From Kathy’s viewpoint, I think the “us” could mainly include Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, and other students. The “them” could be any one who is not a clone.
The line “I don’t know how it is where you were, but…” is used to show that there is some sort of major difference between Kathy and her intended audience, which I believe to be those who aren’t clones. I also think this phrase is used kind of in an insulting manner towards those who choose to acknowledge clones as non-human by implying that Kathy doesn’t really care about how things go for them.
However, I think that through this story, Kathy is trying to blur the line between “us” and “them” by using the students ‘creativity to show that they too can be fully human. When Tommy says “So what you’re saying, Miss, is that everything we did, all the lessons, everything. It was all about what you just told us? There was nothing more to it than that?” I think that another similarity is shown. It is the inevitability of death and the question of why do any of us do the things we do?
I found your post interesting because I found a different meaning of US/Them/It in the book. I think most definitely that there is a blurred vision of US/Them in the novel. However, I think it is meant to challenge the reader because we don't know exactly who is who and who we are supposed to empathize with. To me the novel made me think that we really don't know anyone around us - maybe we are all clones on earth.... how would we ever know? Kinda of a sick view... I know
ReplyDeleteI think that your point is probably the most logical--that she is speaking to non-donors. But, I read it the complete opposite. I read those words as though she was wondering about the reader/audience's similar past and her since of US came from them being from Hailsham and that seperating them. But, there was such a since of intimacy in her writing that I felt she would only confide in someone she felt understood.
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