominable English history
based on an elective ideology. The author opened up a
variety of debates related to the subject, including the
good and morality of cloning, the nature of the subject,
biopolitics, and the issue of transhumanism. Ishiguro
effectively incited art critics and researchers to
different readings of the content, decoding the novel
as a depiction of social and political abuse, the
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mistreatment of an undervalued group, and the
violation of basic freedoms. Although the novel is
treated as an example of an injury account, the
researcher suggests that it is essentially different from
an injury account about a cloned human being who is
abused and ultimately butchered by a "typical
individual." The researcher understands the novel to
be highly metaphorical and symbolic.
LITERARY METHOD
''Never Let Me Go'', one of Ishiguro's best-known
novels, is told in the form of Cathy, an uncertain
narrator, reminiscing about her childhood. The tone is
very casual and conversational, with the diction of a
typical 1990s British high school girl. Cathy often
repeats phrases and begins sentences with
conjunctions. In addition, to make the characters'
spoken language even more realistic, Ishiguro uses
short sentences throughout the novel.
The literary devices in ''Never Let Me Go'' are very
simple and create a childlike tone. On the other hand,
the novel also quotes the song "Never Let Me Go" by
Judy Bridgewater as a symbol of human emotion. As
Cathy listens and dances to the song, she imagines a
woman finally conceiving her longed-for child and
singing "Never Let Me Go" while holding and rocking
the baby. The symbolism and allusions create a chilling
image as the reader understands that Kathy, a clone,
will never have a child of her own and has never been
held by her own mother. Despite all this, Kathy shows
just the same longing for love as any other human.
Ishiguro also employed metaphors to make the
language even more passive so nothing is said directly
and certainly. In addition to the metaphors, Ishiguro
used euphemism in the novel such as "completion" for
death and "recovery centers" for where the donors
resided in after donations. (Elkins, 2020:35)
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The novel has attracted many critics and writers, and
various researchers have tackled the novel and
addressed different aspects of it. The main conflict in
the novel is the internal struggle of the main
characters, Cathy, Tommy, and Ruth, to persevere and
find hope and love. Their conflict is that they continue
to dream and hope for the future because of their
humanity, but the harsh reality they learned at an early
age will not make their dreams come true. Ultimately,
they struggle within each other and within themselves,
seeking to broaden their range of human emotions and
experiences and to seek a stab at a hopeful future.
According to Margaret Atwood, in her article "Kazuo
Ishiguro's Novels Are Really Scary" (2005), Ishiguro's
works offer a thought-provoking and unsettling
examination of the impact of dehumanization on
marginalized groups. Atwood praises Ishiguro's skillful
portrayal of these effects, noting that they are not
immediately apparent but deeply disturbing in their
subtlety. The characters, particularly Cathy, are
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relatable and their introspective questions about the
purpose of art resonate with a broader audience.
Atwood emphasizes that the individuals in Ishiguro's
narratives are not depicted as traditional heroes,
adding to the complexity and realism of his
storytelling.
The ending is not pleasant. But it is a masterful work by
a master craftsman who has chosen a difficult subject:
himself seen through a looking glass. As Martin
Heidegger said of the biopolitics entwined in society,
the consideration of the concept of death has
burdened people from the beginning, regardless of
gender, race, social status, or religion. Death has
become a subject that is discussed with solemnity and
great concern. While there are many different
approaches, perspectives, and beliefs about death-
philosophical, religious, spiritual, etc.-an important
point is the fact that every imaginable assumption is
mere speculation. There is no scientific method to
empirically test one's death, no possibility of objective
experimentation or analysis (Heidegger, 1962.150-155).
This existential suffering arises from the awareness of
an unfulfilled life and the inevitability of death. In this
paper, the researcher proposes an existential reading
of Kazuo Ishiguro's ''Never Let Me Go'', highlighting
the perception and experience of life's finitude as the
central theme. The novel's story and characters shed
light on existential issues of meaning, purpose, and the
underlying anxiety and fear of death. This
interpretation challenges the view of the novel as a
typical trauma narrative. As Titus Levy puts it, a trauma
narrative generally contains “jarring memories of
abuse, predation, and scarring violence” (Levy, 2011,
p.10). There is no introduction into the political and
social situation of the country, no explanation who,
how, and why, and the motives of the “normal people”
seem to be rather selfish than hate-driven. The answer
is perhaps not much, because the dividing line between
these two groups is already remarkably thin. Ishiguro
uses the topic of cloning to wrap the novel's existential
themes in a metallic, fashionable cover of science
fiction that casts a reflection of an improbable but not
impossible future. Although the clone may be thought
of as simply human, it may be possible to take a
different view of what existential philosophy calls the
"essence" of the clone. One of the central claims of
existentialism
comes
from
Jean-
Paul
Sartre’s
statement that existence precedes essence'' (Sartre,
1946: 132-134). This idea reverses the classic
metaphysical statement that the essence precedes
existence, so to speak, the essence is more important
that its existence. In Sartre’s formulation, which placed
emphasis on human beings, people are thrown into
existence without any predetermined essence, which
is subsequently created by their very own values and
decisions, through which they give their life a meaning
and purpose. As he puts it, “man is nothing else but
that which he makes of himself. That is the first
principle of existentialism” (Sartre,
1946, p. 3). It felt
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right. After all, it’s what we’re supposed to be doing,
isn’t it?” (Ishiguro, 2006, p. 223). From the existential
point of view, the fact that clones do not try to escape
or revolt against the system that condemns them to
certain death might not be seen as so surprising. As
such, it illustrates the subtleties of human existence.
Purpose of the Study
The objective of this study is to examine the utilization
of biopolitics in the novel ''Never Let Me Go'', authored
by Kazuo Ishiguro in 2005. The primary character and
narrator of the story is Cathy, a clone created for the
purpose of organ donation. Through her experiences,
the novel explores themes of exploitation, identity,
and resistance within a biopolitical framework.By
analyzing the portrayal of Cathy and her interactions
with the society de and its implications. It seeks to shed
light on the advantages and disadvantages of
biopolitical
practices
as
illustrated
in
the
narrative.Furthermore, the study will delve into the
impact of biopolitics on the broader society within the
novel. picted in the book, this study aims to identify
how biopolitics is employed .
Research Questions
1-What is biopolitics?
2-How could biopolitics effect on the society?
METHODOLOGY
By shedding light on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel ''Never let
me go'', this study's theory seeks to demonstrate the
validity of the term "biopolitics" in its proper sense,
along with its various orientations and multiple
meanings in past and present events, the divisions it
has today, and the existence of radical biopolitical
movements with a political orientation. By addressing
the many arguments and assertions put out by
opponents of the biopolitics approach, this study
strives to give an in-depth analysis of the notion of
biopolitics.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theoretical foundation of this thesis will be the
main topic of this chapter. By outlining the numerous
arguments and assertions made by opponents of the
biopolitics approach, it will try to explore the idea of
biopolitics in detail. '' Michel Foucault describes
biopolitics as a political approach that focuses on
managing populations and life itself, with the aim of
preserving and organizing it. Biopower, on the other
hand, refers to the way biopolitics is implemented in
society and represents a significant transformation in
power mechanisms during the classical period in
Western society. In his work "The Will to Knowledge,"
Foucault explores power that has a positive influence
on life, aiming to control and enhance it through strict
regulations and laws. Foucault is speaking about a
power he later designates as “biopower, a power
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which significantly
–
has a ‘positive influence on life''
(Crome, 2009, pp. 46-61).
