Na Viro Reflection

 Lucy Marous

Dr. Ellis

EN 376-01

18 September 2023

In the final third of Na Viro, Gina Cole further explores how emotion is what makes us human and especially does so through the character of Turukawa.

Towards the end of the novel, Turukawa sacrifices herself.  When she realizes that she cannot go with Tia because Dani’s hands are still attached to her body, the embod falls in the whirlpool, ending her distinct life and giving up her blossoming romance with Tia. “Turukawa transferred her brain fingerprint into Tia’s sleeve patches. ‘I love you’ said Turukawa, and she let go” (Cole 324). This expression of love is a distinctly human emotion and it coupled with the action she takes proves that Turukawa is capable of having human feelings which blurs the line between human and machine. In doing so Cole makes the point that our emotions give us our humanity. Turukawa’s sacrifice is what makes her unique from the other technology and allows for her to grow beyond her programming into a different sort of being. 

Tia’s feeling this way solidifies Cole’s argument and gives Turukawa the individuality necessary to be a person rather than simply a robot. In the final chapter when Tia returns to Earth, she hangs up the jacket that Turukawa has given her. Its energy and the brain fingerprint allow for a new embod to come out of the walls. While the machine looks just like Turukawa in design, Tia quickly notes how she carries herself differently. This creates a sense of individuality to the embod species and the distinction from the original Turukawa makes Tia’s feelings for the original even more important. Tia says this herself, assuring the new model that “There is no one the same as her” (Cole 333). Tia declaring the attachment she had to her Turukawa proves that love is what makes us individual and perhaps even human.

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