Mickey7

The question of what it means to be human is central to Mickey7, as protagonist Mickey Barnes questions both his identity and humanity throughout. This search for identity and meaning also plays a key role in the development of his character. As an Expendable, Mickey frequently dies, and his consciousness is uploaded into a newly reprinted body. After each death, Mickey wrestles with his own self-awareness, wondering if he’s still the same person after he’s been reprinted. He sees a distinction between each manifestation of himself, even if others do not; when Mickey7 contemplates letting himself die in the crevice to wake up as Mickey8, he thinks he would know that he wasn’t the same person, even if others wouldn’t: “Nasha and Berto might not be able to tell the difference, but deep down on some level below reason, I’m pretty sure I’d know I was dead” (8). Mickey7’s self-awareness and his sense that when he is reprinted, he becomes a new person, causes him to struggle with the concept of himself as a clone who everyone else sees as identical to all the Mickeys that came before.

Everyone in Mickey7’s sphere has a distinct

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