This new biopower suggests a "profound change in the
mechanics of power," and it differs from the
oppressive and harmful power that Foucault connects
with the "jurisprudential-discursive" idea, a power that
"effects take the form of limits and lacks." In fact,
Foucault offers a thorough critique of the workings of
this repressive power in both The ''Will to Knowledge''
and ''Society Must Be Defended'', showing how it
serves to hide the fact that other productive and
"positive" power capacities are also at work, especially
in the governmentality of 19th-century capitalism. The
"deductions" are no longer the foundation of
authority. The "deduction" is no longer the main
source of power; rather, it is just one of several factors
that tends to work to motivate, bolster, regulate,
supervise, improve, and organize the forces that are
subordinate to it. A significant historical transition from
the politics of sovereignty to the politics of society is
represented by biopolitics. As a result, Foucault leads
us in a genealogical manner from "the sovereign that
must be defended" to, as his earlier lecture series' title
states, "the society (species, group) that must be
defended. "In The Will to Knowledge", Foucault
describes how Wars are no longer waged in the name
of a sovereign who must be defended; they are waged
on behalf of the existence of everyone; entire
populations are mobilized for the purpose of
wholesale slaughter in the name of life necessity:
massacres have become vital (Terranova, 2009).
One perceived limitation of biopower and biopolitics is
the apparent neglect of subjectivity within Foucault's
work. In his examination of politics concerning
populations and species, Foucault does not explicitly
address the concept of the biopolitical subject. This can
be seen as a limitation when considering the role of
biopolitics and biopower within the broader context of
Foucault's div of work, especially considering his
statement in 1982 that his objective was to chart the
various ways in which individuals are made subjects
within our culture (Rabinow, 2006).
However, in this context, it is crucial to take into
account how other types of power, such as repressive
and disciplinary power, which have a more immediate
effect on the div and subjectivity, interact with
biopower and biopolitics. It also offers significant room
for considering the biopolitical. In the dystopian future
of forced organ harvesting (or "donation") and cloning
that the book imagines, ''Never Let Me Go'' by Kazuo
Ishiguro begins by outlining the inner workings of a
caregiver's vocation. Cathy is about to put a stop to a
lengthy career as a caregiver and start a sequence of
contributions that will ultimately lead to her passing
away, or, in the book's morbid jargon, her impending
completion. This suggests a connection between
Kathy's success in "getting it right" and her fellow
clones' "acceptance of their fate," which is essential to
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comprehending how the entire narrative should be
viewed. According to Kathy, the ability to retain
donors' composure and cooperation is the sign of a
skilled and effective care provider. Most certainly, this
is the book's most significant theme. It is a method to
think about the cooperation of those who are about to
be destroyed themselves in the two-way activity (of
care and gift) that enables and brings about that
devastation. In other words, what processes and
techniques enable the technical discourse of "good
work" to conceal the horrifying reality of forced organ
donation and eventual "completion" by genetically
modified half-humans? The researcher wants to
particularly address these questions in this paper.
Within this society of physical deprivation, Kathy's
focus on the emotive side of interpersonal contact
(with donors, acquaintances, and peers) and the
production and fabrication of her own subjectivity
expose her satanic nature. The researcher will try to
illustrate how this is both a principle of the procedural
logic that underpins a predatory extractivist society
and a method adopted by those who are genuinely
dedicated to it to obfuscate their ideology. In fact, as
various reviewers have pointed out, affect
—
a special
creature of immaterial labor
—
plays a key part in this
work. However, in order to accurately locate the shift
to influence the new definition of work that became
available in the late 20th century (i.e., the hypothetical
1990s in which this novel is set), it is imperative to
analyze the modes of production and value
accumulation that emerge under postmodern
capitalism. Such a research will enable us to
comprehend Ishiguro's book as a historically particular
and nevertheless applicable case study, along with the
ethical and political contradictions it rehearses. When
Kathy suggests that, after so many years of care work,
she has "developed a kind of instinct around donors"
(Del Valle Alcalá, 2019: p.60).
The biopolitical21 character of this priceless, risky,
"literal" life is furthered as the reader gradually but
inevitably learns that Kathy, like all the other kids at
Hailsham, is a clone. As I indicated in the previously ''I
borrow the word "biopolitics" from Michel Foucault's
work at the Collège de France, where he defined it in
the framework of his study of altering power forms
from the seventeenth century until the mid-1970s,
when he was lecturing''. (De Boever, 2013: 62-65)
Application of Biopolitics In Kazuo Ishiguro's Never
Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese-English author. He was
born in Nagasaki, Japan, moved to the UK with his
family in 1960, and earned his B.A. from the University
of Kent in 1978 and his M.A. from the University of East
Anglia's Creative Writing Course in 1980. He acquired
British citizenship in 1982. A Pale View of the Hills,
Ishiguro's debut book, was published in 1982 and
chronicles the postwar memories of Etsuko, a
Japanese lady dealing with the suicide of her daughter
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Keiko. Masuji Ono's life is chronicled in The Artist of the
Floating World (1986), which is set in a post-World War
II Japan that is becoming more westernized and
examines his prior work as a political artist of
imperialist propaganda.
