Final Assignment

Dear Yerbol,

During the first class in which we discussed Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, and prior to the break and our interpretation presentation, the class had been discussing how passive and utterly resigned the donors were to their fates (tangent: opposite of Oedipus. Is Never Let Me Go an Aristotilean tragedy? Do the donors have a tragic flaw???). As Ben announced the break, which I wasn't ready for, I turned to you and said something about how the Hailsham students were not educated in a way that would support critical thinking or the questioning of their role in society. Example: at Hailsham there was "good art" and "bad art," and to create "bad art" was to be ridiculed by the other students, as was the case for Tommy. If the students' artwork was so important, as implied by the existence of Madame's Gallery, and the students never questioned what made "good art" or "bad art," what does that tell us about their education? Furthermore, the Gallery, as important as it was, was so much of a secret that even the guardian Lucy honestly believed Tommy's "lack of creativity" was nothing to worry about! The point is, the Hailsham students weren't brought up to question the System because they were repeatedly "told and not told," what the System was (81).

It was in this context, Yerbol, while everyone else was filing out the door, that you mentioned your own education in a communist country, how you were left-handed as a child, but you were struck on your left hand to make sure you learned to write with your right, which is how you write today.

I've been thinking about what you said ever since. Most days I consider myself to be a mover who thinks, rather than a thinker who moves. It is because of this, I believe, that what you said hit me as hard as it did. The manipulation of the physical body by authority, such as being forced to write with your non-dominant hand or jumping rope/bouncing balls in rhythm, is something that makes me extremely uncomfortable. Our bodies were created from unique genetic codes that are specific to the individual. It is one thing to manipulate someone's mind (easily accomplished I believe) and another thing to change the way a person's body functions in space. Communism, you could say, altered a behavior patterned by your own DNA. As a mover who thinks, that's a really scary thought.

I find myself in awe of the power of oppression, thinking about how the characters in all the books we've read this semester were altered by authority. To what extent were their identities changed? Were they ever able to fully escape their oppression? I have to say, the most oppressive thing I’m dealing with right now is finals, and that’s nothing. Other people are fighting truly oppressive situations every day.

With the end of this class, I am thankful for your participation in discussion and the unique perspective you brought. I look forward to reading (for leisure!) with the ideas that you and others have brought to my attention. I will continue to examine the politics, explicit and implicit, behind what I read...and dance, etc., and consider how these politics present themselves in my life. No more passive book reading for me. Reading without close reading seems so incredibly boring now. Anyway, thank you for changing the way I read a book!

Merry Christmas!