We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.
Kazuo IshiguroRead
If you were a boy and a girl and you were in love with each other, really, properly in love, and if you could show it, then the people who run Hailsham, they sorted it out for you. They sorted it out so you could have a few years together before you began your donations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote describes a profound, albeit restricted, love between two individuals within a controlled environment.
In this quote, Ishiguro reflects on the complexities of love in a dystopian setting where individuals are artificially bred for organ donations. The idea of sorting out a few years of love for those destined to serve a greater purpose highlights the bittersweet nature of human relationships constrained by societal rules. It asks the reader to consider the value of love and the human experience, even in the face of tragic circumstances.
Themes
LoveRelationshipsSacrificeDystopiaHuman Experience
In practice
Example use cases
During a wedding speech, one might quote this to reflect on the sacrifices love can bring.
More from Kazuo Ishiguro
All quotes →You need to remember that. If you’re to have decent lives, you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you, every one of you.
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I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart. That's how it is with us. It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever.
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What I'm not sure about, is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time.
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We all live inside bodies that will deteriorate. But when you look at human beings, they're capable of very decent things: love, loyalty. When time is running out, they don't care about possessions or status. They want to put things right if they've done wrong.
Kazuo IshiguroRead
Screenplays I didn't really care about, journalism, travel books, getting my writer friends to write about their dreams or something. I just determined to write the books I had to write.
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