There are many cases of unrelated people looking eerily similar. Whether it’s Will Ferrell and the drummer Chad Smith, or the faces of Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, these pairs can make one do a double take. Supposedly, everyone has seven doppelgangers dispersed throughout the world. A trio of Dublin City University students even created “Twin Strangers”, a project they developed in order to help themselves and other people find their lookalikes. One of the creators actually found two of her “twins” already. Science even supports this theory that there is a reasonable chance that everyone has a doppelganger. Although there is obviously never an exact copy and how similar people look is subjective, there is a possibility that each person has a lookalike somewhere across the globe. There is a great number of genes that influence the human visage, in fact scientists still do not know the quantity, and more genes are linked to our looks than any other part of the human body. Human evolution has also favored this great variation and the resulting high level of distinction between faces as we are social creatures and care who is who. Despite this great diversity of genes, scientists have used the analogy that if a deck of cards is shuffled so many times, at some point the same hand will be dealt more than once in order to express how two people could be genetically similar.
I couldn’t help but think of this theory when we read about the “possibles” of the students at Hailsham and Ruth’s trip to Norfolk to find her’s. There is a belief that each student has a “possible”, someone who they were cloned after and is someone in the world (albeit not necessarily the same age). Just as Ruth wonders about the life of her possible, it is ridiculous to not speculate what the life would be of someone who looks exactly like you. Where do they live? Is their personality similar to yours? Do they have an ideal career, such as Ruth’s view of her suspected possible’s office job, or are they trash and one should “look in the gutter” as she later says? Additionally, this idea that there are up to seven people who look like you seems awfully hopeful and slightly idyllic, much like Ruth’s expectations of what her trip to Norfolk would be.
I think that this is a very interesting thought. I can personally relate to this (as I think that most of us can) where I have seen someone very similar to me, or someone I know. While this observation is purely based on physical appearance, I think if we look a little deeper and ask the question: What really is a possible? then we can move beyond the physical appearance. Do possibles have the similar personalities as we do? do they have the same strengths and weaknesses? Or is it merely a matter of physical appearance. If so, what is the significance of these people in our lives. I think that this is a very interesting question, and that we can continue to dig a little deeper.
ReplyDeleteI really like your comparison between doppelgangers and the possibles. I, myself, have always been intrigued by the idea that there could, potentially, be people out in the world that resemble me. Also, while we don't have the hopeful idea that are DNA has come from one of our doppelgangers, I would assume that a person who meets their doppelganger would develop very fantastical ideas about their alter's life. In many books and movies that broach the topics of doppelgangers, the characters who find their "clone" are very excited and intrigued about their discovery, and in some sense they relate to the person slightly. My point is, I like your assesment and comparison between the potential of doppelgangers in real life, and Never Let Me Go's "potentials." In this way, I guess, we can relate to the clones.
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