“A strong breeze at the top of the hill”: The limits of Kathy H’s world in Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” (2005)

In Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go" (2005), Kathy H goes to the edge of the grounds of Hailsham school: "There was a strong breeze at the top of the hill, and I remember being surprised by it because I hadn't noticed it down on the grass." I've read Ishiguro's novel many times, yet like Kathy H, I find myself surprised by the connections of such otherwise minor details to how Kathy's life is determined by others: the top of the hill is the limit of the world she is allowed to move in; the breeze she now notices is a figure for the demands the outside world makes on her. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 9 March 2025)