Poor Things

Content Warning: This section discusses pedophilia, colonial violence, and non-consensual medical experimentation.

“Sir Colin trained one to be his anaesthetist, and worked so closely with her that they managed to produce me, before she died.”

This passage foreshadows McCandless’s implication that Godwin was created, not born. By having Godwin describe himself as “produced,” McCandless can pretend Godwin is the one making the implication, not him. McCandless portrays himself as the objective purveyor of what happened, rather than someone crafting and controlling the narrative for a specific purpose. This introduces one of the novel’s key themes, The Problems of Narrative and Perspective.

“You make that sound like murder, Baxter, but the bodies in our dissecting-rooms have died by accident or natural disease. If you can use their undamaged organs and limbs to mend the bodies of others you will be a greater saviour than Pasteur and Lister—surgeons everywhere will turn a morbid science into immediate, living art!”

McCandless is frustrated by Godwin’s reluctance to use his extraordinary medical knowledge to heal patients who need new organs or limbs. In McCandless’s view, Godwin should use this knowledge not solely to save lives, but to gain fame and academic success. Here, Godwin and McCandless demonstrate very different ideas about the role of Medical Progress and Politics in society.

“So until we lose our worldwide market British medicine will be employed to keep a charitable mask on the face of a heartless plutocracy.”

To Godwin, charity is a facade that obscures the heartless and uncaring nature of British society. Medical Progress and Politics are inextricably linked: The cause of most diseases are known, but to prevent illness, the government would need to enact socialist policies that feed, house, and care for all its citizens. This would cause a loss in profit for capitalists, so the government does little to prevent illness and disease in the first place.