鏡に映る世界 -Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go-

Kazuo Ishiguro\u27s latest novel, Never Let Me Go (2005) depicts a science-fiction-like world in which human cloning is widely practiced in order to supply organs for "normal" people. Clones are a relatively new motif in works of fiction, but other forms of artificially-made semi-humans, such as androids, robots, and cyborgs, have been popular protagonists in various forms of fiction. These semi-humans often look quite like human beings, but they lack something necessary to make them completely human. In many cases, what they don\u27t have is a "soul, " although the definition of this is not always clear. For us human beings, these semi-humans are always the Others, whether they are congenial or hostile - or so it seems. What these works really reveal, however, is that the differences between human beings and semi-humans are very subtle, and even those differences often blur. In Never Let Me Go, through the narration of Kathy H., the reader is made to see the world through the viewpoint of the Others, or clones, and uneasy though such an experience may be, Kathy\u27s delicate narrative captivates us so deeply that the assumed difference between Kathy and the reader, or between clones and human beings, diminishes. The reader eventually realizes that this is a story, not of the Others, but of ourselves. Discussing other fiction dealing with semi-humans, as well as Never Let Me Go, this paper examines the relationship between human beings and semi-humans, especially clones

ジュヒ ノ フリーラジカル ショウキョ サヨウ ト フラボノイド セイブン ニ ツイテ

Scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical and flavonoid　 contents in three kinds of extract〔 water, a mix of water/ethanol (1:1), and ethanol〕 of bark following sugi (Cryptomeria japonica Cryptomeria), kuromatsu (Pinus thunbergii), akamatsu (Pinus densiflora), kihada (Phellodendron amurense), keyaki (Zelkova serrata), sakura (someiyoshino; Prunus x yedoensis), shirakanba (Betula platyphylla var. japonica), aodake (mousouchiku; Phyllostachys heterocycla), kurochiku (Phyllostachys nigera var. nigera) were examined using electron spin resonance spectrometry and high-pressure liquid chromatography, respectively. All extracts of akamatsu, sugi and kihada showed high DPPH radical scavenge activity. In addition, high scavenging activities were found in both extracts of ethanol and water/ ethanol of aodake, sakura and kuromatsu, in water/ethanol extract of keyaki and in ethanol extract of shirakanba. In the case of flavonoids, high contents of myricetine and naringin in the akamatsu, epicatechin, naringin, apigenin and catechin in the sakura, apigenin in the kuromatsu, naringin in the keyaki, isoflavone and caffeine in the sugi and naringin in the aodake were found. Shirakaba showed lowest contents of flavonoids in these of bark. From these data it was found that all bark had free radical scavenging activity, and the scavenging activity was suggested to be partly due to the contained flavonoids