Ecocritical Biopolitics and the Ethics of Organ Harvesting in Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go offers a subtle but profound critique of how life, bodies, and environments are managed under modern systems of power. While prior scholarship often examines posthumanist or bioethical dimensions, this study interprets the novel through ecocritical and biopolitical frameworks, highlighting how clones’ lives unfold within carefully controlled landscapes that reflect both environmental and social governance. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s notion of biopower, Giorgio Agamben’s concept of bare life, and contemporary ecocritical theory on slow violence and the Anthropocene, I argue that Ishiguro portrays managed environments—Hailsham, the Cottages, and donation centers—as mechanisms that normalize organ extraction while masking structural violence. The ethical tension of the novel lies in its illustration of how life, whether human or ecological, can be rendered a disposable resource under the guise of stewardship. Ultimately, Ishiguro’s work prompts reflection on the intersections between ecological management, bodily autonomy, and systemic exploitation.