Comparing Nine Stories and NLMG

In the Novel Never Let Me Go, we see a lot of symbols that at first may not seem like important symbols or motifs, yet the come back throughout the book as we continue to read. A key example of this symbolism is the reappearnce of water throughout Ishiguro's book. I did not really catch on to this at first as we read through but it is an observation that I have made. In the previous book our class read: Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger, the first story in the collection also included water, in fact it is arguable it was the central setting throughout "A Perfect Day for Bananafish". In Never Let Me Go, we here of the water that used to fill the Kingsfeild pool, or the marsh where the dilapidated boat lay. In both of these situations, the water represents what used to be that is now unretrievable. In Salinger's compilation, Seymour Glass takes three-year-old Sybil into the water as if to relive his innocence that he so values in her. Despite his attempt, however, he is unsuccessful because his innocence cannot be retrieved. Thus, what the water symbolizes in both of the books.