"Thinking back now, I can see we were just at that age when we knew a few thigns about ourselves--about who we were, how were were different from our guardians, from the people outside--but hadn't yet understood what any of it meant. I'm sure somewhere in your childhood, you too had an experience like ours that day; similar if not in the actual details, then insdie, in the feelings. Because it doesn't really matter how well your guardians try to prepare you: all the talks, videos, discussions, warnings, none of that can really bring it home. Not when you're eight years old, and you're all together in a place like Hailsham; when you've got guardians like the ones we had; when the garderners and the delivery men joke and laugh with you and call you 'sweetheart.'" (page 36)
Instinctively, I have a weird and almost creepy feeling about this Hailsham place. I feel like it relates to Brave New World in the sense that it seems like a completely separate place with different ideas and practices. However, I am still confused as to what exactly goes on at Hailsham. For example, the concept of "donors" and "carers" and "donations" are all euphemisms that Ishiguro has constantly used throughout the past three chapters. These words are obviously common words that the people who live in this society use. However, to the reader, these words are still unknown and a bit confusing. I think that Ishiguro is using these words and also continually using flashbacks to make the reader reflect and contemplate what is going on in the story. The author keeps leaving a lot of things unanswered. It is possible that the author is wanting the reader to form their own opinion on what may happen next and infer what exactly "donors" and "carers" may be. I am hoping that more of an explanation of these terms and Hailsham will unveil in the upcoming chapters.
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