Although she is only thirty-one at the start of the novel, Kathy has almost reached the end of her life. She has lost almost everyone she knew from Hailsham, holding onto them only in her memories. While Kathy’s retrospective narration shows the inevitability of loss, many of her memories reflect a desire to slow the relentless march of time towards these losses. The deferral rumor clearly reflects this desire: in hoping for deferrals from donating organs, the students embody the deeply human wish for more time in the face of death. But even the idea of a deferral reinforces the inevitability of death and loss: a deferral is only a brief extension on life, a temporary hold that puts off the future instead of changing it. This same desire for more time ironically motivates the donation program, which depends on the students’ internal organs to extend the lives of people in the outside world.