Structure, Form And Genre

Question 1

What could the cyclical structure of the novel be representing?

Answer 1

• the continuous cycle of the system of clones - like production line - questions on ethics of clones
• the futility of the life of a clone - they achieve nothing

Question 2

What is analepsis?

Answer 2

• where a past event is narrated at a point later than its chronological place in a story
  (shifting timescale of novel)

Question 3

What kind of narrator is Kathy?

Answer 3

• unreliable

- tangential (diverging from previous course - erratic, shifting)

Question 4

How does the ending of Part 1 question Kathy’s reliability as a narrator?

Answer 4

• at end of part 1 (Chp.9), the tone is sad + sombre, with Tommy’s eyes looking ’empty’ and Miss Lucy leaving
• reader, despite Kathy’s contrary, questions the happiness of Kathy’s childhood

Question 5

How does the structure + genre represent the life of clones?

Answer 5

• simple structure of novel - three parts: Hailsham/ Cottages/ Recovery Centres - shows simplicity of life of clone (also represented by enjoying simple things like exchanges and trip to Norfolk)
• HOWEVER, mix of genres that shouldn’t really fit - Dystopian, boarding school novel, science fiction - signifies the complicity and ethical controversy of clones (also uncanny)