The first few pages of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel ''Never
Let Me Go'' are imaginatively opened. The author
considered the book could be summed up in three
words: Britain, the late 1990s. The plot revolves around
Cathy, Tommy, Ruth, and the love triangle that initially
appeared at Hailsham School. The abrupt appearance
of an enraged guard exclaiming, "None of you may go
to America, and none of you may become a motion
picture star, the life line is drawn for you," sums up the
lives of these three. What each of you was typically
designed for? This makes it possible to observe how
the detrimental impact of biopolitics dominates all
human activity and voice in his work. The attempt by
the state to regulate the capabilities and forms of life is
known as biopolitics. For the sake of explanation, let's
use the current conflict in the United States around
women's reproductive rights (premature birth, birth
control, etc.) as an example of biopolitics and the
control that biopolitics exerts over women's bodies as
an example of biopower. Then, it is important to learn
how biopolitics affected the novel ''Never Let Me Go''
by Ishigaro and what relationship there is between the
two.
''Never Let Me Go'' is described by Kathy and starts
with memories
In
the
novel’s
opening
chapters,
theories
ap
proximately Tommy’s outrage serve as a vehicle for
Kathy to clarify a few of the ethics
—
habits, rules and
regulations
—
that shape community life at Hailsham.
In this way, the per user learns about the Guardians
observing over the clones (logically slanted readers
might listen echoes of Plato and his Republic, a classic
within the history of utopia, and one in which genetic
counseling may be a central theme). We moreover
learn almost the art exchanges that take put at the
school and the gallery of student artwork curated by
the school’s headmistress, a Belgian or French woman
referred to as Madame The reality that these words are
capitalized suggests that they work inside the
community of Hailsham as god-terms: they have been
around until the end of time, they cannot be touched.
They are the cornerstones of life at Hailsham. But for
Tommy, all the understudies show up to be buying into
them with much enthusiasm.
It is an aesthetics of presence of a kind, but one that is
practiced in this case within the most critical
circumstances, in full refusal of the reality that
constitutes it. ''When one of these objects goes lost, as
happens for example with a music tape that Kathy is
particularly attached to, all of existence enters into a
state of crisis, in the same way that a child cannot be
consoled when it has lost'' (Whitehead,2011p.83)
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What psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott calls a transitional
object.19 as it were that object will be able to create up
for the misfortune, and without it, presence cannot be
complete. This appears that life at Hailsham is
dubiously adjusted between belief, its fabric bolster
framework, and the chance of them being unsettled.
Such a presence might be characterized as strict.
Consider, for example, that when Kathy loses her tape,
she by one means or another considers she will find it
back in Norfolk, which is portrayed by one of their
instructors as “the lost corner of England. Since the
lost and found section at Hailsham is also called the lost
corner, Kathy somehow establishes an association
between the two. ''Interestingly, the novel confirms
this madness she will indeed find the tape back during
an excursion to Norfolk, when she will even wonder,
that she lost'' (Rich, 2015p. 651).
It may be a reflection on the connection between the
first and the copy (the clone), but it too affirms to the
profoundly scripted life of Hailsham students
—
a life
that the novel, since it affirms it, appears to be
complicit with (more on this afterward). Hailsham life
is in truth so scripted that it dangers to collapse
beneath any kind of study. It could be a world that can
as it were exist on the condition that one does not
inquire as well numerous questions. That this precious,
precarious, literal life is intensely bio political is
revealed along the way, as the reader slowly but surely
finds out that Kathy as well as all the other students at
Hailsham are clones. (De Boever, 2013, p. 66).
