CLONES!!??

"Since each of use was copied at some point from a normal person, there must be, for each of us, somewhere out there, a model getting on with his or her life." (pg 139)

I must admit, I did not see this one coming. The students of Hailsham are clones?! No wonder they are separated from the rest of the world, to try to prevent them from stumbling upon their "possibles". I wonder, though, how they were born. Were they carried by humans, or, like in Brave New World,  raised in a test tube? It also brings me back to the question I asked in my post about My Sister's Keeper- are they loved for who they are, as their own person? Are they even their own person, or really someone else? It reminds me of the book Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In the book, Bethany slowly discovers that she is a clone of her sister Elizabeth who died at age 13. She has the same tendencies, like activities and favorite foods, that her sister did. Does being a clone give you your own mind and the ability to choose your destiny, or are you automatically destined to follow the life of the person you are modeled after? Because Ruth's "possible" works in an office, does that explain why Ruth wants to? This idea of the students being clones has my mind spinning.