An Analysis of the Usage of Analepsis as a Narrative Technique in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go”

This paper examines the significance of using analepsis in Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novel Never Let Me Go. As the novel is narrated by Kathy, who takes the reader into an incursion into her past, the use of analepsis is vital for the construction and continuation of the narrative. Two main methodological concepts have been used in elaborating this study, Wolfgang Iser’s concept of gradual revelation, which applied in the context of Never Let Me Go, points out how Kathy’s analepses are revelations of her past, which lack objectivity and only portray a distorted version of the reality of the dystopian society, gradually revealing and alluding to the real extent of the horror. Linked with gradual revelation, Cathy Caruth’s theory about repressed traumatic memories is used to understand how Kathy’s analepsis, as her traumatic memories have been repressed and not comprehended properly, fails in revealing an accurate version of the dystopian society of Never Let Me Go. Kathy’s inability to comprehend her trauma generates a domino effect, as she distorts the narrative of the novel, thus offering the readers an unreliable frame of reference. This study highlights that analepsis is a narrative technique that not only contextualises and sheds light on specific past events but can also serve as an indicator of what is about to happen in the future. Even with the limited number of instances in which the present is illustrated in the story, as the narrator lives in the present but mostly presents elements of their past, it is only done in direct relation to past events. Additionally, since the timeline does not play a vital role in the book, Kazuo Ishiguro manages to build a significant part of his novel’s narrative through flashbacks, setting the past as the cornerstone of the entire book. Flashbacks can also be seen as a doorway to Kathy’s memory, as she assumes the roles of both narrator and the main character, making her a particularly peculiar case regarding the reliability of her flashbacks and narration. Kathy’s subjectivity can be linked with her nostalgic viewpoint, as her flashbacks portray an idealised version of her childhood and adolescence, a version of the past which is in direct opposition with the reality of the present and the truth of the past. The building of the clone’s identity as a concept is strongly dependent on their portrayal in Kathy’s flashbacks, as the clones are humanised in Kathy’s memory due to her nostalgic viewpoint, but treated as sub-humans in reality; therefore, as their identity is at the crossroads between humans and machines, suffering from both Kathy’s subjectivity and the world’s afflict reality.