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Analysis of Never Let Me Go and Boyhood
The novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a novel that explains how human clones are created so that they can donate their organs when they become young adults. It is the story of Kathy, a clone who is raised in a boarding school for the sole purpose of donating her organs. Boyhood film, a film by Richard Linklaters, is a story of a child named Mason growing up (“Boyhood Film)”). It explains the difficulties faced in childhood, an overview of adolescence from family dinners to road trips, and even in old age. Both the film and novel share a common theme of coming of age (Boellstorff). They both explain the lives of two characters right from when they were very young to their adulthood. The theme coming of age concentrates mainly on the mental and moral growth of the main character from childhood to adulthood. The most important characteristic of the theme is personal growth, just as the novel and film focus on the persona growth of Kathy and Mason, the main characters.
The novel’s approach towards coming of age is presenting a present concern about human action, unlike other novels of the same genre that approach the theme as a depiction of a future possibility. The author Kazuo brings out the theme coming of age by showing the dilemmas of age and the moral structure of life then when the book was being written. Boyhood approach toward the theme is also a representation of a present concern (Black). Richard Linklaters invites his audience in the journey of growing up with Mason. Scenes from the past twelve years of Mason’s life play in the film.
My research on the comparison between the book Frankenstein with the Modern rise of artificial intelligence explains the relation between the two. It shows how today’s computer scientist could also be actively creating a monster that humans cannot control, just like in the book where a monster is created by a scientist and fails to be able to control it. It shows how the innovation of some things without consideration of the impact of innovation can result in massive destruction. The same way victor, the creator of Frankenstein, lost control over the monster, scientists could also lose control of intelligent systems. This could cause a lot of chaos and the death of other innocent people. The research aims at showing the possible negative impacts of superficial intelligence and the importance of ethics to scientists. It opens our eyes to see that there could be scientists in the future who could take up such projects that may end up destroying mankind. This is because of the advancements in technology that are happening, which may end up being out of control at some point.
The research one way or another helps us to understand the coming of age theme in the novel and film. The findings of the research may impact the growing up of children into adulthood if scientists lose control of their artificial systems. Before, it was assumed that every child comes of age, but now one has to factor in the artificial impact system would have on the coming of age. For the novel never let me go, there was the creation of human clones for them to later donate their organs, which is a form of artificial intelligence. Reading of the research will be very important to gain a better understanding of the coming of age theme, especially in NeverLet Me Go novel. As Kazuo, states soon scientists will be able to create humans who are superior to us and are supported by the research since the findings are both the same (Deyi ).
Both the novel and film depict an accurate picture of coming of age. The plot of the novel is describing the lives of people that go through a prolonged state-sanctioned program of human cloning. It explains three stages of Kathy’s life while growing up (Ishiguro). In her childhood, Kathy remembers her friendship with Ruth, who is temperamental. She also describes Tommy, who also has violent tempers. Although they all learn vaguely about the donation program, their parents try to shield them from understanding the fate of their future. In the second stage, Kathy moves in with ruth and Tommy to a traditional housing facility. They adjust their lives to reality, as we are shown how they stop dreaming and even stop talking about their future. The third stage focuses on Kathy’s time as a carer. She becomes the carer of Tommy and ruth and one day went to pursue a deferral only to find out that they do not exist. She watches as her friends complete the donation while she is in her second, which destroys her emotionally.
The film Boyhood about a boy Mason and how he lived a rough life with their mother divorced from his father. The director shot the film a few days t time of the life of Mason and other casts over 12 years. Mason goes through difficulties as he lived with his stepparents while falling in love, finding his artistic voice, and how he fought with his older sister. This shows the challenges that one can face before coming of age. The challenges my fall under physical, mental, intellectual, gratitude, spiritual, and emotional difficulties (Freud). Mason, for instance, went through peer pressure while he was growing up. At one instance, the kids giggle at a disabled person, and the camera lingers on Mason to do it further.
I would have to research more on artificial intelligence on a topic by itself to get to know more about the subject. Resources such as newspapers and magazines that show the advancement of technology over the years would be beneficial. The difficulties in this approach would be that it will be tough to get newspapers that talk about artificial intelligence, and it would take a long time before gathering all the information needed. Resources such as books on artificial intelligence would be beneficial, and I would consider consulting. I would consider questions such as why people would want to develop better artificial programs that would control humans as kazoo stated that soon, human beings would create artificial programs that are above them. Also, why society is so corrupted and does not look into matters such as issues that boys go through when growing up. Why are they only concentrating on the growth of the girl child? What impact will the development of artificial intelligence by scientists have on humans?
Works cited
Black, Maureen M., et al. “Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life course.” The Lancet 389.10064 (2017): 77-90.
Boellstorff, Tom. “Audience, genre, method, theory.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 5.2 (2015): 391-397.
“Boyhood (Film).” En.Wikipedia.Org, 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyhood_(film).
Freud, Anna. Normality and pathology in childhood: Assessments of development. Routledge, 2018.
Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. Random House Audio, 2005.
Li, Deyi, and Yi Du. Artificial intelligence with uncertainty. CRC Press, 2017.