Never Let Me Go 16: What Could Have Been

"'Don't you sometimes think,' I said to Ruth, 'you should have looked into it more? All right, you'd have been the first. The first one any of us would have heard of getting to do something like that. But you might have done it. Don't you wonder sometimes what might have happened if you'd tried?'" pg. 230

It's almost unfair the way that Tommy and Kathy sort of gang up on Ruth. Not only did they agree that she should quit talking about unimportant things, but they also keep bringing up how Ruth could have realized her dream if only she would have tried. Although it most likely wasn't even possible, they are giving her false hope and making her regret. They're almost trying to convince her that she made the wrong decisions in life.

Kathy is only bringing up these controversial topics about Ruth because she knows it will draw she and Tommy closer. Now that she has already been a carer for Ruth, she only cares about being close to Tommy. As a reader, I also suspect that she is romantically interested in him as well. Because she's never had a serious romantic relationship, she still longs for Tommy's approval and fondness that she craved when she was young as well.

Consequently, she makes Ruth feel bad about herself. She emphasizes the great opportunity she may have missed rather than making her situation now seem bearable. It's not fair how they criticize her so harshly when they are following the same path.