Title: To Receive is Better
Author: Michael Marshall Smith
Date of First Publication: 1994
Place of Publication: The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein
Type: Short Story
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; POSTHUMAN; MAD SCIENTIST/MONSTER; RACE/POLITICS
Critical Summary: Jack 2 has just escaped a facility that kept clones, also called “spares,” of human children, using them to harvest organs and extremities for their originals. He describes how his now disfigured body was a result of this harvesting. This character explains that a man named Manny had helped him and two other children, named Jenny 2 and Sue 2, try to escape. Jenny 2’s original had burned in a fire which results in Jenny 2’s skin being peeled off. As a result, Manny gave Sue 2, and presumably Jack 2, money, clothes, and their original’s addresses, as well as time to escape the facility. Jack 2 mentions that he’s going to find Jack’s house and “to take a few things back,” thus ending the story.
The revenge Jack 2 seeks parallels the monster’s anger towards Victor for usinf him to fulfill an experiment, then abandoning him. Jack 2 resents his origin and purpose for living, and plans to take back his organs, killing his original; however, he has no real knowledge about the world. Jack 2 recalls that Sue 2 wants to take the place of her original, but Jack thinks: “We would would give ourselves away too soon, because we just don’t know enough. We wouldn’t have a chance.” The story alludes to a dystopic future in which the rich are able to repair their children with real body parts that would not be rejected by the body. As a consequence, the clones of these children are not given a chance at a life, and not even, generally, given any education. Jack, Jenny, and Sue are the exemptions because they were taught by Manny who had “put people inside our heads.” “There’s no point teaching spares, no point giving them a life.” Although these children are clones, they are still human but are treated as commodities for the rich.
Administrative Notes: Kyle Wilcox CSUF; Dr. David Sandner, CSUF (editing)