Never Let Me Go Ethical Issues

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The film Never Let Me Go portrays a dystopian world where medicine has advanced to extend the average human lifespan to over a 100 years. However, this is done so by the creation of human clones that live to be mere organ donors for the ones who’ve fallen ill in society. As the film follows the tragic lives of clones named Kathy H, Tommy, and Ruth, it artistically poses a number of ethical questions that we currently wrestle with today. Questions around stem cell research and cloning will never have neat answers and the film doesn’t attempt to provide solutions as well. It rather aims to deliver to its audience a number of themes to walk away with and to fuel a start of a discussion. The film raises questions about moral status. In the film’s …show more content…

As clones, they are solely created to serve as organ donors in their lifetime and their purpose has already been destined even before the creation of their existence. As Madame says at one point in the film, “Hailsham, where ethics of cloning is not questioned”. Yet when the audience observes that the characters are emotionally driven humans who are no different from anyone else, the ethics of cloning is naturally questioned. Kathy H demonstrates jealousy when she chooses to leave the cottage as the relationship between Ruth and Tommy develops. Tommy exhibits episodes of rage and anger. Ruth expresses guilt over tearing apart the relationship between Kathy H and Tommy because of her fear of feeling lonely. These characters, though clones in the film, prove to the audience that they have souls, personalities, emotions, and desires which ultimately paints a strong conflict between being human and being a clone. Yet, their moral statuses have already been destined to be bottled up neatly into science. They lack agency even before their creation and also during their lifetime. The President’s Commission addresses this concern: Because child-to-be clones can’t consent to their

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