In 1997, a marvel of genetic engineering was made with the cloning of Dolly the sheep. She was the product of the first successful attempt made at mammalian cloning from a single somatic cell, which is a type of cell which isn’t a gamete or of any other such massive relevance to the genetic makeup. This was probably something that was close to Ishiguro during the time the novel was being written, considering this was achieved by a research institute in Scottland. The novel itself deals with the issues of cloning, and so it would stand to reason that this would have been a moment of serendipity, allowing the novel to blend itself in the cultural consciousness at the time and give the novel a realer feeling. If cloning a sheep is possible, what about people? And other such thoughts. Dolly also died during the time the novel was being written, the circumstances of which being somewhat similar to the conditions the characters face in the novel.
“Dolly (Sheep).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Apr. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep).
Toni Barros from São Paulo, Brasil, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons