The Judy Bridgewater Tape Symbol Analysis

During one of the “sales” at Hailsham, Kathy finds a cassette tape called Songs After Dark, performed by an artist named Judy Bridgewater. Kathy becomes enamored of the tape, in particular of a song called “Never Let Me Go,” which Kathy interprets to be about a young mother and her child. But Kathy “loses” the tape at Hailsham, only to find another copy with Tommy while in Norfolk, some years later. Earlier, back at Hailsham, Kathy dances to this song one day, cradling an imaginary child to her chest, when Madame walks by and sees her. Kathy notices that Madame is crying when she spots Kathy; Kathy later thinks this might have something to do with the fact that Hailsham students, being clones, are incapable of having children. But Kathy, in later discussion with Madame, learns why this scene caused Madame to cry: Madame believed that Kathy enjoyed the song’s depiction of a “kinder world,” as compared to the cruel world into which Kathy will soon be thrust. The Bridgewater tape therefore symbolizes many of the characters’ attitudes toward life before and after Hailsham. For Kathy, the Bridgewater tape embodies her innocence at Hailsham, and her desire for physical and emotional connection with other people—with lovers, with children. For Tommy, the tape also embodies this long lost emotional connection—Tommy wants desperately for Kathy to find the tape again in Norfolk. For Ruth, the tape symbolizes a secret connection between Tommy and Kathy—a connection with which Ruth can have no part. And for Madame, the tape recalls the cruelty of the world for clones whom she has tried to protect but whose lives are defined entirely by their cruel purpose as organ donors for "real" people.