I'm not sure what this means, but it appears that Number Five does something no previous Gene Wolfe has done. In the conversation in which he discoveres the nature of Mr. Million, this happens (Ace ed'n, p45):
[Mr. Million] paused agian, and for an instant his
face dissolved into myriad sparkling dots, swirling
like dust motes in a sunbeam. "I am sorry. For once
you wish to listen but I do not wish to lecture. I
was told, a long time ago, just before the operation,
that my simulation - this - would be capable of
emotion in certain circumstances. Until today I had
always thought they lied."
Okay, I freely admit that I'm not sure what this is about. The preceding conversation is all about what Mr. Million is. Is it possible that no preceding generation has asked? Or...
At any rate, it appears that something has happened here that did not happen with the previous GW clones. Does this imply that the GWs can evolve after all? (After all, the real GW believes in some "heretical" ideas about inheriting acquired characteristics.)