What is a Human and What is the Value of Human Life? : Exploring Ethical, Religious, and Pedagogical Perspectives through Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go in a Swedish Upper Secondary Classroom

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores the use of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005) in a Swedish upper secondary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. Drawing on Reader Response Theory and Ethical Literary Criticism, the study examines how literature can promote both language development and ethical reflection. The analysis focuses on the themes of humanity, identity, freedom, and the value of human life, highlighting how readers’ interpretations are shaped by personal, cultural, and moral perspectives. To support ethical engagement, the thesis proposes a student-centred, dialogic pedagogical approach aligned with the Swedish EFL curriculum. The religious and humanitarian perspectives drawn upon - including those of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) - are used as supplementary classroom texts rather than as theoretical frameworks, enabling students to engage critically with the ethical dimensions of the novel.