Never Let Me Go: 3

"It's like walking past a mirror you've walked past every day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange" (36).

Six students planned to test the theory of whether or not Madame was afraid of the children; however, they got more than they bargained for. They did confirm their theory, but they were also confronted with another answer to a question they had purposefully avoided asking themselves. They were different than everybody else. People don't hate them or wish them harm, but they shutter at the thought of them because of how they were brought into this world and why (36). This simile above proves that they had been avoiding this confrontation with themselves for a very long time, but they couldn't avoid it any longer. It as if one day they finally understood they were different and there was nothing they could do about it. Not only did they finally see themselves differently then they had previously perceived, but also they saw that they were not accepted in the outside world because they were different. The children's eyes were opened to this devastating reality that was the real world, away from the shelter of the guardians and secluded haven of Hailsham. They were feared as people fear spiders (35). The simile about the mirror is effective because it truly shows how their views about themselves as regular children that had remained constant for so many years were shattered by one instance in which Madame confirmed (by her actions, not words) their theory that they were different.