Monday, January 31, 2011

What's in a name: Adam Gibson

Son of gib: cloned man, cloned cat
Adam Gibson - The name of the clone protagonist of The 6th Day. In a future where cloned pets can be purchased at shopping malls but human cloning is illegal, clone Adam is accidentally created after the original Adam is mistakenly presumed dead. Both Adams work together to prevent one of them from being killed by the corporation trying to conceal its mistake.

The name "Adam" begs association with the biblical first man, and clone Adam is a first as well — the first human clone who is allowed to live during the lifetime of his template. (Not coincidentally, the cloning occurs on original Adam’s birthday, which therefore becomes clone Adam’s birthday as well.)

"Gibson," or "son of Gib" implies "son of cat," as Merriam-Webster defines "gib" as "a male cat." The technology that was perfected in the cloning of animals (like the cloned pet cat given to Adam’s daughter) has given birth to the technology used to clone Adam. The cloned cat, then, is the predecessor or "parent" of the cloned human.

0 comments:

Post a Comment