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Terms
In the novel, the term “assay” refers to an exhaustive, predictive summary of all a person’s impending illnesses (i.e., cancers that have yet to grow or ulcers that have yet to announce themselves). Since assays contain confidential medical information, including facts about the person’s sexual history, they are supposed to be highly personal and private, though teenager Jeph is able to run one on the narrator by stealing some of his hair (which contains DNA). The word assay, which literally means “to assess,” has historically been used to refer to the process by which metal is tested for quality. The specificity of the assay done on the narrator suggests a degree of medical technology far beyond any that exists today.
Assay Quotes in Things We Didn’t See Coming
The Things We Didn’t See Coming quotes below are all either spoken by Assay or refer to Assay. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Predisposed
Quotes
The elders will force him to reveal all. Naturally, their concern for the community will be limited to my ability to perform my tasks and nothing will really slow me down, except maybe the cancer. As for me, they’ll let me go for treatment when it's convenient. For now, I'm more useful here, with all these ticking bombs inside me. And my incipient erectile dysfunction will be a welcome relief for the few of the unions I've meddled in. What if everyone's assays were run? Would that change minds? There'd be a great rush for the road, everyone aching to repair shoulders and glands. That, I suppose, is why they don't allow it.
I'd really wanted to call this place home.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Assay Term Timeline in Things We Didn’t See Coming
The timeline below shows where the term Assay appears in Things We Didn’t See Coming. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Predisposed
...But in a secret compartment of Jeph’s desk, the narrator finds what he suspected: an assay Jeph has run on him, without his knowledge or permission.
(full context)
The assay shows a variety of diseases: a melanoma (probably benign), degeneration in the narrator’s bones, and...
(full context)
Gripping the assay as if it is his “new bible,” the narrator returns to his bedroom, near Jeph’s...
(full context)
...that the elders might not allow him to get treatment; after all, they have forbidden assays for a reason. Given that he gave all his money over to the community, he...
(full context)
...him. Finally, with disgust, Jeph asks the narrator what he's going to do about the assay.
(full context)
...in the farms, guarded by sentries holding guns. The narrator asks why Jeph got his assay done, and though Jeph claims it was an act of concern, the narrator knows that...
(full context)
