Couples and Sex

Sex seems to become a huge part in this section of the Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It is mentioned and described for a few chapters. Because the students at Hailsham, and all of the others like them, cannot have children, having sex has lost alot of the emotions that "normal people" feel. The "normal people," for the most part, have sex as a way to show each other their love and to procreate to bring their love into something tangible in the world. Miss Emily explains to them that they need to realize this difference between them and normal people. She expresses that they needed to "behave like them. (They) had to respect the rules and treat sex as something pretty special" (Ishiguro, 84).

The way this new fad went around Hailsham reminded me of how it is through most high schools. It seems as if everyone has done it, and if you haven't you are the odd one out. Kathy expresses that "sex had got like 'being creative'" (Ishiguro, 98), which meant that if you weren't familiar with it, then you were left out.

I feel as if Kathy's idea of it was opposite of how people today or in the "normal" society thought of it. "I needed to get familiar with sex, and it would be just as well to practice with a boy I didn't care much about too much. Then later on, if I was with someone special, I'd have more chance of doing everything right" (Ishiguro, 98). I can see what Kathy means when she expresses this view. It probably is hard for me to understand fully, though, because I am "normal." I see the biggest difference in that you would want your first time to be with someone you really care about and not who you don't care much about.

I still don't know why Kathy keeps having one night stands. Hopefully that much is explained later on in the novel. I feel as if that represents a deep problem within Kathy's character. I can just only wonder as to what other stories she with tell us about her teen self at the Cottages.