Essay

Description

I include below both the etymology of ‘humanity’ as well as the contemporary definitions of the word from Merriam Webster. What it means to be HUMAN is in many ways at the heart of this novel. By experiencing and sharing in their journey—via Kathy H. who reaches out to address the reader—we come to know the clones as human beings with all of the manifold weight and meaning attached to being human or to being part of humanity. What does it mean to be human in Ishiguro’s novel then? And relatedly, what is Ishiguro’s novel saying about humanity? and possibly about human nature? In terms of the second part of this question, I would include the fact that the clones are capable of bullying, exclusion, and a sense of otherness—just as ‘human beings’ are. After all, as Tommy tells Kathy H. late in the novel: