Is it worth having a Brain/Body Transplant?

In the thought-provoking short story, Mirror Image, by Lena Coakley, you see the challenges faced by the protagonist, Alice. She is a 14-year-old girl that had a surgery to remove her brain from her damaged body into another girl's body that was donated to science by the Jarreds. When I was reading the first 2 paragraphs, there was a lot of questions that came to my mind: Why are you [Alice} surprised at your own reflection? How can you [Alice} look so different up to point where you feel like you're a complete stranger when you stare at your reflection? Why would your classmates be a little bit afraid pf you [Alice}? At first, I thought she was disgusted by her appearance; that she was afraid of how people will perceive her for an ugly body. But then, in the following paragraph, she mentions how her current body moves differently from her old body, and how she thinks she looks better than she's ever had before. That implies that shes really likes her new appearance and is confident in her body. When she asks to read her identical twin sister's, Jenny's, diary, Jenny doesn't let her even though they've read each other's diaries many times before. Jenny no longer trusts Alice even though the brain transplant was successful. She argues that her sister is in Gail's head; that she had changed because of her new, beautiful body.

I personally don't mind donating a few organs. Knowing that I'm too destroyed to live, I'd rather save some of my body parts in hopes that it can save someone else in need. I would not ever donate my entire body. If something happens to me, and I was given the option to be alive again but be in someone else's body, I would reject it. I don't think I can live knowing that everyone is going to treat me differently because I no longer have the same appearance as I once used to. It takes time to build trust amongst friends. In my mind, I'm still Cary, but to them, I'm a complete stranger with Cary's memories and personality. I'd be Cary trying to do things the way I do them, but the body's muscle reflexes might get in the way, or I find out that I can't run or stretch like my body can. What happens if the only available body is a male's? Am I transgender too then? Is Cary going to be bullied for doing "girly things" in a man's body? Do I have to change my behaviour to suit my appearance? If I was meant to die, then I'll accept my fate and say goodbye to the world. If I get the chance to escape from a near-death experience by living the rest of my life in someone else's body, then I'd be the living-dead. I'm no longer me.

They say that the eyes are the windows to your soul. If you looked into a complete stranger's eyes, who would you see?

#brain #body #transplant