The more stunning perspective of the novel, in any
case, are the chapters in which the school’s biopolitical
administration is described. Because the students’ sole
purpose is to ultimate donate their organs to regular
human beings who are in need of them, it is of the
utmos
t importance that they stay focused on “keeping
yourselves well, keeping yourselves very healthy
inside. This entails, as we all know (this is one of the
uncanny ways in which the clones’ biopolitical
existence overlaps with our own), not smoking I don’t
know how it was where you were, Kathy writes, thus
explicitly involving the reader in the narrative, '' but at
Hailsham the guardians were really strict about
smoking''(Suter, 2011.p.21).
At the time when the talks around smoking and sex are
taking put, be that as it may, none of the students
knew “that none of us seem have babies. Typically
something that's only revealed to them at an
afterward time. It is since of this reason, most likely,
that Miss Lucy
—
the Hailsham teachers who is most
clashed approxima
tely the school’s project—
comes to
compare Hailsham to a concentration camp. When she
is talking about troopers in World War two being kept
in jail camps one day, and at that point somediv else
had said how unusual it must have been, living in a put
like that, where you may commit suicide any time you
preferred just by touching the fence. How unusual
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undoubtedly! It’s fair as well, Miss Lucy says after a
minute of reflection, the wall at Hailsham aren’t
electrified. You get appalling mishaps sometimes. The
comment is talked discreetly, and while Kathy picks it
up few of the other understudies do. But it is an
important observation, of course, and one that
empowers the peruser to see the relation between
Hailsham’s exceedingly scripted mode of presence and
the camps. Of course, pundits will say that life at
Hailsham, with the different comforts it still includes,
can in no way be compared to life within the camps;
and of course, they are right. But doubtlessly one can
moreover see what Miss Lucy is insinuating to here: a
certain rationale that presence at Hailsham and
presence within the camp (on the off chance that it can
still be called that) share. In expansion, one finds out
through this remark that there are wall around
Hailsham. It raises the address of whether anyone has
really ever seen such a fence, or attempted to cross it.
All things considered, there are rumors
—
and these
increment after they have left Hailsham and moved to
the Bungalows, a home for upper-level students
—
about benefactors getting what is called a deferral, and
being able to postpone donating for three to four a
long time" (Lee, 2021, p.121)
CONCLUSION
To sum up, study of Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me
Go", we were able to identify how the novel's
protagonist and society are affected by biopolitics. The
bio-dystopian theme of "Never Let Me Go" invites
biopolitical analysis, and as such, the novel's
institutions as medical, military, political, educational,
and other disciplinary bodies have been studied in
depth. In contrast, this paper focuses on the use of
emotion as a disciplinary tool, whether with modest
intentions, as seen at Hailsham, or otherwise, as seen
in the cottages and rehabilitation centers outside. This
paper argues for the possibility of resistance by
examining how emotion is used in organ harvesting
"programs" and how Kathy fits into that system.
Cathy's quotidian resistance to caring for her donors
and herself is not outside the program and has clear
limits. This is because the use of emotion as a
disciplinary tool slowly and continuously transforms
the students into docile bodies that seem radically
different from those of non-cloned humans. In this
inclusive biopolitical environment, however, life
generates hope. In the case of cloning, it comes in the
form of grace. But this grace is even crueler because
this hope is not a mere rumor, but exists within the
biopolitical system implanted in the clone. Moreover,
this cruel optimism deprives the clones of even the last
shred of hope when they learn the truth. Only by
finding a way to comfort her aching div, a way to rely
on no one but herself, will Cathy be able to live. For
Kathy, this comfort comes in the form of using her
memories of Hailsham to calm others forms of
resistance, such as maintaining a sense of self, can
become the comfort for survival.
Volume 04 Issue 07-2024
75
American Journal Of Social Sciences And Humanity Research
(ISSN
–
2771-2141)
VOLUME
04
ISSUE
07
P
AGES
:
65-75
OCLC
–
1121105677
Publisher:
Oscar Publishing Services
Servi
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