To cuddle Amy | Analytical essay

Indholdsfortegnelse
The short story To cuddle Amy by Nancy Kress is set in a fictional world, were a frustrated mother is concerned that her daughter Amy is involved in a serious crime.

In this futuristic alternative world, cloning and genetic engineering have become a method for parents to replace their disobedient and misbehaving children as it suits them.

In the beginning of this short story, we are being introduced to the main characters Campbell, Allison, and Amy.

Amy’s behavior is the main issue in this story, and after many years of ongoing problems the parents decide to replace Amy with the same version of embryo using in-vitro fertilization.

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Uddrag
In addition to the fact that parents can choose to replace their children, if they do not fit their lives. Amy has shown a lot of disrespectful behavior towards her parents.

For example, ““Well, I didn’t do it! Kristy and Jed did, but I went home! And I don’t care if you believe me or not, you bitch!””.

It seems quite odd that Amy is behaving this way, as the parents can choose to replace her. Even her friends have chosen a criminal path, but maybe the act of replacing your children is unknown to them.

If Amy actually knew that her parents could replace, maybe she would have behaved in a more likeable way. As for the parents, they seem to love Amy ever since she was a toddler.

We see this here in the text, “Amy at two, waving her moo-cow, a toddler so adorable that people had stopped Allison in the street to admire her.”

Amy’s parents seem to be bad at parenting, since they already replaced Amy with a new Amy. “Amy at twelve, riding her horse. Amy at sixteen in a prom dress, caught in a rare smile.

Amy, fourteen, came through the front door.” . Amy is sixteen in a prom dress, but current Amy is only fourteen. This indicates that sixteen-year-old Amy has been replaced by current fourteen-year-old Amy.

To expand on the fact that Amy’s parents are bad at parenting is because they do not put enough effort into raising Amy.

They might be forgiving in many cases, but disowning your child based on their behavior, and even going as far as replacing them shows us that the parents lack good parenting, such as putting effort to change their behaviors by for example putting in house arrest.

Amy’s friends have also shown similar behavior, maybe even worse, that is if she is right about not participating in throwing rocks at cars “Van…vandalism. She and those awful friends of hers…The Hitchens boy, that slut Kristy Arnold…they…”

Here Amy’s friends are not replaced yet, but if it is normalized to replace your children, then the issue also lies in the society.