As I was thinking about Harry Potter, as I often do, I was struck with the thought that both Harry and Kathy’s lives are predetermined by the choices of others. In Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, and the other clones’ cases, they have been literally created, made for a singular purpose, without any voice. Their path in life has already been set before them. Harry is scarred by Voldemort (both in a material and figurative sense) in much the same way, losing his parents and relative autonomy in the process. I think that free will is always relative, which is why I qualify it. I suppose it depends on your concept of life. If you have to live a life without even some illusion of free will, without some hope, however false, is that life worth living at all? In the Half-Blood Prince, Harry, upon discovering the inevitability of either his death or Voldemort’s, he remarks that there is a “difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world.” I think that choice is what defines a life. A life in which one enters no mortal battles with evil wizards or is not created for the sole purpose of organ donation, but in which nothing is accomplished, is worth less, I would say, than the opposite. We can’t influence destiny; Harry can’t halt the prophecy that drives him and Voldemort into conflict; Kathy and the other clones cannot avoid the loss of their organs. However, the decision of how we face the inexorable march of fate, that is what makes us human.
I think this connection you made is very interesting because in a way these two stories are very similar, but also very different. As you pointed out a connection between the two of the stories is that none of the characters in either of the stories can choose their fate because it is predetermined, and I think it is clear that both of these stories are fictional. The other side is the differences between the two stories. I believe that the major difference between the two is that Harry Potter and his friends are treated way better than the characters in Never Let Me go.
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