Disciplining the Body and Regulating the Mind in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

Abstract

Since the dawn of time, the salient quintessence of literature has lied in its pioneers’ striking proficiency in reflecting the concrete reality that governs the state of societies within the unfolds of their fictional treatises. Striving to divulge the veritable causalities that corroborates the dominance of the present system of governance in the world, Kazuo Ishiguro substantiates in his novel Never Let Me Go the strategic mechanisms of social control that constitute the epitome of a persecuted society trapped in tyrannical despotism. The totalitarian practices scrutinized in his narrative incorporate the Foucauldian approach of discipline and Althusser’s procedure of ideological indoctrination. Given the connection exhibited between the social theories and the dystopian story, this dissertation aims to examine the execution of the coercive apparatuses and their practical efficiency. Along with unravelling the tactical measures of regulation conducted on Ishiguro’s fictional society, it focuses on demonstrating their impact on regulating the characters’ physical and psychological demeanour towards the grim reality that governs their existence.