The Ugly /dark side of humans.

[gracedivine]

The way the author wrote this plot is depressing and saddening. I mean the level of inhumane treatment meted out on clones, despite their human-like features is just unthinkable. I found it really disturbing. Case in view the behaviour of Mason and Dennison.

[AvidBibliophile]

The alluded to sexual assault was bad enough, but the gaslighting tactics were equally sinister. Although I would have to say that the partial digital amputations to allow claw hardware to be grafted on were super barbaric to envision!

[Sumansona1344]

Probably the way they are treated like slaves. Even if they are not human and created for such purposes, you would think we wouldn t tolerate doing that to something that could think and feel, even if you degraded it like an animal.

Yeah, you are right. I thought it was really horrible. At a few places, it shook me from inside as I could not believe that humans can do such things. It was horrific.

[Arite Seki]

Despite the other threads, I personally was shocked at the lack of humanity shown to the clones. It reminded me of the way in which African slaves were treated when they were brought to the Americas to work on the plantations. It showed me how humans have an ugly or dark side that can come out if given the right conditions. This book also serves as somewhat of a cautionary tale about the dangers of the overuse or over dependence on technology.

I agree, throughout history we've seen instances of people abusing their power and dehumanising others.

[Amy Murdoch Coleman]

As full of horrific acts and torture as this book is, it is worth remembering that things like this happen literally every day in the real world. Though the book is fictional, much of the terror is absolutely real.

[Miraphery]

The deception and dehumanization was horrible. Human minds are indeed evil.

[shannonkate8]

In this book we saw that clones were not afforded human rights and that many characters accepted their abuse and demeaning life. For me, the most ugly side of this was the torture performed on the two projects in the name of Pain Acclimation.
What was the ugliest or darkest act you experienced in this book?

I haven't quite read this book but reading your above quote was rough for me. It gives off vibes of our current and past states where some people, because of their color, gender, etc., are not afforded the same rights. The acceptance also makes me think of stockholm syndome where the victim eventually relates to their kidnappers. The acceptance falls in with this syndrome.

[WardahEbrahim]

Probably the way they are treated like slaves. Even if they are not human and created for such purposes, you would think we wouldn t tolerate doing that to something that could think and feel, even if you degraded it like an animal.

I agree with you. It says more about the torturer. Something must be internally wrong for someone to be able to watch such treatment, let alone inflict it.

[Barbie_sidhu]

The slavery and torture reflected the dark ugly sides of humans for me.

[Zoe Luh]

The ugliest thing is not necessarily the acts themselves, but the mindset of the people performing them. Sadly, the human mind can be such an ugly thing, and it's something that we've seen throughout our own history. One of the things that grossed me out was what they did to Kalin to dehumanize him.

I agree. Of course the acts are horrifying, but even worse is the idea that people are comfortable in that mindset, and those acts aren't disgusting to them. Because they aren't uncontrolled, panic-responses, they are intentional and cruel actions with significant thought behind them. However, I think that's what makes this book so powerful, because it reflects the evil side of humans that we all know is there because of studying our history

[daphne_asir]

I found the cutting off of the tips of Kalin's fingers and toes to give him claws was another ugly dark act. It was inhumane. When he agreed to have experimental testing done he certainly did not expect anything like that to be done to him. And without his knowledge as well!

I agree! That was just torture. Things like this made the book hard to read and digest.

[daphne_asir]

The ugliest thing is not necessarily the acts themselves, but the mindset of the people performing them. Sadly, the human mind can be such an ugly thing, and it's something that we've seen throughout our own history. One of the things that grossed me out was what they did to Kalin to dehumanize him.

Sometimes it's just accepted as the norm which is way worse. At least this gives us an example of what we should never become.

[daphne_asir]

As full of horrific acts and torture as this book is, it is worth remembering that things like this happen literally every day in the real world. Though the book is fictional, much of the terror is absolutely real.

That is what made this book extremely hard to digest, for me. The book certainly did a lot to make a person think and reflect.

[rjohnston815]

I thought the initial action of deciding that Taylor could just be changed into a Project was the ultimate evil... the unfortunate reality is that the belief that Projects weren't "real" people led to the other stuff... the decision to make Taylor "not real" was the real injustice...

[Jackie Holycross]

I found the starvation and the suffocation incidents the most outrageous and disturbing. Also, the sexual abuse which was totally inexcusable. I imagine if there were a back story/prequel it would include a gradual progression of behavior that started as a military-type training and escalated into abuse. The belief that the clones were not human just made it easier to justify. So sad.