Sheltered Pawns: Never Let Me Go

"'You see, we were able to give you something, something which even now no one will ever take from you, and we were able to do that principally by sheltering you...Yes, in many ways we fooled you...But we sheltered you during those years, and we gave you your childhoods...You built your lives on what we gave you. You wouldn't be who you are today if we'd not protected you'" (268).

I completely disagree with Miss Emily's statement about the guardians' protection shaping the students lives. The only part of her dialogue that I agree with is that they fooled the students. In fact, the way the fooled them was quite cruel. The guardians cared for them, giving them a place to live and learn without any negativity from the outside world. When the students had to enter the outside world, they were not at all accustomed to the way people received them. Like Kathy mentioned earlier, the students were not used to being on their own, facing the world as a donor or a carer. They were not conditioned for the true ways of the world, filled with negativity and disgust for them. Sheltering did not benefit the students, and it certainly did not shape their lives. It's not like the sheltering steered the students towards different career paths or different things to do with their lives; their lives were set the moment they were created. Nothing the guardians at Hailsham did could change the fact that the students had to donate. The students became who they are by learning to accept their fate and deal with their surroundings, and Hailsham kept them from doing that. They were sheltered pawns in Miss Emily's crusade, and they were kept in the dark about her quest and their role.