Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro

Because somewhere underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the world around us, and—no matter how much we despised ourselves for it—unable quite to let each other go.

Kathy implies here that their wish to huddle together at this juncture indicates weakness and immaturity, something worthy of embarrassment if not shame. But even as she says this, she knows this very instinct is the one vital thing they have going for them. That it’s in these ties that she must search for strength and meaning.