![]() As Adam’s consciousness gains life experiences, the impulse for self-preservation arises within him. An Oedipal love triangle begins to develop between Adam, Charlie, and Miranda. Starting from this point, McEwan explores several strands. Charlie brings in his neighbour (and secret crush) Miranda to set half the characteristics, and thus a modern-day “family” of mother, father, and robot child is born. The robot (though it isn’t explicitly called that), is named Adam, and as Charlie figures out the setup instructions, he finds that Adam requires a large set of characteristics to be set by the human owner, rather like how a parent would pass his own characteristics to his offspring through genes. ![]() The book starts with the protagonist, Charlie Friend, buying an exciting new product: an artificial human. Unfortunately, Ian McEwan did not take Gardner’s advice when planning to use a science-fictionish plot device for his new book, Machines Like Me. ![]() ![]() What are the commonly held views, what topics are clichéd, what philosophies are overused? Having learnt about these, the hope is that the writer knows enough to create something new in his own work. Going through such a course of study, he says, gives the writer-aspirant a sense of what has already been done in his field. In his seminal guide, The Art of Fiction, John Gardner extols the value of a formal literature education for those who want to write. ![]()
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