Never Let Me Go

1. What is Kathy H.’s situation at the time she is narrating the novel?

A) She has just lost her friends Ruth and Tommy.

B) She has been told she is about to become a donor, signaling the end of her life.

C) She has been encouraged by her guardians to write down her story.

D) She has begun to be a carer for other donors.

2. Why are the Exchanges so important to the students at Hailsham?  

A) They determine who is the best student.

B) They are a way to earn tokens that give students privileges.

C) They make them depend on each other for their most prized possessions.

D) They are a way to make new friends outside of normal social circles.

3. How does the “tokens controversy” mirror the students’ prescribed role in life?

A) The students are angry that Madame is picking favorites.

B) The students are concerned that they are giving away their valuable items to outsiders.

C) The students are learning that they are in competition with each other.

D) The students are disappointed that they are not being treated with respect by Madame.

4. How does Madame react to the Hailsham students when they test her?

A) She has no time for them.

B) She yells at them.

C) She is afraid of them.

D) She reports them to their guardians.

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

5. What does Miss Lucy tell Tommy that puzzles him?

Discussion Suggestion: Is the idea of the Gallery ultimately a cruelty to the students at Hailsham?

6. What is the root cause of the difficulties Ruth and Kathy have in their friendship during their early years together?

A) Ruth and Kathy’s competition over Tommy

B) Ruth’s knowledge that Kathy is seen as special

C) Kathy’s natural competitiveness

D) Ruth’s desire to be seen as better than she is

7. Why do the students think Norfolk is special?

A) They aren’t taught anything about it in class, so it’s left to their imagination.

B) Miss Emily has described it as a peaceful, idyllic part of the country.

C) It reminds them of Hailsham, so they want to go there as adults.

D) They believe the Gallery is there.

8. What does Kathy imagine that Julie Bridgewater is singing about in the song “Never Let Me Go?”

A) a woman who has lost her lover

B) a woman who is a clone, like Kathy

C) a woman whose child has disappeared

D) a woman who learns she can’t have a baby

9. Why does Miss Lucy tell Tommy that her earlier advice to him (to not worry about his art) had been a mistake?

A) because he is not prepared to succeed outside of Hailsham

B) because she sees that it has made him an outcast even though he’s happier

C) because expressing himself has intrinsic meaning

D) because he has given up on having a future

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

10. What does Miss Lucy mean by the students having been “told and not told” about their futures?

11. How are the stories students pass back and forth about the dangers of the woods a reflection of the true nature of Hailsham?

Discussion Suggestion: Why do the guardians have a hard time with the students’ sexual urges?

12. How does the state of the Cottages reflect a more realistic version of the characters’ place in society?

A) It is a more intimate place designed to provide closer relationships between clones.

B) Its broken-down state is in line with how little the clones are respected or cared for.

C) It is less supervised, allowing the clones to run their own lives.

D) They must care for themselves, preparing them for the hard work to come.

13. What is the most likely unstated reason that Ruth throws away her collection?

A) She is accepting the bitter fact that her life as a clone is meaningless.

B) She is worried about being mocked by her peers.

C) She wants to be more of an adult.

D) She hates her time at Hailsham and is glad to be done with it.

14. Why does Tommy find it strange when he sees Kathy looking at a pornographic magazine?

A) He’s been taught that girls aren’t supposed to do that.

B) He doesn’t think she is keeping it enough of a secret.

C) She has told him she doesn’t care about sex.

D) She seems to be looking at the magazine for a reason besides arousal.

15. What’s most significant about Ruth’s dream of working in an office?

A) It’s a very modest dream that speaks to the clones’ diminished expectations.

B) The clones all know that the dream is impossible for her to achieve.

C) It’s another example of her thinking she’s better than her station.

D) It drives a wedge between her and Tommy.

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

16. What is a “possible”?

Discussion Suggestion: Why are the veterans and the Hailsham students taken with the idea of possibles? What would it mean to them to find one?

17. Why is it significant that the group follows Ruth’s possible to a gallery?

A) It reflects their own time making art that had meaning to them and calls to mind the divide between clones and normal people in the world.

B) Though it is unstated, the gallery they visit is filled with art made by clones.

C) Ruth prized her art more than most students, so it’s more evidence that the woman may be who Ruth thinks she is.

D) It allows them to relate to normal people in a way they haven’t before.

18. Why are Chrissie and Rodney most likely relieved with the result of Ruth’s encounter with her possible?

A) Ruth’s behavior would be too unbearable if she found out her origin.

B) Confirming something like that would force them to reconsider their existence.

C) They are eager to put the idea of possibles behind them, as they think it’s foolish.

D) They don’t want another reason for Hailsham students to stand apart.

19. Why does Tommy want to be the one to find the tape for Kathy?

A) to prove that he’s useful

B) to be a better friend than Ruth

C) to show that he understands the importance of art

D) to demonstrate his love for Kathy

20. Tommy’s theory about art-making is that it was intended to function in what way?

A) as evidence in the case of deferrals

B) as a means of distracting clones from their future

C) as a test by which a clone might be freed from their fate

D) as a means of determining which clones become carers and for how long

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

21. Why does Ruth tell Tommy that she and Kathy have been mocking his animals?

Discussion Suggestion: What’s different about Tommy’s approach to making art when he reaches the Cottages, and how does that reflect the nature of his character and the themes of the book?

22.  What does the closing of Hailsham represent to Kathy and Laura (the other Hailsham student she meets)?

A) a changing culture that doesn’t provide for clones

B) a chance to be free from what they were raised to be

C) a realization that it never was a special place

D) a slipping away of the most significant part of their lives

23. Why does Ruth get upset when she hears that Rodney is taking Chrissie’s completion well?

A) She thinks that Rodney never loved Chrissie, which troubles her as a reflection of her relationship to Tommy.

B) She has confronted her own mortality after her first donation went poorly and thinks others don’t understand the gravity of it.

C) Chrissie was her only source of comfort after fighting with Kathy.

D) She realizes that she never knew who Chrissie really was.

24. What does Ruth feel most guilty about when she apologizes to Kathy?

A) keeping Tommy and Kathy apart

B) trying to undermine Kathy with their mutual friends

C) stealing the Julie Bridgewater tape

D) always acting as though she was more important than Kathy

25. What do Tommy’s animals represent at this point in the story?

A) his budding, genuine talent

B) his hope for a real sense of purpose and future

C) his rejection of earlier roles expected of him

D) his belief in the dignity of all life

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

26. Why do Kathy and Tommy feel an undercurrent of melancholy in their relationship?

Discussion Suggestion: What is the role of dignity in this story, either in regard to the interpersonal connections that the main characters feel or in regard to their larger place in society? How are these two issues connected?

27. What was the true mission of the guardians working at Hailsham?

A) to prove that clones have a soul

B) to provide a false sense of hope so that the students didn’t rebel

C) to set a standard of care for the clones that would be modelled going forward

D) to find evidence that the clones didn’t deserve equal treatment

28. Why was the public blind to the conditions clones lived under?

A) They were never aware of the existence of clones.

B) The medical advancements were too great to consider the alternative.

C) It was too profitable for England to export the clones.

D) They truly believed that the clones were subhuman.

29. What is the real reason for Madame’s fear of the students at Hailsham?

A) She worries that they will rebel.

B) She thinks they will be used in incidents similar to the one at Morningdale.

C) They are proof of the ugliness of humanity.

D) They are smart enough to ask difficult questions.

30. Why does Tommy want Kathy to stop being his carer?

A) He doesn’t want her to see him in a more diminished state.

B) He is defeated by what he learns from Madame and Miss Emily.

C) He sees their love for each other as less than real.

D) He cannot get past old hurts between the two of them and Ruth.

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

31. What do people fear about the fourth donation?

32. Why does Kathy drive up to Norfolk at the end of the novel?

Discussion Suggestion: How is this book a commentary on different kinds of oppression, and why are the main characters so resigned to their fate when confronted with the truth?