Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover (Or Do)

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover (or do)

Elena Rehberg

Figure Two

Figure One

Aside from the Golden Rule of "Treat others how you want to be treated", my parents always stressed the importance of "Never judging a book by its cover". I would preface this by apologizing to my parents, but the lesson they were teaching me was metaphorical, and the following is strictly literal. The four book covers (Figures 1-4) were all designed for the novel Never Let Me Go (2005) by Kazuo Ishiguro. 

Figure One is the first cover of Never Let Me Go for "judging". In this, the cover contains the least variety of color as opposed to Figures 2-4. The picture illustrated is a simple drawing of the human digestive and respiratory system, and the text is scattered and 

Figure Three

Figure Four

 distorted. This book cover is certainly the darkest, which represents a common dichotomy in the novel of Alienation vs. Creation. Since the main characters are all clones and organ donors, the drawing is representative of their purpose within the novel. The dark tones and text configuration suggest that the novel is composed of corruption and concealment.

Figure Two is quite the opposite of Figure One. On this book cover of Never Let Me Go, there's a more peachy tone background, with basic text written in red and black, with a young girl in motion illustrated. The girl shown wears a bright blue dress, in contrast to her peach-colored surroundings. This could be symbolic of the contrast in the lives of the main characters and how a normal human life is led. I find this cover to be the most revealing of the novel in the sense that it has the most simplistic illustration, which I find to be representative of the characters' view on their lives. They understand their purpose as clones, and while they want to lead an exciting life before completing, they seem trapped and limited due to their surroundings, just as the girl on the cover is. She can't go anywhere; she's on a book cover.

Figure Three is the cover of Never Let Me Go that best shows the theme of isolationism that is present within the novel. This cover shows a young girl sitting alone, looking down in despair, surrounded by nothing by the outdoors. Her environment is entirely green, with a hint of black overcoming the top of a plant she sits near, and her shirt is red in contrast to her setting. The contrast in the color shows the main characters' lack of ability to fit in amidst the world as clones, and her sad look enhances the isolationism within the characters. This is important to the development of Never Let Me Go because the strive for more time and connection with others is the central conflict of the novel as the characters accept that they have limited time left.

Figure Four is the final cover of Never Let Me Go. This book cover displays a small canoe sitting isolated in a vast body of water, with only earth-toned colors. The cover is symbolic again of the theme of isolation present throughout Ishiguro's novel. The darker earth-toned colors can represent the idea of nature and the course it takes. This is somewhat ironic in considering the central concept of the novel, since the main characters are clones created to become organ donors for normal humans, which opposes the basic laws of nature. I think this cover is most significant to the development of the idea in the novel that isolation and confinement are natural. Without these things, the book would hardly be a coming-of-age novel.

A Closer Look

There can always be more than what meets the eye, but for now, let's judge a book by its cover. 

In continuing the examination of the book covers for Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (2005), allow us to dive deeper into Figure One and Two previously mentioned. In looking at Figure One, the first words that come to mind for me are death and humanity. It can be interpreted that these are both motifs found within Ishiguro's novel, as the main characters all know their fate as donors, and hold some piece of humanity in the palm of their hands. With no context of the book's subject, the cover 

Figure One

Figure Two

would demonstrate to me that it contained ideas of death, due to the illustration of a human body with almost all of the major organs represented, and the title, Never Let Me Go, alludes to the motif of death likewise. In examining Figure Two, another book cover for Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, the first thing that comes to mind for me is a sunset and blue sky. This is because of the color choice for this cover being peach and a bright blue. This color scheme could certainly be purposeful by the illustrator, as often times a sunset can be associated with a death, and as previously stated, the main characters' lives revolve around the concept of death since they're clones made for organ donation. If I hadn't yet read the novel, this cover would likely strike me to be about a young girl, but I'm not sure if I would have a good assumption of what the book was about since the cover is vague (then again, so is a good amount of Ishiguro's writing). In Figure One, no one specifically seems to be portrayed, but the best assumption is that it's representing all of the clones within the novel since it shows a human with only some of their major organs. In Figure Two, I would like to think the girl being portrayed is Kathy, the narrator of the novel, since the plot is centered around her and her friends. In both Figure One and Two, we are examining the body and Kathy from the perspective of an unknowing audience, just as we would read the novel. This helps to prevent confusion within the reader. Figure One was likely illustrated by someone who interpreted the book in its darkest theme possible. The illustrator likely perceived the novel's greatest message to be about what becomes of us as humans when we die, and how we serve our purpose during our life. I think a person would choose this version of the book cover if they were seeking a heartbreaking story of losing people you love, and how to understand coping with reality. In contrast to this, in Figure Two, the illustrator was likely more optimistic in designing the book cover. This cover is significantly more bright and light hearted than that of Figure One, and the person who made it was likely thinking mostly about the coming-of-age aspect of the novel, since the background contains the color peach, which is typically perceived as pure, and the young girl on the cover wears bright blue, which could be symbolic of hope. Essentially, this book cover shown in Figure Two would likely be chosen by a reader looking for a story about the hardships of life, and also how to overcome and persevere through the things we can control, as opposed to the things we cannot.