"The first batch of two hundred and fifty embryonic rocket-plane engineers was just passing the eleven hundred metre mark on Rack 3." p.17
Throughout the 1st chapter, the choice of words is clear. Business, science, and other professional terms are used in many ways to convey a purpose. The purpose of words like "batches", "corpus luteum", and "intellectual embryos" is to dehumanize. The dehumanizing dictions hints at the people's lack of respect for life and natural creation and shows arrogance in that they can now do anything, including create humans. These people are simply viewed as embryos and individuals used to do fill a role in a social structure. A word like "batch" distances the reader from the fact the factory is producing a group of people and not a bunch of cupcakes. They "condition" the people for harsh climates with immunizations as if they are engineered livestock or plants. When talking about the levels of oxygen, the director says that a difference can lead to a dwarf or an "eyeless monster" at which point they are worthless. What do they do at that point just throw them out?
excellent analysis of how word choice dehumanizes the people of this novel, a key theme that will continue throughout
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