"But think of it. You were lucky pawns" (266). So Hailsham isn't the only school like this. There are other ones, run by the government, but are completely horrible and inhumane. I guess Miss Emily is more optimistic about the whole thing, yes they will die very soon, and no they won't have a normal life. But hey, at least they didn't grow up in awful living conditions, and at least they didn't have a mindset of "I'm being raised just to be killed." Because isn't that what they're doing? Slowly taking away what they need to survive to give to another human-who for some reason, is more important than them-and by doing so, slowly killing them from the inside out. Apparently, some don't deserve the organs they're given and need to donate them to others. The way this world works doesn't seem like it'll be in the distant future for us. Cloning has already begun, and it won't take us too long to understand the possibilities it will bring.

"And if they did, they tried to convince themselves you weren't really like us. That you were less than human, so it didn't matter" (263). This single statement alone can sum up just about every war, every genocide, and all the slavery that has happened in all of history. Hitler convinced the Nazi party that Jewish people were less than Germans, so it was fine if millions of them died. Our country decided that African American people weren't really humans, because "they looked like monkeys" so they were lower on the evolution scale, so they were less that the white man. In WWII the cartoon industry encouraged children to be mean to Japanese people by making them look completely daft. Today even, we, the general public, are convinced that Muslim people are less than us because they don't have electricity, or running water, or cell phones. Apparently, our possessions make us a "true human being" not our beliefs, not our morals, and not the fact that genetically speaking, we are all the same. Our world functions like this, the way we think is completely disgusting and there is no way to change it.

"You believe this? That you're deeply in love?...Because your art will display your souls!" (253-254). This is a quote from Madame when Kathy and Tommy go to see her. The way she is being so sarcastic with her remarks makes me think that the deferral is not real at all. Then, when Tommy is explaining that he brought art with him to show to her, she says: "Poor creature. what did we do to you? With all out schemes and plans?" (254). "Creatures?" Really? She herself doesn't even consider them to be humans, so why would anyone else? And what "schemes and plans" is she talking about? It's obvious that others have come to her with this idea, because she sounds completely fed up with all of this already. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

"The main thing is, I kept you and Tommy apart...that was the worst thing I did...You and Tommy, you've got to try and get a deferral. If it's you two, there's got to be a chance. A real chance" (232-233). I'm onto part three of the book, when Ruth and Tommy are no longer together, and are both donors. Also, Kathy is a carer for Ruth at this point. Finally. Ruth finally realized that she's been mean and manipulative to both of them. And finally Kathy and Tommy can be together. But now Ruth wants them to get the deferral, and they're going to be really disappointed when they can't get it. I don't know if Ruth is doing this to Tommy and Kathy because she actually cares about them being together, or because she just wants to know if the deferral actually exists. She found Madame's address, so she could have just gone there herself and asked, so maybe she actually cares about Tommy and Kathy...for once.

"Do you think she'd have talked to us like that if she'd know what we really were?" (166). Do people on the outside world not know about these clones? I think that some of them do, like the people who made them. Or what about the people receiving the donations? Do they think that a new kidney just magically appears inside of them? Or maybe, everyone knows, but they just ignore it and try not to think about it. It's kind of like how we ignore things in our world. Like the fact that America could be blown off the face of the Earth with a single bomb. Or the fact that pretty soon, there won't be oil left. Or even little, important things, like hunger, and homelessness, and poverty. I'll be honest, if something isn't screaming in my face "I'M HERE!" I pretend it doesn't exist.

"'What they were saying was that some Hailsham students in the past, in special circumstances, had managed to get a deferral" (153). Well this is a big part of the rising action in the plot. Chrissie said this to Ruth in the car on the way to Norfolk. Apparently, if there is a couple, from Hailsham, and they are truly in love, they they can wait a while before donating. No. I'm going to predict right here and now that this isn't true. With they amount of organ donations needed in our world, I'm betting that theirs isn't any different. So why would they let two people wait a few years? Here's my reasoning: 1) They're donors. It's what they were made to do and it's they're job. 2) Why would people care if they're in love? To others, because they're clones, they're not capable of loving each other. I think that this is just a dream, and I don't think that it will work out.

"We all knew no one would stop us if we wandered off, provided we were back by the day and the time we entered into Keffer's ledgerbook" (118). At this point, they know they are clones, and know they will die at a young age, why don't they just buck the system? Has no one thought of doing this? Just my intuition, but I don't think that they were implanted with GPS tracking devices at Hailsham. They have cars, they could just drive off somewhere and never come back. The only problem with that, however, would be their lack of knowledge in the real world. They don't know much about taxes, or leases, or jobs. They could lead a completely normal life if they wanted to, but instead, they chose to donate organs and die at 24. This makes no sense to me.

"Since each of us was copied at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life" (139). I don't understand, they are fully aware of the fact that they are clones, but they don't care. So here's my question: If these people are nothing but copies of other people, then are they really people? I get that yes, they are physically human beings. But what about the spiritual side of things? Are they just a shell of a person with nothing inside? Kathy later goes on to describe different theories of who these people could be (babies, parent's age, elderly, ect.). But I have a different theory, I'll be honest, if I lived in this world, I don't think I would be ok with a clone of myself walking around. So what if they were copied from people who didn't have an option and wouldn't be seen on a daily basis? Say, maybe people on death row, or in jail? Just an idea...

"Eight of us who left Hailsham that summer ended up at the Cottages" (116). I'm on to part two of the book, which i find to be Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy's teenage years. The Cottages are co-ed housing, run by a man called Keffers. To be honest, I find this character more intriguing than any other because the reader never finds much out about him. However, through the whole time, he acts mad at the tenants, but really I think he's scared too. I think that he too knows what is going to happen to these people, and is worried by it. I think he is a symbol to the students of how they'll be treated by some people in the real world. I think that Keffers is trying-though maybe not consciously- to get them to understand that the real world is nothing like their happy-go-lucky world of Hailsham.  

"'Hold on. What did she mean, "evidence"'" (108). At this point in the story, Kathy and Tommy are talking about what Miss Lucy said to Tommy about his art work. She called his art work "evidence." Evidence of what? I think that it has something to do with Madame and the gallery. Maybe it's evidence of the fact that they donors are real people. Or maybe Madame needs evidence to prove to herself something. I still don't see why she takes it in the first place if she is scared of the children. I think that Miss Lucy sees something different in Tommy, and wants to tell him as much as she can. But I think there are consequences if she told him. So instead, she seems to hit at things  like that gallery and donations. Maybe, more than anything, this "evidence" is for people on the outside, people who don't know everything that is going on behind the walls of Hailsham.

"That very evening, Tommy and Ruth got back together again..." (111). Why are Tommy and Ruth together? That's not right, Tommy and Kathy are supposed to be together. Ruth has to know that that's how it's supposed to be, but she's just being selfish. Kathy has always been nice to Tommy, and Ruth has been so mean to him, why would he even date her after all of that? Yet another reason why I don't like Ruth. Maybe Tommy doesn't see it. But I think that he will, eventually. I think that Kathy doesn't actually see it yet, and would rather let Ruth be with Tommy than to make her upset.

"Tommy thought it possible the guardians had, throughout all our years at Hailsham, timed very carefully and deliberately everything they told us, so that we were always just too young to understand properly the latest piece of information" (82). Tommy is smart. I think that he gets what is really going on, with Madame, the gallery, and donations. On the other hand, there's no way for the guardians to know how smart certain students are or are not at different stages in their life. So there are always people like Tommy, who they didn't time perfectly, so now he understands everything. And people like Ruth and Kathy, who they did time properly, and don't totally understand everything. There is definitely something different about Tommy. I think he's another protagonist in the story. He's different because he gets what is going on, and he has random temper tantrums. Which I think stem from the fact that he hates that he has to die at a young age and will never be normal. Every one else seems to accept this, but he wants something different.

"Your lives are set out for you...you'll start to donate vital organs. That's what you were created to do" (81). This is said by Miss Lucy to the students while it's rainy outside. Kathy has already said that they knew they would have to donate organs when they got older. But what I don't understand is what she means by "created." So my theory of them being taken from parents as infants is flawed. But then I guess that means they were made almost like the children in Brave New World. They're clones? Of who? Each other or other people? It can't be that they all look alike, I think they would have noticed that. So they made individual clones of other people. People from the outside world or people who donated as well? And if it is people from the outside world, are they normal every day people?

