Cover Analysis

If I just happened to be walking through a Barnes & Nobles and I saw all four of these book covers, to be completely honest I'm not sure that I would pick up any of them. The one that interests me most is the one in the top right, with what looks like barbed wire all connected to make up the human body outline with the vital organs in the middle. This picture is meaningful to me and shocking after reading the book, but I think it would be just as interesting to someone who hasn't read it, because they might want to find out the meaning behind it. The main problem with the books is the title, as it is not very interesting or compelling, and not one most people would pass by and think 'oh, that seems interesting'. 

The most obvious difference between the four covers is that none of them have the same lighting. While the ones on the left do seem more light overall, the top left has the light focused on the person, whereas the bottom left has the light dispersed everywhere. Another difference that is clear between the covers is that the only one that has a picture of something that the normal person wouldn't comprehend is the top right. The others have 'normal' objects or subjects such as a boat, or people, but this wire contraption would not make sense to just a person passing by, and to be honest it doesn't even make sense to me after I read the book. I think one similarity that they all share is the fact that the covers are not supposed to be inviting, or cheerful, they are supposed to portray the strangeness of the novel, and that in turn will draw readers in. Lastly, a difference between the four is that the one in the top right is the only one that directly depicts something that happens in the book, even though it won't be apparent until the reader reads the book. 

The first cover I chose to look at more in depth was the cover on the top right.

If I hadn't read the book before, and I was just looking at the cover, I would definitely think that the book had something to do with medicine. In fact, when I looked at the cover and the title of the copy of Never Let Me Go that I purchased, I thought it was going to be one of those stories about childhood cancer that is really sad. I think that if the vital organs had not been outlined by barbed-wire on this cover, my mind would have gone to the same thing, but since it is outlined with barbed-wire, I think I would have thought that it would be about a prisoner.

When I first saw the selection of covers, I didn't realize what it was, and I started off my blog post writing about how it was intriguing to me because it looked like a face made out of wires and I didn't understand how that connected to the book. I then looked at it deeper, and I actually said out loud, "oh my gosh that's so deep". So I guess the first word that comes to my mind when I see this cover is 'deep'. Once I realized what it was, I automatically made the connection that it was the vital organs of the human body made up of barbed-wire. Not only is this representative of the future that the students have set out for them, but it also reflects how they are kept in isolation. When I think about barbed-wire I think about prisons, or other places that someone doesn't want people getting in or out of. Although Kathy H doesn't necessarily describe Hailsham as that, the students are definitely being kept there against their will, they just don't even know that they have a 'will', because of how shaded from the truth they are. 

For these reasons, I think that this cover is meant to be from the perspective of the students after they learn about Hailsham, kind of in their last stages of life. I think that at that point in their lives, especially after Tommy and Kathy H are denied the deferral and told all of the horrors of Hailsham and its beginnings, they begin to see Hailsham's true colors. Those colors are dark, and strange, and sinister, and I think that is also reflected in the cover since the background seems to be foggy and grey. I also think that it is the students being portrayed by the image in the center, as that picture is pretty much what their reality is. They are kept away from other societies by the guardians and Hailsham, and then they are used for their organs. In a sense, their organs are all that are meaningful about them to the rest of the community, which could also be why they are at the center of the image. 

I next chose to look more in depth at the cover in the top left.

When I first saw this cover, I was automatically disturbed by the lack of human-ness (word?) that the girl in the picture possessed. She looked completely fake, like a doll. The hair looks like a wig, and she seems to be sitting in the middle of a bush, which doesn't make much sense. This lack of liveliness that I picked up on makes me think about the fact that the students in the book are clones. This could be a reason why the cover artist decided to make the person so lifeless and emotionless. 

If I was seeing this cover for the first time and I hadn't read the book, I don't think it would lead me to any conclusions because there is nothing really happening on the cover. I would probably assume that the girl in the middle is the main character, and I think I would get the same sinister feel from it, which would probably lead to me picking up the book and looking at the back cover. 

I think that the person pictured in the picture is Kathy H. As a narrator throughout the novel, she seems to describe everything in a positive manner even when they are so far from being positive. When I look at this picture, and then picture Kathy in my mind, the two fit together. I think that the person on the cover seems deep in thought, and I think of all of the characters Kathy was the most insightful and honest. The character also looks very innocent, just sitting in a field surrounded by greenery, and I think that Kathy is also very innocent. I think that all of the children at Hailsham are innocent because of all of the things they are not told. They don't know what is happening to them, and so they just follow the rules and go to school. I could also picture this cover as being what Kathy goes to do after she finds out Tommy completes. She seems like the kind of person who would take a short, peaceful moment to grieve, and then move on with her life. She kind of does this at the end of the book when she returns to Norfolk, but I think that this picture could also show another way Kathy would grieve. 

Overall, I think that the cover with the barbed-wire and the organs had the greatest immediate response from me, because the rest of them didn't really make any sense to me in terms of the plot line of the novel.