Money- the admiral of life

"And do you know why they clone the Afghan hound," he went on, ignoring her, " the very stupidest of all the dogs on this earth? You don't? Breeding, that is why. This is what they call an uncomplicated genetic line, a pure line all the way back to the wolf ancestor. Breeding," he said, and he'd raised his voice so that Admiral looked up at the vehemence of it, " so that we can have this purity, this stupid hound, this replica of nature." (p.14)

In this story, a very wealthy couple pay a considerable amount of money to replicate their deceased dog and its upbringings. By cloning the animal and hiring Nisha, the Strikers wish to go back in time and repeat the past. As Erhard comes into the picture, he makes Nisha question the Strikers' motives and approach to the untimely death of their original dog. This then brings up the question of social class. The Strikers and Nisha are undoubtedly in different social classes. The differences between the two is represented through this quote, and more so through Admiral . The Strikers go out of their way just to specifically clone their dog, though they could have just paid a significantly smaller amount just to get a new Afghan. But no, the Strikers had to get their exact dog, just to preserve the reputation of the dog, and maybe to preserve the reputation of themselves. Breeding and purity of the hound serves to keep out any external genes, any external others which could taint their name. The "replica of nature" is just that, a shadow of the natural world as humans try to conquer the earth with their artificial actions to keep those with power on top.  As Nisha tries to change this with Erhard, in the end she realizes that her tries are fruitless. Nisha goes back to making sure that the clone ends up exactly like his original, even if it leads to his death.

Does the breeding of a dog, specifically this dog which is supposedly the dumbest, represent the class system of America? Does this dog, with its faults and imperfections, show how the rich want to continue their conditions, even if it means repeating their mistakes and going against nature?