Genetically Engineering Children Summary
Satyajit (Jit) Patil
In Daryl Cagle’s ‘The Cagle Post’, freelance writer and humor columnist Tom Purcell express his opinion on the principles and morality of genetically engineering children through his article “Genetically Engineered Children”. The article presents a conversation between two parents, who are assumably about to have a child, and a doctor. Due to breakthroughs in the field of biotechnology, the parents have the capability to decide the mental and physical aspects of their child. They have to decide whether or not they want to manipulate their child’s genetic makeup. The article is targeted towards the today’s young adults and future parents. Tom Purcell’s purpose in writing this article is to get future parents thinking and …show more content…
In the first line of the article, without asking for the parent’s consent, the doctor says “It won’t take but 20 minutes for us to custom design your fetus”. The parents respond “You want to custom design our child, doctor?”. Immediately, the parents are put in a subservient position. Its almost as if it is the doctors choice. When asked by the parents whether they want the power to manipulate the genetic makeup of their kids, the doctor responds “Hey, most parents want intelligent children who are as attractive as a supermodel. What is wrong with that?” The doctor has a single-minded view on ‘perfection’ and assumes that it is something all parents want for their children. He/she wants the baby designed to his/her liking and not to the liking of the parents. The doctor seems adamant in drilling the idea of genetic engineering into the parents. The rhetorical question signals that the doctor is defending the idea of genetic engineering. Along with being insistent, the doctor is also made to seem rude. Through descriptions like ‘chubby’ and ‘big honkers’, the doctor humorously points out the flaws in the parents. The role of a typical doctor is to assist the patient and make them feel better; this doctor, however, is exposing the physical irregularities in his patients to manipulate them into genetically engineering their child. By presenting a narrow minded, forceful, impolite doctor, Tom is able to make his readers disfavor the notion of genetic
In Daryl Cagle’s ‘The Cagle Post’, freelance writer and humor columnist Tom Purcell express his opinion on the principles and morality of genetically engineering children through his article “Genetically Engineered Children”. The article presents a conversation between two parents, who are assumably about to have a child, and a doctor. Due to breakthroughs in the field of biotechnology, the parents have the capability to decide the mental and physical aspects of their child. They have to decide whether or not they want to manipulate their child’s genetic makeup. The article is targeted towards the today’s young adults and future parents. Tom Purcell’s purpose in writing this article is to get future parents thinking and …show more content…
In the first line of the article, without asking for the parent’s consent, the doctor says “It won’t take but 20 minutes for us to custom design your fetus”. The parents respond “You want to custom design our child, doctor?”. Immediately, the parents are put in a subservient position. Its almost as if it is the doctors choice. When asked by the parents whether they want the power to manipulate the genetic makeup of their kids, the doctor responds “Hey, most parents want intelligent children who are as attractive as a supermodel. What is wrong with that?” The doctor has a single-minded view on ‘perfection’ and assumes that it is something all parents want for their children. He/she wants the baby designed to his/her liking and not to the liking of the parents. The doctor seems adamant in drilling the idea of genetic engineering into the parents. The rhetorical question signals that the doctor is defending the idea of genetic engineering. Along with being insistent, the doctor is also made to seem rude. Through descriptions like ‘chubby’ and ‘big honkers’, the doctor humorously points out the flaws in the parents. The role of a typical doctor is to assist the patient and make them feel better; this doctor, however, is exposing the physical irregularities in his patients to manipulate them into genetically engineering their child. By presenting a narrow minded, forceful, impolite doctor, Tom is able to make his readers disfavor the notion of genetic