The Searching for Self-Identity in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

Rahmi Munfangati; Aisyah Nur Handayani

doi:10.19105/ojbs.v15i2.3205

Rahmi Munfangati English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Jl. Ahmad Yani (Ringroad Selatan) Tamanan Banguntapan Bantul, Yogyakarta 55166
Aisyah Nur Handayani English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Jl. Ahmad Yani (Ringroad Selatan) Tamanan Banguntapan Bantul, Yogyakarta 55166

https://doi.org/10.19105/ojbs.v15i2.3205

Abstract views: 2501 ,

PDF downloads: 1574

Keywords: Self-identity, Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, Psychological approach

Abstract

Self-identity is an aspect that every human in the world has. Without it, a person is in danger of being negatively affected by those around him/her and by the outside world. Some people are grappling with this identity-forming phase in their search for self-definition. This is reflected in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Therefore, this research aims to describe the main characters' search for self-identity as seen in the novel. The type of this research was library research. This research applied a psychological approach, and the data were analyzed using the descriptive qualitative method. The results showed that Kathy and Tommy's quest to find their true selves occurred in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood stages. Narrated by Kathy, she flashed back the memories of how they, Kathy and Tommy, are puzzled because of too many mysteries in Hailsham, the boarding school where they live. They connected each puzzle which could be the answer. But, in the novel, the question they belong to for being different brought them to another question. The process of findings itself flowed as long as they grew. In the end, they found information about their identity as a clone and as an individual.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

American Library Association. “2006 Alex Awards,” 2007. http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/alexawards/alex06.

Carver, Charles S., and Michael F. Scheier. “Self-Focusing Effects of Dispositional Self-Consciousness, Mirror Presence, and Audience Presence.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36, no. 3 (1978): 324–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.3.324.

Chatterjee, Arnab. “Exploring an Anti-Utopian Subtext in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 21, no. 2 (2019): 109–24. https://doi.org/10.5325/intelitestud.21.2.0109.

Gardner, Wendi L., Shira Gabriel, and Angela Y. Lee. “‘I’ Value Freedom, but ‘We’ Value Relationships: Self-Construal Priming Mirrors Cultural Differences in Judgment.” Psychological Science 10, no. 4 (1999): 321–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00162.

Horowitz, Mardi. J. “Self-Identity Theory and Research Methods.” Journal of Research Practice 8, no. 2 (2012): 1–11.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. London: Faber and Faber, 2010.

Kettle, Keri L., and Gerald Häubl. “The Signature Effect: Signing Influences Consumption-Related Behavior by Priming Self-Identity.” Journal of Consumer Research 38, no. 3 (2011): 474–89. https://doi.org/10.1086/659753.

Lewis, Michael and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. Social Cognition and the Acquisition of Self. New York: Plenum, 1979. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3566-5.

Matthews, Sean, and Sebastian Groes. Kazuo Ishiguro: Contemporary Critical Perspectives. London: Continuum International Pub. Group, 2010.

Miller, Laura. Literary Wonderlands: A Journey through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created. London: Modern Books, 2017.

Nielsen, Mark, Thomas Suddendorf, and Virginia Slaughter. “Mirror Self-Recognition beyond the Face.” Child Development 77, no. 1 (2006): 176–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00863.x.

Oyserman, Daphna. “Self-Concept and Identity.” In Intraindividual Processes, edited by Abraham Tesser and Norbert Schwarz, 499–517. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.

Oyserman, Daphna, Kristen Elmore, and George Smith. “Self, Self-Concept, and Identity.” In Handbook of Self and Identity, edited by Mark R. Leary and June Price, 69-104. New York: Guilford Press, 2012.

Oyserman, Daphna, and Leah James. “Handbook of Identity Theory and Research.” In Handbook of Identity Theory and Research, edited by & V. L. Vignoles S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, 117–45. Springer Science + Business Media, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9.

Simon, Linda, Jeff Greenberg, Eddie Harmon-Jones, Tom Pyszczynski, Sheldon Solomon, Jamie Arndt, and Teresa Abend. “Terror Management and Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory: Evidence That Terror Management Occurs in the Experiential System.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 72, no. 5 (1997): 1132–46. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.5.1132.

Skripka, Taufik Wahyu. “Kathy H’s Struggle For Getting True Love In Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go Novel (2005) : An Individual Psychological Approach.” Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, 2014.

Subhan, Bustami. A Guide to Literary Criticism. Yogyakarta: LPPDMF, 2015.

Sui, Jie, and Shihui Han. “Self-Construal Priming Modulates Neural Substrates of Self-Awareness.” Psychological Science 18, no. 10 (2007): 861–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01992.x.

“The Nobel Prize in Literature 2017,” 2017. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2017/summary/.

Trafimow, David, Harry C. Triandis, and Sharon G. Goto. “Some Tests of the Distinction Between the Private Self and the Collective Self.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60, no. 5 (1991): 649–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.5.649.

Vichiensing, Matava. “The Othering in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies 8, no. 4 (2017): 126–35. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.8n.4p.126.

Wellek, Rene, and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1963.

Yeung, Virginia. “Mortality and Memory in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.” Transnational Literature 9, no. 2 (2017): 1–13. https://doaj.org/article/d583068eff424a06853bde278f5c4bcc.