Paper 2 Prose

• What is Biotechnology The use of biology to solve problems and make useful products. The most prominent area of biotechnology is the production of therapeutic proteins and drugs through genetic engineering.
• Genetic Engineering the artificial manipulation, modification and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms.
• What has genetic engineering led to? Genetic engineering has led to the production of medically important products, including human insulin, human growth hormones, and hepatitis B vaccine as well as the development of genetically modified organisms like disease-resistant plants.
• What does Ishiguro believe about clones? Ishiguro believes that clones or other types of non-human or technological characters, provide science fiction with modern language to discuss questions about the human soul and identity.
• What sci-fi techniques does Ishiguro deploy? Non human characters, allegory, themes of science and technology and dystopia.
• who are other notable science fiction writers? Kim Stanley Robinson (born in 1952) and earlier writers like H.G Wells (1866-1946) who predicted the existence of technology that was then created in the future, having been inspired by other works.
• Where is NLMG based? NLMG is based in rural England in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This era is prominently marked by the election and time in office of Conservative Party Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
• What were the Thatcher years like? they were a time of resistance to change, a focus on maternal wealth and major cutbacks in public services, there was a deep recession ongoing in the 1980s.
• Why does Ishiguro base NLMG then? Ishiguro purposefully sets the novel in this period of unease because he wants the overall mood of the setting to mirror his own experience growing up in England.
• Why does Ishiguro base NLMG in the rural part of England? to focus on the feeling of abandonment prevelant in those rural areas and thus highlight the isolatiom of his characters from society, the setting mimics the emotions of the clones.
• what themes are shown in NLMG? - forgotten identity - displaced subjectivity
• How is the novel set up structurally? a fictional memoir of Kathy, a clone at Hailsham. A retrospective account of her life as a clone and carer.
• What does Kathys narration provide to the novel? Kathys passive narration gives the impression of the novel being the opposite of what it is, a dystopian setting in society, a horror/ sci-fi mixture of emotions.
• What are the 3 types of art seen in the novel? "- The art made at hailsham by the clones - The myth making the students do at hailsham - the song mentioned throughout the novel, ""Never Let Me Go"""
• How do the Students feel about the artwork they create? There is a genuine appreciation and value in the art not only they create but their peers create, the art becomes a form of money for them.
• why do you think the clones get so attached to the artwork? Its the only personal belonging that the clones really have that ties them to their identity. their protectiveness and respect for their work makes complete sense from the perspective of someone looking for a sense of identity.
• What does Kathy realise about the artwork? She realises that the idea of all of the children being dependant on each other to produce stuff that might become their 'private treasure' is bound to do things to their relationships within the group.
• What do some of the students hypothesise? The artwork is used to show that they have souls and can be deferred from donations.
• What does caring for the clones mean? the act of caring for the clones and providing empathy towards them actively worsens the dystopian society
• What does the song 'Never Let Me Go' mean? Art in the case of the song is a platform to distil and clarify ones thoughts that otherwise would perhaps remain repressed and undiscovered.
• What does the Art in the novel mean? Art creates love and bonds through relationships in different ways. It is what we hope will save us and all the noble services seen in it prove this.
• What is the underlying message of the novel? Kindness and comfort are cruel in a world where there is only systemic violence.
• When was Frankenstein crafted? "Frankenstein was crafted by Mary Shelley in 1815 throughout the months known as the ""year without a summer"" as Mount Tempuras eruption haad plunged parts of the world into darkness."
• What does the book entail? The book traces Victor Frankensteins futile quest to impart and sustain life.
• "What is the story behind Mary Shelleys novel being called ""The Modern Prometheus""?" The name is a reference to the Greek myth of the Titan Prometheus who stole fire from the Greek Gods and gave it to Humanity as a gift. This allowed humans to develop Knowledge and power, this earnt Prometheus the punishment of being chained to a rock and being eaten by vultures for an eternity by the Gods.
• What was Shelleys role in Romanticism? Mary was prominent romantic who shared the notion for the beauty of nature.
• What does Prometheus represent to the Romantics? the Romantics used the mythical reference of Prometheus to signal the purity of the Ancient World in contrast to Modernity
• How was Science regarded? What does this mean for the novel? Science was often regarded with suspicion, meaning that 'Frankenstein' is one of the first cautionary tale of the dangers of science, artificial intelligence and development.
• How is the Gothic genre characterised by? characterised by the unease, the grotesque, the fear of oblivion, and eerie settings.
• How is Frankenstein a mirror of Shelley's life? The novel is filled with references to Shelleys own personal misfortunes, the perverse depiction of the Monsters 'birth' represents her struggles with childbirth, the isolation the Monster experiences mirrors her rejection by society after her marriage to Percy Shelley.
• When is Mary born and to whom? Mary Shelley is born in 1797 to Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, two radical figures of the 18th century. Wollstonecraft died just 10 days after giving birth to Mary.
• Who is Mary Wollstonecraft? She wrote Vindication of the Rights of Woman, demands equal educational rights for women. She is a key figure in the early feminist movement.
• What were Mary Shelleys struggles with pregnancy? Shelley had issues with pregnancy and childbirth, becoming pregnant at 16 after eloping with Percy, the baby died shortly after childbirth. Of the 5 children that Mary carried, only one survived into adulthood.
• How does Shelley depict birth? Shelley depicts birth as both creative anhd destructive as the Monster becomes a disfigured mirror of the natural circle of life.
• My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty one years old, and I've been a carer for now for over eleven years. That sounds long enough, I know but actually they want me to go on for another eight months, until the end of this year' Opening of NLMG
• What he wanted was not just to hear about Hailsham, but to remember Hailsham' 'the line would blur between what were my memories and what were his' Chapter 1 of NLMG
• whatever the boys chose to do was pretty remote from us' Chapter 1 of NLMG
• Or maybe I'm remembering wrong' Chapter 1 of NLMG
• It was like he was doing Shakespeare and I'd come up onto the stage in the middle of his performance' Chapter 1 of NLMG
• I don't know how it was were you were, but at Hailsham we had to have some form of medical almost every week - usually up in Room 18' Chapter 2 of NLMG