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Originally Posted by gmw
One of the difficulties that first person narration presents to a writer is that a participant in the story cannot be omniscient. They only see what they can see, or what someone else chooses to tell them. This limits how much the writer can tell the reader, because it has to be something the first person narrator can conceivably know or be told. In the case of clones I fully expect there are details that no one from the outside world will tell them, so Kathy's knowledge is inherently limited and quite probably incomplete and/or unreliable.
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Limited is not necessarily unreliable. You seem to be saying that any and every first-person narrator = unreliable narrator, and I don't buy that. There's nothing to compromise Kathy's account. She doesn't mention escape attempts, therefore i think it's safe to say that the author doesn't want us to believe anyone has ever attempted to escape.
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You highlighted the "nothing to deny" but ignored my "On the contrary" where I give examples that seem - in my mind - clear support that these clones believe their roles are important. I would add to all that, the obvious pride that Kathy has in her extended time as a carer, this is clear in the early paragraphs of the book.
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Those are examples of passivity, not altruism. As far as Kathy's pride in her work, that's an example, perhaps, of her compassion for her fellow clones, not her belief that she and they are serving a greater good. (And I don't think you can call her unreliable on the one hand to dismiss my point, and then use her self-evaluation as a carer on the other hand to support your point.)