Blog Post 10 - I Got You Covered!
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
All four of the covers given use blues and greens in the images to show the somber-like mood that the story gives off. Of the four, three of these show human beings, although one is simply a drawing of organs rather than an actual photograph. The last one is a boat on a body of water, but shows signs of human life. All of the covers but one contain not only the title and author, they also have a quote from a book review as well as a mention of the Man Booker Award that it won, drawing attention to the potential readers in showing that it is worth the read since it won such an award.
Out of the four covers provided, these two stuck out to me the most. I was intrigued with the imagery of the cover on the left from the plot line of Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy visiting the boat, and I loved the second cover due to the display of internal organs due to this being the reason that these students are born and what their meaning in life relates to.
When I first glance at these images, the first words that come into mind are gloomy, sorrow, abandoned, and life. If I had not read the book but I had seen the cover on the left, I would think that this was a story that took place on a beach with a main focus on two friends and there was some incident that caused them to be separated and they had to help one another to save themselves. If I had just seen the cover on the right, I may have thought this would be about a doctor or a nurse who becomes very close to a terminally ill patient and they are unable to save their life, but they do all they can to stay close to them until their day comes.
Now that I have read this novel, I see that these both directly correlate to the plot and overall theme of the story. The image with the boat on the water is a visual of the boat that Ruth, Kathy, and Tommy visit when Ruth and Tommy are donors and Kathy is Ruth's carer. The image also conveys that theme of loneliness through the boat being the only object in sight, like the students from Hailsham feel like when they become a donor or a carer and no longer have time to hang out with their friends. The second image correlates to the story through the internal organs being the purpose of the students' lives of growing up to donate their organs to save others. This also relates to the theme that though these students are real people with souls like everyone else, people just see them as organ carriers whose only purpose in life is to give up their organs to real people. I have noticed that the body in which the organs are in has barbed wire surrounding it, showing how important the organs of these students are to protect and donate.
Neither of these images are portraying specific people, but it can be inferred that they are from the point of view of Hailsham students, more specifically Kathy. The cover with the boat seems to be from her point of view because we not only see the boat, but we see her mood reflected in the colors and the overall mood of the image that she was feeling when she visited: gloomy. The image with the drawing of the organs is also from her perspective because, as a carer, she knows just how important the organs are for protection and donation, but she also knows that those who are not clones like them do not see them as more that just organs. They are not seen as humans with a soul and a life, they are seen as only useful due to their organs and nothing else.
It seems to me as though the targeted audiences based on these covers are a wide variety of people and not directly aimed at one or even two groups of people. The images on each cover are interesting which may draw people's attention, but there is nothing specific about either that makes them stand out or seem particularly important to one specific targeted audience.
One aspect of the image of the drawn body with the internal organs that I have noticed and thought was interesting is that the drawing and fonts used almost seem as though a child did them, which correlates well with the story line and the artwork that the children at Hailsham are told to create. This caught my attention because it may seem like a simple drawing to someone who has never read the novel, but as someone who has read it I can see that the designer of this image wanted to play off of the gallery and how it shows that these students did have souls and a life. We are able to see that these students do know the real meaning of their lives and that there is only one path for them to go towards: donation until completion.
Christina!! I loved how your post is organized because you fully analyze both of your covers to each specific question in a paragraph. It was easy to understand your comparison in this way. I liked how you pointed out the use of colors as they add to the mood of the novel. I also made the connection to the cover with the outlined organs in which it reveals the darker truth behind Hailsham and the student's purpose. It's interesting because, like you said, the barbed wires outline it can signify that the organs must be protected which is true! I didn't notice that at first and thought it signified the kids are restricted and can't leave Hailsham. I love how a cover of a book can set the mood we enter reading it as even though the phrase says we should never judge a book by it's cover, it still influences us! Amazing post overall <3!!!
ReplyDeleteHeyo nice post! i really enjoyed reading it because you chose the two covers which I did not, so it gave me an entirely new perspective. I think that maybe at the start you could make it more clear which cover you are referring to (when you briefly discuss all 4 covers). Because at times it was unclear as to which of the three out of four covers you were talking about. (maybe you could include the other covers as well and label them) But on a positive note, I like how you approached the comparison of the two covers because instead of designating one paragraph to each cover to specifically talk about each, you had many paragraphs where you referenced both covers. This allows the reader to more clearly distinguish the similarities or differences between the two. Where as, the other method of designating a paragraph to each cover, you read all about one cover then all about the other.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis of the covers! You went into detail in a lot of different aspects of each of the covers and had some great insights about the 2 covers you further analyzed. It was interesting to see your take on the cover on the right because everyone had different thoughts as to what this was and what it was showing. Personally, when I looked at that cover I saw a woman holding a baby but it was interesting to hear that you thought it was organs! Overall interesting post!!
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by your analysis of these covers in particular. I though your explanation of the internal organs cover was especially interesting because I had originally thought about it much differently. I had seen the outline as stitching rather than barbed wire. However, when thinking about that cover with the context of barbed wire makes the overall message of the cover more true to the book because of the barbed wire with trash that Kathy sees at the end of the novel. Also really enjoyed how you noted Kathy's perspective on the boat cover as this was also not something I had considered in my analysis of that cover. Great overall analysis of mood, perspective, and uses of color.
ReplyDeleteHeeyyyyyyyy! I like how you interpreted the use of color and connected it to Kathy's character and how she feels about the boat overall. I also like how you said that the boat connects to the theme of loneliness and how the characters feel similar to the boat on the cover. I loved your connection to the barbed wire and also your interpretation on the fonts and the connection to the children's drawings at Hailsham. Sick post dude!!
ReplyDeleteHello love!! So the first thing that I noticed was that we chose the same two covers... what are the odds? We seemed to have similar ideas, but I didn't really think about the boat as representing the loneliness of the kids from Hailsham and I thought that was an interesting way to look at it. I also like how you said both of the covers were from Kathy's perspective. I had the same thought with the boat one, but I wouldn't have thought that for the organs. I think it's interesting how you said that they aren't seen as humans, which makes it seem like they're just seen as walking organs (and that's a rather odd thought). Overall wonderful!! <33
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! I loved how you mentioned how color was an important aspect of the covers because it does play a major role in covers and readers sometimes overlook them. I found it very interesting how you mentioned they were from Kathy's point of view because I hadn't thought of that when I looked at them but I agree! I also think your analysis of the barbed wire and child-like handwriting on the second cover is so spot on! When looking at that cover I wondered whether they choose those organs so that it wouldn't be cluttered with organs, or if those are the ones they specifically take from the donors. Or do they just take all of the organs they can like vultures?
ReplyDeleteOverall very great analysis loved it!