Long thought to be Miss Emily’s superior and the “real” head of Hailsham, Madame is revealed to be co-founder of Hailsham with Miss Emily. Madame reveals to Tommy and Kathy that she has long cared about clone rights, and that she believes the new world, in which clones serve as “organ farms” for “normal” people, is a “cruel” one. Madame regrets that she cannot do more to help Tommy and Kathy change their fate.
Madame Quotes in Never Let Me Go
The Never Let Me Go quotes below are all either spoken by Madame or refer to Madame. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
Chapter 6
Quotes
I froze in shock. Then within a second or two, I began to feel a new kind of alarm, because I could see there was something strange about the situation. The door was almost half open . . . but Madame hadn’t nearly come up to the threshold. She was out in the corridor, standing very still . . . . And the odd thing was she was crying. It might even have been one of her sobs that had come through the song to jerk me out of me dream.
Related Symbols:
The Judy Bridgewater Tape, The Judy Bridgewater Tape, Hailsham
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16
Quotes
God, Tommy, these must take so much concentration. I’m surprised you can see well enough in here to do all this tiny stuff. I wonder what Madame would say if she saw these.
I suppose I’ll have to get a lot better before she gets to see any of it.
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21
Quotes
Poor creatures. What did we do to you? With all our schemes and plans?
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Madame Character Timeline in Never Let Me Go
The timeline below shows where the character Madame appears in Never Let Me Go. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...some other “puzzling” things she’s seen around the school recently. Notably, Kathy asks Tommy why “Madame” (a very businesslike woman, whom they believe to be the superintendent of Hailsham, though she...
(full context)
...the present, and tells the reader a little about the Gallery. Every so often, the Madame would come to Hailsham, and the students assumed that, when she did so, she would...
(full context)
...all lying awake in their dorm, talking as usual, and Ruth mentioned that she thinks Madame is afraid of the Hailsham students. Kathy and the other girls wonder if this can...
(full context)
The girls see Madame, and gathering in a line, they walk toward her, saying hello. The girls—especially Kathy and...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...the sale and the exchange. But because some students had their work taken away by Madame, supposedly for inclusion in the Gallery, before the work could be exchanged to another student,...
(full context)
...in compensation for their work. But Miss Emily also noted that having art selected by Madame was “a great honor.” When Kathy and some other students bring up the Tokens later,...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...this—playing the song loudly, and dancing along, as though cradling a child to her chest—when Madame walked past her open door. Kathy was mortified, and noticed that Madame was watching her...
(full context)
...knew, at that point, that she and other students couldn’t have children. Kathy wondered whether Madame sympathized with her for this reason, and Tommy seemed to agree—but Kathy also noted that...
(full context)
A few weeks after the “Madame incident,” Kathy continues telling the reader, the tape “disappeared” from Kathy’s collection. Kathy wondered whether...
(full context)
Chapter 19
...often talked about the office, and that Ruth should have “pushed her case” with the Madame, and tried to see if she could delay her caring and donation in order to...
(full context)
...he cannot respond. Ruth suddenly gives Tommy a sheet of paper on which she’s written Madame’s address—Ruth admits that finding it took a lot of work, but she knew it was...
(full context)
Chapter 20
They generally avoid the subject of speaking to Madame, and one day, Tommy asks Kathy to look again at some of the new animals...
(full context)
...donors in other places—and tells Tommy that, because she was near the place listed as Madame’s address, she parked outside Madame’s house and did in fact see Madame going inside. Kathy...
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Chapter 21
Tommy and Kathy have a hard time getting to the seaside town where Madame lives—Tommy has to run several tests before they can go—but they finally reach the town,...
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Tommy and Kathy sit in a dark room and look at the decorations while Madame goes upstairs to prepare for their talk. Tommy points out a picture of Hailsham, but...
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...she has practiced this speech in her head for some time. But finally Kathy tells Madame everything—that they are there to ask about a romantic deferral because they are “deeply in...
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Madame seems to find this idea about the gallery ingenious, even as she indicates, in her...
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Chapter 22
Miss Emily begins speaking to Kathy and Tommy, telling them that Madame, or “Marie-Claude” as she calls her, is now somewhat disillusioned with the idea of Hailsham—that...
(full context)
...true and “never was”—though many students have heard of it over time, and Emily and Madame believe that the rumor springs up organically among different classes of students—the gallery rumor “is”...
(full context)
...news to hear, and that for them it’s not an exercise—“it’s their lives.” Emily and Madame seem to understand this, and apologize that there’s nothing else they can do—that Kathy and...
(full context)
...have been no better for the clones in the long run. When Kathy complains that Madame always found the clones “repulsive,” Emily defends her, saying Madame “gave her life” for the...
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...so Kathy and Tommy walk out and watch Emily's assistant help Emily into her car. Madame and Kathy have a final conversation, in which Kathy reminds Madame about their chance meeting...
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Kathy explains her fantasy regarding the child in her arms, and Madame counters that, although she didn’t necessarily she that version of the fantasy, she (Madame) nevertheless...
(full context)
Chapter 23
...notes that things between herself and Tommy become strained after the meeting with Emily and Madame, perhaps because they know there is no more deferral—that the animals no longer matter. Tommy...
(full context)
...everything Tommy and Kathy found out, about Hailsham and their own lives, from Emily and Madame. But Tommy notes that Ruth “wanted to believe in things,” and that, therefore, it’s probably...
(full context)
