When contemplating the severity of a loved one’s terminal illness, one may eagerly jump at any opportunity to revive them; however, would a loved one’s salvation be worth the death of an innocent? In Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novel “Never Let Me Go”, the plot revolves around clones who were created solely to donate their organs. While the students at Hailsham were provided with a proficient education at a rather pleasant school, their lives were anything but luxurious. Students lacked any right over their own bodies and were forced to become donors once they had come of age. The several donations the students are forced to participate in throughout their life gives true meaning to the phrase “born to die”. The phenomenon of using clones to
This mentality catapultes a population to become simple-minded people who are easy to overrule and influence. For example, the Holocaust occurred after Germans were convinced the Jewish people were biologically and racially distinct humans who followed an abhorrent religious doctrine. Thereafter, history was followed by an infamous genocide encouraged by Germans. Dehumanizing a specific race was not only the cause of this historical atrocity but also a central facet of these donor’s lives. Similar to the Germans, this English society denies to recognize their saviors as human beings, but instead regard them more as organ producing factories, if they even acknowledge them at all. A similar concept is exemplified in early 20th century America, with segregation. With the dehumanization of a certain group or race of people, comes the allowance of a faction outcasting another group. In the case of “Never Let Me Go”, dehumanizing the same people who they rely on, could lead to a myriad of societal corruptions. By allowing a group of human beings to be degraded, it leads to a slippery slope of apathetic treatment towards the country’s own citizens. For example, since this society has already justified dehumanization, it will, with time, grasp the same mentality towards the lower class of citizens, and eventually towards everyone. Without any acceptance of one’s moral consideration, the nation will lose all stable and just
I chose this dilemma for reflection because of the true dichotomous nature of organ transplantation. Someone must die in order for someone else to live. Additionally, with the current demand outweighing the supply of organs available, another ethical “layer” is formed. In
The demand for human cadaver research continues to exist. Countless notions have been voiced to augment the supply of human cadavers. Science writer Mary Roach believes that our bodies are of significant importance above ground instead of below. In “The Cadaver Who Joined the Army” Mary Roach primarily focuses on the benefits of human cadaver research and how cadaver donation can be rewarding. Mary Roach bypasses the super-replicator beliefs of human cadaver research and highlights the joy one will receive after donating their body to research. Psychologist Daniel Gilbert primarily focuses on how surrogates pass on super-replicators in which we consider truthful. In “Reporting Live From Tomorrow” Gilbert presumes that e rely on super-replicators to make choices that will determine happiness. As a surrogate, Mary Roach convinces us that through informed consent, our decision to donate our bodies to cadaver research will bring happiness.
Dehumanization has been around for many years and seen all throughout our world’s history. Dehumanization means to deprive of human qualities, personality, or spirit. In history, people had been dehumanized for all types of reasons, whether it be because of race, gender, age, sex, or any other characteristics. One of the most brutal and memorable examples of dehumanization was the holocaust which took place in many different locations in Europe. Hitler was ruling German at the time and started this disturbing holocaust. Many Jews were dehumanized in this time. The Germans were horrible to the Jews and treated them like they were animals. The Germans had animalized the Jews as shown in the book Maus I and Maus II. Spiegelman depicts the Germans as cats and the Jews as mice because
Utilitarianism in its simplest form, claims that the morally right action is that which produces the greatest good, but questions not what the means are to achieve it. Jeremy Bentham and later John Stuart Mill are regarded as the founders of modern utilitarianism and believe that the greatest good is pleasure. John Stuart Mill (1806-73), states that utilitarianism is the moral theory that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” John Harris’s proposes a ‘survival lottery’ which would minimise the overall number of deaths in a society by arbitrarily sacrificing individuals so their organs can be used to ‘give life’ to others. Therefore more lives would be saved by the transplants than the amount taken by sacrifice. This is a rational proposal but one which faces much objection because of the moral issues raised, specifically the belief that it is wrong to kill and the importance of human life. This essay will argue that it is reasonable to suggest that a proposal that saves lives is desirable, and that killing one to save three or four is arguably the doctors duty or moral responsibility. Despite all of this, human beings will never accept this scheme either as a loss of liberty or because valuable resources could potentially be wasted on those undeserving of them.
Cameron, J. Stewart and Hoffenberg, Raymond. “The ethics of organ transplantation reconsidered: Paid organ donation and the use of executed prisoners as donors.” Kidney International. Vol 55. p724-732. 30 November 2003.
There has been a lot of debate concerning brain death within organ donations. This means whether the person is actually alive or dead when the doctors decide to harvest the organs. Some people and even organizations argue why it is they believe an individual is alive during the process while others argue why the donor isn’t alive. This essay shows the different positions of people and organizations regarding brain death.
While some would argue that the small number of executed prisoners is not worth the legal trouble of forcing them to donate their organs their opposition would respond “That’s a fairly statistical approach that may be appropriate if we weren’t talking about lives. Even if the case were that only a single donor can save a single life it would still be worth it.” Overall this issue is under much scrutiny for the fact that it’s controversial for both the medical staff involved and the legal repercussions for those advocating for this procedure to be enacted. While ethical considerations should obviously be addressed, one must keep in mind the moral state of mind the convicted murderers have themselves. When one holds no regard for life, why put so much emphasis on their body’s state after they
The movie Gattaca and the novel Never Let Me Go, both display a form of dehumanization and the relationship between those who have been dehumanized and those who are brought up in a more ‘ideal’ way. Gattaca and Never Let Me Go, try and show an alternative future based on the advancement of genetics and how they affect our world in a possible future. They do this by genetically cloning individuals for organ harvesting and attempting to create a perfect world by creating “perfect” humans.
With an average of 18 people dying every day due to a shortage of donated organs and a new candidate added to the donor list every 10 minutes(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Staff, 2013), the question arises; who should receive the opportunity of a transplant and who should not? John S. Mill argues ethical points that happiness forms the substructure of morality while fortifying this argument with examples illustrating that all the objects people desire is aimed at happiness. He attempts to answer the question of moral and ethical issues with a look at consensus and principles that support t...
Kazuo Ishiguro uses the setting of Never Let Me Go to reinforce the major ideas within the novel. To reinforce the sense of freedom Ishiguro uses driving to show that although the students of Hailsham and the cottages are now free that’s not how life has always been. Driving is shown as a time for Kathy to physically and mentally roam free, to think about the ups and downs of her life, the things that she has regretted and in a heartbeat, would do-over again. The students of Hailsham are free to wander the grounds but not leave, this is where the setting and sense of freedom within Hailsham come in to play, the perception that if they did leave and entered the forest it was practically suicide, “Once, not so long before we all got to Hailsham,
In “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro we see cloned human beings that are raised in a boarding school so that they can grow up and become organ donors. The main purpose of these kids was growing up and donating their organs one by one till they finally die at an early age. These kids were not treated as human beings. They were created in a test tube just to be a donor. The main character who was also a donor is the narrator of this story. Life should be controlled by the person that owns it and that person should make decisions how to live and where to live, clones are still human beings with soul and flesh there for they deserve human right. If they cannot get the right they deserve then cloning should be illegal unless there is understandable reason. These kids are raised in a place called hailsham, where they are taken care of so that they can stay healthy but they were not allowed to leave the school and socialize with the world till they turn eighteen and graduate.
One of the most important and prevalent issues in healthcare discussed nowadays is the concern of the organ donation shortage. As the topic of organ donation shortages continues to be a growing problem, the government and many hospitals are also increasingly trying to find ways to improve the number of organ donations. In the United States alone, at least 6000 patients die each year while on waiting lists for new organs (Petersen & Lippert-Rasmussen, 2011). Although thousands of transplant candidates die from end-stage diseases of vital organs while waiting for a suitable organ, only a fraction of eligible organ donors actually donate. Hence, the stark discrepancy in transplantable organ supply and demand is one of the reasons that exacerbate this organ donation shortage (Parker, Winslade, & Paine, 2002). In the past, many people sought the supply of transplantable organs from cadaver donors. However, when many ethical issues arose about how to determine whether someone is truly dead by either cardiopulmonary or neurological conditions (Tong, 2007), many healthcare professionals and transplant candidates switched their focus on obtaining transplantable organs from living donors instead. As a result, in 2001, the number of living donors surpassed the number of cadaver donors for the first time (Tong, 2007).
Two patients share a hospital room. By miraculous circumstance, they are both suffering identical cases of late stage terminal cancer, and both have expressed firmly that they don’t want their lives to be artificially extended. Patient A has contracted a hospital-borne infection, and will die quickly if this infection is not treated. This being the case, the doctors decide to take no action, allowing Patient A to die from the infection. This raises the question: what does this choice imply for Patient B? Should he be allowed to choose active euthanasia to combat his suffering? I will argue that there is no moral distinction between letting Patient A die and “killing” Patient B. I will do so by looking at each patient’s circumstances individually, then applying arguments about euthanasia to their cases, and ultimately bringing them back together to consider a verdict. While some may argue that there is a difference between killing Patient B and letting Patient A die, I assert that any such claims are based in irrelevant reasoning.
According to what I understand a theme song is a song that appears more than once in a film/movie. The theme song I will focus on is, “Let it go,” In the frozen Disney movie.
Kazuo Ishiguro’s critically acclaimed 2005 Novel Never Let Me Go was influenced by cloning and stem cell research in the late 20th century. Many ethical discussions were raised, and Ishiguro displayed his perspective from his about clones that demonstrate the human experience to the core. The story was adapted into a film by the same name in 2010, directed by Mark Romanek. The novel explores plot, setting, character, literary techniques and themes by telling the story of cloned organ donors, forced to die for the good of humanity, all of which are well represented in the film adaptation.