Film: Never Let Me Go

Question: What anxieties about human identity does this cloning story reveal?

“Who am I?” These dreadful questions have been haunting humanity for a century. People use the question to develop their identity and search for meanings in life. But with characters in Never Let Me Go, they have another question to deal with: “what am I?” Through Kathy, Tommy and Ruth's journey to answer these two questions, we can infer that identity consists of social, personal and cognitive aspects, all of which are indispensable for any human being.

Before developing their idiosyncrasies, each character has to go through a process to understand their social identity. The characters have to negotiate with a wider society to identify which group they belong to and who they are as a group member. This process involves three steps: social categorization, social identification, and social comparison.

The first step, social categorization, happens within the isolated Hailsham. Teachers use cruel and horror stories to keep children inside walls. For 18 years, the clone group is the only social group with which children associate. This isolation not only separate clones and human, but it is also a way to manipulate clones’ thoughts, forcing them to accept social identification.

After categorizing themselves in their group, the characters begin to adopt their group identity. They follow the rules and norms and act as a true donor should. They cannot smoke to keep themselves healthy from the inside. “You have to know who you are and what you are” - the last words of Miss Lucy echoes throughout the characters’ childhood, reminding their identification as group membership. Moreover, in this process, self-esteem will become bound up with group memberships. This self-esteem brings up jealousy in Ruth when she saw Tommy and Kathy could be a couple. The sense of belonging is forceful that she fears being left behind. She may love Tommy, but in the end, her lonesome fear wins over her love. This proves how powerful group identity is over the isolated characters.

When the characters make their way into the world, they begin to compare their group with other groups.  Ruth copies actions in a television show because she wants to fit in. However, no matter how similar between clone and human, the wider society still thinks of a clone as an organ donor - a medical method to maintain life for the human. How humans treat clones reflects their discrimination. The disgust appears in the eye of Madame when she unconsciously avoids touching children in Hailsham. This prejudgement is ungrounded but is still powerful and evident in the society - “a question that no one was asking.”  Outside the movie, once two groups identify themselves as rivals, they are forced to compete for the members to maintain their self-esteem. Competition and hostility between groups is thus not only a matter of fighting for resources but also the result of competing identities. However, in the movie, the clones always feel inferior to humans. Identity conflicts arise, but clones cannot compete. Their self-esteem loses through time. This identity crisis is like a tamponade, crushing their heart but inescapable.

Besides social identity, personal identity is also necesssary.

Without control over their bodies, the clones can never complete their identities. Clones seem to have no power to control their body substance. It’s just like that they have body integrity identity disorder (BIID,) a psychology disorder describing a feeling that one or more limbs of one's body do not belong to one's self. They can distinguish between themselves and their “possible" - their gene origin. Kathy has a natural sexual tendency, but she thinks she has been modeled by a prostitute. Clone children are taught that they must keep their bodies healthy so that these carcasses can be used for other humans. Clones in “Never Let Me Go” always understand “what they are” - a container for promising organs.