Sample Response: Some say ignorance is bliss. How is “not knowing” presented in the two works that you have studied and to what effect?

Both novels, Never Let Me Go and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close are characterised by their protagonists and the way in which they include the reader on a quest driven by curiosity. Oskar, the protagonist in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close comes to terms with the death of his father, who he lost in the 9/11-attacks, through searching for a lock to match the key he found going through his father’s closet. This quest, which finds its roots in Oskar’s deep desire to hold on to whatever is left of his father’s presence, takes the reader through all five boroughs of New York, where the novel is largely set. Kathy, the protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, slowly unravels the meaning of her fate, which is to give up her vital organs and die at a relatively young age, as part of a state-authorised donorship programme. Whilst Oskar’s personality is one of questioning everything, Kathy, although observant, is wilfully ignorant. Although the two protagonists differ in their approach to the unknown, not knowing is a crucial concept in each work and often depicts pivotal turns in the plot. The author’s of both novels use ambiguity in their themes, style, and tone to the effect of leaving the protagonist, as well as the reader, in the dark.

Never Let Me Go portrays a dystopian society, in which clones have become necessary to prolong human life. The question of whether this is morally just is addressed in the final part of the book. Madame, a character who embodies ambiguity herself through how little is revealed about her, pays frequent visits to Hailsham, the place where Kathy and her fellow clones have grown up, to collect artwork to present to the outside world. This artwork, and art and culture in general, are used by the author as a motif to symbolise the humanity of the clones, and as a means of communication between the clones, and the ‘normal’ outside world. This motif embodies two elements of ambiguity used by the author to raise questions amongst readers. Firstly, the students, or clones, at Hailsham remain largely unaware as to why their creativity and production of artwork is so important. Secondly, the failure of this project that has been organised by Madame to use the artwork to show the ‘humanity’ of the clones reveals the wilful ignorance of the people in the dystopian society. Their moral integrity bothers them, and they would rather see the clones as robot-like figures than to imagine their human qualities.

In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a thorough understanding of the literary work and its context helps to explain the author’s use of ambiguity. After the 9/11-attacks, many people found it difficult to grieve their losses, traumas, and come to terms with conflicting emotions. Writers too struggled to represent this grief, carried by an entire city, and to give it human form. Safran Foer uses Oskar to reveal a very personal side to this tragedy, and manages to translate an unfathomable disaster by showing the impact it had on one individual, a character the reader is drawn to like. This is reinforced in first-person narratives, underlining the personal nature of the story. Whilst many facts about the travesty remain unknown, the reader has the opportunity to empathise with characters directly affected by the 9/11-attacks. In both works, a contextual understanding makes clear that both Ishiguro and Safran Foer use an ambiguous frame of reference to strengthen the contrast between known and unknown elements within the novels.

Wilful ignorance, or the desire not to know, is one of the main themes in Never Let Me Go and is exemplified in the character of Kathy. Although highly observant, Kathy often knows which questions not to ask, enabling her and her friends to remain free from the truth a little longer. This becomes clear in the way Kathy treats her fellow Hailsham students when they ask questions regarding issues such as the ‘token controversy’ and ‘life after Hailsham’. Ishiguro uses strained adjectives to intensify the tone whenever these issues are raised to stress that Kathy would rather that these questions remain unanswered. This idea of wilful ignorance is reinforced by another character, Miss Emily, head of guardians at Hailsham. Throughout the novel, Miss Emily discourages students from raising questions about their identity, future, or inevitable fate. Ishiguro proposes an alternative to the wilful ignorance by introducing Miss Lucy, a foil to Miss Emily. Miss Lucy strongly disagrees with Miss Emily that “ignorance is bliss”, but rather feels “if you [the students] are to lead decent lives, you need to know who you are.” By having Miss Emily fire Miss Lucy, Ishiguro removes a source of information from Kathy and her friends, as well as the reader, leaving the reader to come to terms with the fact that in Never Let Me Go wilful ignorance prevails.

In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the unknown is presented to the reader mainly through miscommunication. Oskar’s quest to find the lock to his key is based on widespread uncertainty. The envelope with the name ‘Black’ on it incites the idea in the protagonist to search for all people named ‘Black’, and in this way Oskar quite literally and metaphorically steps into the unknown. Safran Foer uses stream of consciousness as his dominant narrative technique, to illustrate the magnitude of Oskar’s uncertainty. Most important in this regard is Oskar’s miscommunication with his mother. As Oskar begins to spiral further into a web of lies – emphasised by Oscar numbering them – the reader learns in the final part of the novel that Oskar’s mother was aware of everything Oskar has been involved in. Where Oskar feels he is protecting his mother by keeping her purposefully in the ‘unknown’, his mother in turn is protecting Oskar by calling all the ‘Blacks’ in advance of Oskar’s visits, although Oskar is unaware of this. Safran Foer presents ‘not knowing’ through miscommunication in order to highlight the individuality of Oskar’s grieving process, whilst simultaneously emphasising the importance of communication for Oskar to feel safe again.

Both authors use stylistic features to integrate ambiguity into the pervasive underlying tones of their works, in order to create confusion amongst readers. Ishiguro uses euphemisms such as “to complete” and puns such as the “possible” to mystify important concepts in the novel. For a long time, it remains unknown to the reader that Kathy and her friends are clones, and that by saying “to complete” rather than “to die” the reader only gradually learns what Kathy’s fate will be. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Safran Foer includes images and photographs which frequently suggest an unknown link to the protagonist, Oskar. Even when the link is evident, such as in the image of the falling man, paralleling Oskar’s hope that his father fell rather than was burned to death, the reader is never told who the falling man is, or whether or not it is Oskar’s father. Oskar zooms in on the picture, but as the pixels become blurred, he learns even less. This symbolizes the many forms the unknown can take on; even up close, things remain mysterious.

In conclusion, Safran Foer uses style, structure, and tone to develop the theme of communication and develop ambiguity in readers. Ishiguro uses the frame of reference he created for his dystopian novel, to create a pervasively ambiguous tone throughout his novel. Although in both works, ambiguity can be explained in the context, the question of whether the characters are better off ‘knowing’ or ‘not knowing’ is largely left to the reader to decide.

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