Too little Too late

Of all the characters in this novel, Tommy and Kathy were clearly the ones who were supposed to have been together all along.  They just acknowledged this fact a little too late.  I loved the recurring event that took place when Tommy had a tantrum on page 274.  It was just like the one he had had at Hailsham, and Kathy had been looking out for him then too.  Both instances were muddy, and Tommy got some one himself.  Kathy was there to comfort him both times.  This second time, however, she was able to show her love for him.  She held him until he stopped fighting himself, as she wanted to have done back at Hailsham but had stopped herself from doing so.  Kathy and Tommy, even from childhood, had always cared about the other.  In the end, Tommy puts it perfectly.  "'It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives'" (Ishiguro, 282).  They put this love into action too late; they were out of time.