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How does one approach writing an essay on the themes of hope and suffering in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and Orhan Pamuk's Snow, needing 10...

To write your essay, you'll first want to develop enough of a thorough understanding of the themes in the book that you can write your thesis. Below are some thoughts you might consider.


Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is set in a dystopian England in which human clones are raised and harvested for organs. The novel revolves around the theme concerning prejudice since the clones are not treated as human beings, just as the English and many others were very guilty of treating colonists as less than human in the days of imperialism. Yet, the cloned characters see themselves as being fully human and are shocked to learn that others don't see them that way. The theme concerning hope revolves around the characters' hopes for the future, hopes that are completely dashed by the end of the novel. Ishiguro intertwines the theme of hope and suffering to show how futile hope is in the presence of an oppressive government so long as nothing is done to overcome such a government.

In Never Let Me Go, all human clones are raised to a certain age then harvested for their organs, which, of course, results in their deaths. In the book, clones who are being harvested for organs are called "organ donors." As the characters mature throughout the book, they each express an understanding of the inevitability of their fate. Yet, soon romances begin to form. As the characters fall in love, they begin hoping for at least a few more years of life. All throughout the novel, a rumor is mentioned that some clones, upon petition, are given deferrals to becoming organ donors if they can prove they have a worthy cause to remain alive. As the rumor continues to develop, characters begin to believe they can be granted a deferral if they can prove they are in love:



Talk went around of students, somewhere else in the country, getting deferrals because they'd shown they were in love and now, just sometimes, the talk was of students with no connections to Hailsham. (Ch. 16)



When Tommy and the protagonist Kathy fall in love, they begin hoping for such a deferral, a deferral of up to three to four years. However, by the end of the novel, their hopes are completely dashed when they learn there was never any truth to the rumor. They further learn that their society does not consider them to be real human beings.

In being denied rights as human beings, they are made to suffer. Plus, they are made to suffer when their oppressive government determines what the progression and purpose of their lives should be rather than allowing them to make such decisions on their own. The moment Tommy and Kathy must let go of all hope when they learn that deferrals don't exist is the moment they suffer the most, showing us the futility of hope in the face of an oppressive government.

Similarly, in Orhan Pamuk's Snow, Ka hopes for the love of Ypek, who lives in Kars, which is equally being oppressed by a new government. Pamuk reveals the irony that, though Turkey's new government is secular and democratic, it oppresses the rights of the people by denying free expression of the Islamic religion. Ka returns to Kars from being exiled in Germany. As the novel progresses, Ka's hope for the love of Ypek is dashed. Ka is put on a train by military police to be returned to his exile, and Ypek is about to go with him when she discovers Ka is responsible for the police killing Blue, an Islamic extremist she was in love with. By the end of the novel, all remaining characters are left miserable, and no conflicts are really resolved, especially not the conflict between the Muslims and the democratic government. In prolonging the conflicts, Pamuk shows us, similarly to Ishiguro, that hope is futile in the face of an oppressive government, and all oppression leads to suffering.


Once you have figured out either your research question or thesis statement, you'll next want to research literary criticism. Literary criticism refers to literary interpretations and analyses written by other scholars and published in such works as peer-reviewed journals. It's easiest to find literary criticism in your school library's academic databases, not online. You can try such keyword searches as the following:


  • Literary criticism Never Let me Go

  • Literary criticism Kazuo Ishiguro


  • Never Let Me Go interpretations

  • Literary criticism Orhan Pamuk

  • Literary criticism Snow by Orhan Pamuk


  • Snow by Orhan Pamuk interpretations

You will then use the ideas and interpretations of the scholars you find to help shape your own ideas and thesis statement and to prove your own points.

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