Connection of NLMG to the outside world
Jenna Blocher
Ms. Schieffelin
MLMG Connection
Thalidomide vs. Cloning
In the novel Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the entire plot is based off of human clones. Later in the book, readers hear about the Morningdale Scandal. Miss Emily tells Tommy and Kathy, "He carried on his work in a remote part of Scotland, where I suppose he thought he'd attract less attention. What he wanted was to offer people the possibility of having children with enhanced characteristics... but a generation of created children who'd take their place in society. Children demonstrably superior to the rest of us? Oh no. That frightened people. they recoiled from that." (p.264).
In the outside world, there was a situation that had some similarities to this. Throughout the Holocaust, the drug Thalidomide was tested on prisioners in concentration camps before it was released to the public. This drug was originally created to help with morning sickness in expectant mothers. Although, it did not have this effect at all; it became one of the largest drug scandals of all time. Babies in the camps were born deformed when their mothers had taken this drug, and often had birth defects like curved spines, heart and brain damage, deafness, blindness, or being born without arms or legs. My grandmother was in one of these camps during the Holocaust, and my family has heard the horrifying stories of the effects of this medication, which was part of the Nazi's chemical weapons program. The drug was marketed three years later, without any safety tests. This led to thousands of children, mostly in Germany but throughout Europe, being born with these defects.
The connection between these two scandals is that scientific experiments are being conducted, and these experiments are frightening people. While scientists involved with Thalidomide had probably started with good intentions, this experiment turned dark quickly. The Nazi's and these scientists could be compared to James Morningdale, while the drug could be compared to cloning. While the Morningdale frightened people because children would be too superior, the Thalidomide scandal scared people because children were being born inferior to the rest.
Works Cited:
Leach, Ben. “Thalidomide 'Was Developed by the Nazis'.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 9 Feb. 2009, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/4563208/Thalidomide-was-developed-by-the-Nazis.html.
Ms. Schieffelin
MLMG Connection
Thalidomide vs. Cloning
In the novel Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the entire plot is based off of human clones. Later in the book, readers hear about the Morningdale Scandal. Miss Emily tells Tommy and Kathy, "He carried on his work in a remote part of Scotland, where I suppose he thought he'd attract less attention. What he wanted was to offer people the possibility of having children with enhanced characteristics... but a generation of created children who'd take their place in society. Children demonstrably superior to the rest of us? Oh no. That frightened people. they recoiled from that." (p.264).
In the outside world, there was a situation that had some similarities to this. Throughout the Holocaust, the drug Thalidomide was tested on prisioners in concentration camps before it was released to the public. This drug was originally created to help with morning sickness in expectant mothers. Although, it did not have this effect at all; it became one of the largest drug scandals of all time. Babies in the camps were born deformed when their mothers had taken this drug, and often had birth defects like curved spines, heart and brain damage, deafness, blindness, or being born without arms or legs. My grandmother was in one of these camps during the Holocaust, and my family has heard the horrifying stories of the effects of this medication, which was part of the Nazi's chemical weapons program. The drug was marketed three years later, without any safety tests. This led to thousands of children, mostly in Germany but throughout Europe, being born with these defects.
The connection between these two scandals is that scientific experiments are being conducted, and these experiments are frightening people. While scientists involved with Thalidomide had probably started with good intentions, this experiment turned dark quickly. The Nazi's and these scientists could be compared to James Morningdale, while the drug could be compared to cloning. While the Morningdale frightened people because children would be too superior, the Thalidomide scandal scared people because children were being born inferior to the rest.
Works Cited:
Leach, Ben. “Thalidomide 'Was Developed by the Nazis'.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 9 Feb. 2009, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/4563208/Thalidomide-was-developed-by-the-Nazis.html.
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