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“El Clon” Summary
The author fabricates a storyline that starts in the 1980’s
in Morocco, when a young Brazilian man Lucas meets an attractive
Brazilian woman Jade. Jade is born in Brazil from Moroccan parents,
where she lived most of her life until the death of her mother,
when she is forced to move to Morroco and live with her uncle “Tio
Ali”. That is when the romance starts; only to be cut short
by Jade’s arranged marriage to Said. In between escapes back
and forth from Morocco to Brazil, and long fights with her uncle
with promises of 50 whips in Fez’ central market, Jade fulfilled
her love to Lucas in an enchanted night of dance and seduction.
This is the romantic storyline; Jade actually marries Said, however
they divorce three times later in the novela. They also have a daughter,
Kadijah, who will be in the middle of a custody battle when Jade
decides to leave Said for Lucas. This provens to be a wrong decision.
Lucas who is married to Maysa does not keep his part of the bargain.
On the other hand, Maysa ends up having an affair with Said when
she discovers that Lucas is seeing Jade. It is in this context that
the writer explores the contradictions of the Brazilian-Arab cultures
and religious traditions.
The subject of human cloning is introduced when Lucas’ twin
brother Diogo dies in a helicopter accident. Diogo’s godfather
happens to be a geneticist, Albieri, who cannot bear the thought
of his beloved godchild’s death. The opportunity is created
for Albieri to finalize his experiments in cloning, making the first
human clone out of Luca’s cells. Albieri is the head of a
fertility clinic in Rio and through artificial insemination he introduced
the cloned cells into Deuza, a good-natured woman who did not know
about the experiment. Leo, Lucas’s clone, had many questions
about his origin, always searching for the truth about his paternity
without avail.
The thematic of drug addition is explored when Mel, Lucas and Maysa’s
daughter starts to experiment with marijuana and goes into a spiraling
downward fall into cocaine addiction.
The author uses the telenovela plot to discuss and present these
issues to the audience that in turn responds in terms of increased
ratings, letter writing, website forums, and e-mails dedicated to
the telenovela.
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