Well, hell. You know, going back and rereading this post, it's kinda made of fail. I didn't actually intend to imply that people who are being exploited need a noble-outsider Miss Emily to come in and save them from their sadly stunted, barely human, lives, but I seem to have managed to do just that anyway.
OBVIOUSLY, the story would also have been wildly different if one of the clones (maybe Tommy, who at least seems to have the initial inclination to rebel against his world) stood up and fought for a different life, helping others to do the same. And certainly there's no indication that, beyond being basically brainwashed into accepting their fate, the clones aren't capable of doing something just like that; in fact, it's the very fact that they ARE capable, and still don't, that is, I think Ishiguro's point -- that we all have agency, but can be talked out of seeing, accepting, or using it, even in the face of appalling consequences.
What I was intending to say in my less-than-brilliantly-executed mess above was just that, since clones were being given to people like Miss Emily to be raised, there were far better options available to her as their ally than the one she took.
Sometimes, I'm an inarticulate weevil. I apologize.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-10-26 12:25 am (UTC)OBVIOUSLY, the story would also have been wildly different if one of the clones (maybe Tommy, who at least seems to have the initial inclination to rebel against his world) stood up and fought for a different life, helping others to do the same. And certainly there's no indication that, beyond being basically brainwashed into accepting their fate, the clones aren't capable of doing something just like that; in fact, it's the very fact that they ARE capable, and still don't, that is, I think Ishiguro's point -- that we all have agency, but can be talked out of seeing, accepting, or using it, even in the face of appalling consequences.
What I was intending to say in my less-than-brilliantly-executed mess above was just that, since clones were being given to people like Miss Emily to be raised, there were far better options available to her as their ally than the one she took.
Sometimes, I'm an inarticulate weevil. I apologize.