Biotechnology is not something new to humans. In fact, humans discovered biotechnology when they realized that they could plant their own crops and breed their own animals. Now that we are learning more about different and new organisms, we are able to gain the ability to control the many functions of various cells and organisms. In time with the right technology, scientists can even increase human health and life spans. But the thought of increasing human life using science causes hesitance or even fear that humanity is gaining too much power over human destiny.
In The Adoration of Jenna Fox, it shows the profound effect biotechnology can have on a person after a catostraphic accident.
"The accident was over a year ago. I've been awake for two weeks. Over a year has vanished. I've gone from sixteen to seventeen. A second woman has been elected president. A twelfth planet has been named in the solar system. The last wild polar bear has died. Headline news that couldn't stir me. I slept through it all./ Father was here for my waking. He called it a beginning. He said it was good. I think he may have thought that anything I did was good" (Pearson, 6).
To me, I find it ironic that Jenna Fox knows about all the events that have been happening while she was in the coma, but she cannot remember anything about her life past the two weeks she has been awake. She has to learn everything she has ever known about herself and being a fully functioning human being all over again, and she fully relies on her parents to help her. Basically, she is like a baby.
The purpose of this passage was to not only create the impression of a lost girl, but an experiment that has come about due to her waking from the coma. Pearson has achieved in her purpose by giving the parents the need to make her think that everything is all right even though she has no recollection of her life. Overall the effect that has been created is like a reincarnation of the old Jenna Fox, and she has been transformed into a person who thinks more about her own existence and life in general.
As a human, I think this helps us question how our memories work once they have been taken away from us. If we were in Jenna's place, we'd wonder if the stories we hear about what we used to do was our true identity, and of course we would then try to gain it back.
The use of language is very important because when people measure their words like Jenna's father does, we cannot always assume that what they are telling us is the truth. This very depiction of the experiment that is being done on Jenna Fox shows that in our present society, we really have to depend on ourselves to know who we are.
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