Duologue between Miss Lucy and Miss Emily about the students of Hailsham
(Miss Emily and Lucy mid-conversation in Miss Emily's office at Hailsham one afternoon)
Miss Emily: You cannot tell them these things if you wish to work here, Lucy, they are children.
Miss Lucy: Why not! We are hiding their fate from them, pretending that they have a life ahead of them, letting them believe that one day they could work in a shop or an office...Letting them believe they could have families.
Miss Emily: Let them dream. By letting them dream we give them their childhoods, we let them for just a brief time be alive. When you tell them their fate, you take this brief window of happiness in their life from them.
Miss Lucy: Perhaps I do, but these children have been brainwashed. The older ones, the ones who know. They aren't appalled by their fate, they are resigned, they are even proud, proud that one day they will do their bit to help the world. It is not right. They are raised to think that being raised to die is fair. How can we ever hope to have change if the children themselves don't think change is needed. We try to make them happy, but what we really need to do is be honest and stop lying to them, pretending that how they are treated is fine.
Miss Emily: They need this happiness. Until change happens this is the only chance they have at happiness. We need to give it to them. Even if it means letting them believe the lies, they deserve to be happy.
Miss Lucy: How can they be happy? They have no life here. They know nothing outside this world. They are just live in this little bubble of meaninglessness.
Miss Emily: At least they have some happiness- a little is better than none at all, so many other students are nowhere near as lucky.
Miss Lucy: And are they supposed to be grateful?! Grateful that they ended up in a gilded cage, instead of a place of horror. Their fate is the same either way. They are raised, like cattle for the slaughter.
Miss Emily: Better that than in the other places they could be raised. Have you seen those places, Miss Lucy? The students are no better than animals than belongings. It's systematic, cruel…
Miss Lucy: ...What sort of people are we, to say that 'it could be worse', and 'at least they are treated humanely now'. They are still going to die, no they are going willingly to their murder.
Miss Emily: We are doing everything we can.
Miss Lucy: Are we?... You know, when I was younger I thought this world was so good. I left school bright-eyed, ready to see my glorious new world. You know what I saw?A world where children were raised for the slaughter. A world where even the ones who fight for their justice can barely contain their shudders when they stand near them because they are 'unnatural'. That is not their fault, I shudder too and I hate myself every day for it.
Miss Emily: We can't help how we feel, only how we behave. At least we are fighting for them.
Miss Lucy: We fight because we know 'it's the right thing to do', yet as we fight we shudder disgusted, and are scared of little, innocent, children.
Miss Emily: Better that than nothing Lucy, better that than nothing. We are fighting the fight that nobody wants to be real. People fear us too because we tell them the truth. It's not an easy fight for us either, at least somebody fights for them.
Miss Lucy: I am so tired of this, we shudder at these children then say 'well, we are ostracised for doing this it's hard for us as well, so we should be proud'. We shouldn't, we have nothing to be proud of.We are not the ones who won't live past thirty. We are not the ones who will die in pain. We are not the ones who don't get a choice on how to live our lives. We say things like 'at least we are giving them a childhood', but you know what it is not enough. These children have no parents, no guides, no idea who they are or even how to be human.
Miss Emily: I know, I know they don't. I've seen the way the older ones have no idea how they are supposed to behave with boyfriends and girlfriends, no idea what love is, no idea about family. I know they have nothing to base their lives off. I know, I am not blind, Miss Lucy, I am not blind.
Miss Lucy: It's just not fair, they deserve more.
Miss Emily: I know, but it's all we can do, give them their childhoods and try to prove to the world that they are human too.
Miss Lucy:All the while raising them for slaughter! …... What cruel world is this, where this is kindness?