Never Let Me Go 9

"She was struggling to become someone else, and maybe felt the pressure more than the rest of us because, as I say, she'd somehow taken on the responsibility for all of us. In that case, then, the way I'd talked about her slap on the elbow thing could be seen as betrayal, and she might well then have felt justified retaliating as she had." Never Let Me Go pg 130

Kathy is obviously an analyzer. A large chunk if this book is dedicated to sorting out Kathy's thoughts, otherwise known as her stream of consciousness. Kathy thinks and thinks until not only can she seem to justify what Ruth does, but also to put the blame on herself. I understand that teenager girls do take small matters very seriously; however, it's just a tap on the shoulder.I also don't understand how Kathy thinks Ruth is  embodying all of Hailsham at the Cottages when Ruth seems to be trying to forget all about Hailsham. The conclusions just seem like a gross exaggeration. Kathy's conscience is filled with mistreatment of Ruth, that probably were overexaggerated, so all this locked guilt could be coming out thus causing Kathy to make herself the antagonist to make it up to Ruth.