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| Cover 1 |
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| Cover 2 |
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| Cover 3 |
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| Cover 4 |
Cover 1
This cover pictures a girl that I would assume to be the main character and narrator, Kathy. Amidst lots of natural greenery, Kathy is sitting in a somber and hopeless manner as the body language of her head hunched over and her eyes looking down suggests. The intended purpose of this image may be to portray the loneliness that Kathy felt during her life from Hailsham to being a carer. This cover would draw people in as they would be intrigued as to what the girl on the front was thinking about and therefore what Ishiguro wrote. This one is more realistic looking than Cover 2, as is cover 3.
Cover 2
I think this cover is extremely powerful not only because of the image but also due to the large font size. The bright yellow and contrasting blue draw the eye of anyone looking at the book. The figure on the right side of the cover is a young girl in a blue dress, and the fact that her face is not pictured in this brings a sense of mystery to cover. This enigmatic aspect of the cover, in addition to the bright coloring, is most likely what the cover artist intended to do for the purpose of grabbing the potential audience's attention. This cover looks the least realistic out of the four, showing creativity and the dystopia/futuristic/unreal aspect of the novel.
Cover 3
This eerie image of a boat at dusk immediately brings me back to the point in the story when Kathy, Ruth and Tommy find the stranded boat in the marsh. The boat to me symbolized the characters' internal hope for a fate different from their's, but their inability to change their situation. Having the boat on the cover may serve the cover artist's intention of getting the audience to develop an immediate interest in the novel. This cover to me seems more dark than the previous two, as the colors used create a spooky vibe, but this aspect can just as easily draw attention to the book.
Cover 4
This is the most creepy cover of them all in my opinion. The off-size lettering and bent/twisted wire provokes a daunting effect on the potential audience. It is plausible that the cover artist created this with the intention of pointing out the frightening elements in this novel. The plot line being about clones created to give their internal organs away is in many ways degraded and thus the artist likely chose to focus on this to let the reader know better the more appalling parts they would be reading about. An important thing to note about this cover is that it is the only one of the four that does not have a quote/review on the front. This was probably the artist's choice to keep the cover looking as dark as possible and have nothing distract from that.
Comparison of Covers 2 and 3
When I saw Cover 2, the three words I immediately thought of were playful, energy and mystery. The child on the cover seems to be moving around in an energetic and playful way, yet it is a mystery as to what she is up to. This is a more positive view, most likely due to coloring and imagery, than that of Cover 4. For that cover the words I thought of were scary, sheltered and punishment. The wire on this cover reminded me of a prison in which the prisoners are cut off from the outside world, much in a disturbing and scary way.
If I had not read the book and I saw Cover 2 in a bookstore, I would think the novel is about a young girl that is part of some kind of mystery adventure. Very much in contrast, if I saw Cover 4 without having read Never Let Me Go I would think it was a horror story about imprisonment and isolation of some kind. Having read the book however, it is evident in my opinion that Cover 2 is portraying the innocence of Kathy as a young child in Hailsham. She is aware, yet unaware of the future that is inevitably in front of her. As they say, "ignorance is bliss", and her bliss is not worrying about what lies ahead but rather making the most of her time at Hailsham listening to cassette tapes of "Never Let Me Go" by Judy Bridgewater. Cover 4 is quite the opposite from my perspective having read the novel. Seeing the intimidating wire all tangled up and the messing typing of the title points out the frightening features of this book. This to me is reflective of the caged-in feeling of Hailsham as they are surrounded by woods. There are faint trees in the background of this cover that relate to this facet of Hailsham and give a similarly cut-off vibe that the students may experience while growing up there. They know that there is another world outside of the gates of Hailsham but they have yet to see it for themselves, much like how there is so much more to the novel than this cover shows, but the audience has yet to read it for themselves.
On Cover 2, I think a young Kathy is portrayed by the moving, faceless figure on the right. In my head I picture Madame watching Kathy dance and sing along to "Never Let Me Go" in her room that one day. This idea could be supported by the blurriness of the image, as Madame's eyes would be watery so her vision would not be entirely clear. This viewpoint and portrayal of Kathy are very moving and lend themselves to my above point that this cover shows the innocence of the clones at Hailsham. Madame is very upset by the fact that Kathy is so interested in something she will never be able to have, while Kathy seems to simply be enjoying the song. As for Cover 4, I think this is a picture of Hailsham from the inside out, most likely from Kathy as the narrator, though it could be from any student inside the school as they get older and more aware of their situation. The dark and lighter gray coloring and wire is most likely reflective of the student's realization of never having a normal human life. They may feel trapped, with no other possible outcome for their life, thus the purpose of having wiring there to keep them confined in the area.
In my opinion, the two covers show directly contrasting effects of cultural construction of the book. Cover 2 as it is much more positive in nature may come from a viewpoint of this novel purely being for entertainment rather than having a despairing tone to it like in Cover 4. For that cover, this may be from a place of concern and warning to the audiences to make sure that with all the new technology and advancements in cloning, that this does not become the outcome.
Going along with what I just wrote about, I think Cover 2 would come from someone who maybe saw human cloning and the entire idea of this book as extremely distant and far fetched. This opinion is due to the fact that I believe that if someone actually thought this could be a serious issue in our close future, they would view it as more of a terrifying problem which is what I think was the case for the Cover 4 artist. I think the kinds of people who would read the Cover 2 version are people looking for a more positive and fun book just based on how it looks at first glance. As for Cover 4, someone who enjoys mystery and darkness in novels would more likely choose this version as it has a very eerie effect.
