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Essay / Essay comparing The Handmaid's Tale and Gattaca
Rather than leaving genetics to chance, technology offers future parents the opportunity to genetically enhance their children before they are born. These genetically superior descendants are known as "able-bodied" and enjoy the best opportunities in Gattaca society. For example, when Vincent, an invalid, impersonates the able-bodied Jérôme Morrow, an interview to work at Gattaca consists only of a urine analysis. It is assumed that his genes carry his full potential. He doesn't need to answer questions that his DNA can answer for him. GATTACA is similar to The Handmaid's Tale in that both societies attempt to control reproduction, although they do so in different ways. In Atwood's novel, the new government forcefully regulates reproduction, and in GATTACA, invalids are so ostracized by society that genetic enhancement becomes almost mandatory for a child to have a prosperous future. In Gattaca society, genetic engineering technology creates a social dependence on genetic determinism, which is not as certain as we think.