"We certainly knew-though not in any deep sense-that we were different from our guardians, and also from the normal people outside" (69). So from what I can gather, they're being raised to donate vital organs to other people who need them. When they are still alive. So then this means that they'll die when they're still relatively young. That's so unfair, they'll never be able to get married, or have children, or die when they're 89. I honestly don't see how they can donate something and not die immediately after. But Kathy is talking about third and fourth donations, so some how in this world they've figured out how to survive with out vital organs for a time? Kathy later says that when the students bring up donations, the guardians become awkward, does this mean that they're also afraid of the students like Madame? More than anything, I want to know where these people come from. Are they taken from their parents as infants? Or are they something else entirely?

"All this effort, all this planning, just to upset my dearest friend" (60). This is a quote about Ruth. She seems like she'll be the antagonist, and I really don't like her. She seems more like a frenemy than a true friend to Kathy. She's sickly sweet to some, but underneath she's spiteful and manipulative. People like that don't make for a healthy friendship. She's also really mean to Tommy, and for no reason at all. In a sense, Kathy is no better, with how she handled the pencil case scandal and how she held that over Ruth's head is also very mean. I just don't think that they have a healthy friendship. Then again, a few times Kathy has mentioned Ruth's recovery room, so I think that they will stay constant friends.

"...she wouldn't talk to us and kept us at a distance with her chilly look" (32). This is a quote about Madame. From what Kathy has said, she comes two to four times a year to take certain art work, but only the best. None of the students seem to know why exactly, but the teachers hint at the fact that they know why. When Ruth announces her theory, I don't think that it's true. I think that Madame keeps her distance because she thinks that she is better than the kids. But then later on, when Ruth's theory is proven true, I'm even more confused because I can't figure out why she is scared. Does she just not like kids? Or is she really just afraid of them?

"'Shaking. With rage. I could see her. She was furious. But furious deep inside" (28). This quote is spoken by Tommy, to Kathy, about Miss Lucy. I feel as though Miss Lucy is like a mini anti-hero. From what she said to Tommy, she seems like the kind of teacher who wants to actually teach these kids. The other teachers seem to be content with teaching them what they are told to teach them. Miss Lucy seems to want to teach them about current events, and things outside Hailsham. And more than anything, she seems to want them to know about what will happen when they leave Hailsham and begin donations. I think that Miss Lucy is going to make a lot of enemies because of this.

"...you'd find a tranquil atmosphere waiting, with ducks and bulrushes and pond-weed" (25). Hailsham is creepy, it's too perfect. The setting in the book makes me realize that this is definitely not a normal boarding school. And it's not just the perfect school grounds, but the people there too. The teachers are so nice all the time, and never yell at the children. The kids there almost seem brainwashed into believing anything and everything the teachers tell them, even if it's not true. Maybe it's just how Kathy wishes to remember it, all sunshine and perfection. There has to be something wrong with this place. The way it's described reminds me of a fairy tale, where everything is always bright and sunny to the main character, but behind their back, someone is planning on giving them a poison apple.

"In fact, the herder he tried, the more laughable he efforts turned out" (20). Kids are so mean. I honestly can say that I know this from experience because two weeks ago I went to North Carolina to babysit my 6 year old cousin and a few other children. During the time, I was reading part one of this book, and I was finding so many similarities in how they acted, to how Tommy was treated. I don't know if they feel as if it's their only form of communication or what, but the way they act can be worse than high school stuff. In any case, it bothers me that there has been no explanation for why Tommy is picked on more than others. Or in that perspective, why certain kids at Roncalli are picked on more than others. I guess that sometimes, there isn't a specific reason other than, "because." Tommy seems like he'll be an important character, also with the way that Kathy talks to him, I think that they may become a couple when they're teenagers or even before that.

"My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years" (3). It's kind of obvious who the protagonist is going to be. But I wonder if she'll also be an anti-hero. Is a carer almost like a nurse? It's an odd term for it, because she doesn't seem to be actually employed per say at the hospital. In this first chapter, it seems as though people are donating their organs before they've actually died. That can't be right, that's completely unethical and would cause them to die. But if they're not donating organs, what else would it be?