- repetition of words “donor” and “carer” throughout, but not defined
- indicates that it’s normal to her
- normalization = dehuminization
- ethics of normalization
- audience = people who consider it normal too
- creates distance/detachment for “real” readers
- indicates that it’s normal to her
- set in late 1990s, England
- near past
- what are the political things happening in England in the 1990s, 2005?
- could it relate to pro-choice/pro-life debate? — use value of life
- movie came out the same year as The Island starring Ewan MacGregor and Scarlett Johansson — coincidence
- Dolly the Sheep 1996-2003
- demonstrated the feasibility of cloning (even though it was born to a mother)
- comparison to now — Barbara Streisand’s cloned dog
- have our attitudes toward cloning changed significantly since 2005? maybe it’s just new — it will be normal someday. next generation might also think robots that look like people are normal
- clones raise the question of what is a person?
- we see cloning etc. as the emergent future
- there’s no markers of the 1990s in the novel (except the Walkman) — feels out of time even though the time period is so specific — which makes it seem like it should be a commentary on current events — but it could also be a parallel present
- in order for this to be normal, we must either be (a) ignorant, or (b) have defined “human” or “personhood” — people doing what they’re told, following the group, assuming that what we’re doing is right — abandoning morals for utility — next step is there’s no purpose for old people etc.
- humanity is undefined
- issues of responsibility — people would be careless with their own bodies if they can be replaced — lack of responsibility for the self
- but there are organ donors now
- are the clones human? they have thoughts and feelings, like the Creature in Frankenstein — part of purpose of life is survival, and they don’t have that — why don’t they fight to survive (the clones) the way, for example, Frankenstein does?
- if you’re making an organ in a lab it’s just an object
- we would as a group prefer a fresh (grown) organ to a second-hand organ
- we’re also making lab-grown meat now
- someday people will look back and wonder how we could eat meat
- but wouldn’t other “natural” processes be different as well? — if people start living longer, then will humanity exist any longer — we would run out of resources
- at the moment of donation body parts become objects
- growing clones for use — certain animals are bred just for research — you can order them with particular ages etc. — sometimes you have to raise them — but often these are fruit flies — de-personification? negotiating line between anthropormoization and dehumanization
- who would benefit from these donors?
- why are they sending clones to school if they’re going to be killed?
- appeasing a guilty conscience?
- better for the organs?
- literate kidneys
- big emphasis on creativity and art
- artwork represents inner self and what they’re feeling
- control — we can predict the clone revolution if we know what they think
- experiment- do they think like “normal” humans?
- can interpret art, symbolism, judging the moods of the clones?
- artwork represents inner self and what they’re feeling
- sad that they don’t fight back — but it’s normal, it goes without question
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