The Mother Load...

("The Bicentennial Man", Isaac Asimov)



Plot:

This story is told in media res, with Andrew about to receive the surgery that is not described until the end. This structure of this exposition draws the reader in and sets the tone of the major ideals of the story. The introduction of the different families and company leaders throughout the work help define the climax of Andrew's last operation and the final resolution of Andrew being considered a man. This plot structure serves as an emotional trap, capturing the reader's sympathy and pity. As Andrew remains a prisoner of time and human fear, the morals and suspense of the piece are displayed through the countless examples of passing family such as the compassion of Little Miss and final efforts of Li-Hsing. The plot reveals that goals can be achieved with time and passion and explains the morals of the piece by offering explanation of the human fears and discrimination of servers.



Point of View

This tale is portrayed in a third person point of view. A distant narrator seems to focus on Andrew's thoughts, yet not all thoughts and feelings are revealed. This use of point of view matches the ideals of the story: the difference of robots and human. If told from a human prospective, perhaps this story would have been told from first person. The use of third person displays that although some feels can be given, not all can be expressed; a robot simply cannot obtain all human aspects. There is a level of distance found in a third person narrator, similar to the distance of the robots, shown in the following quotes: "The surgeon said softy, with that certain inalienable note of respect that a robot always used to a human being." (p. 245) "My body is a canvas on which I intend to draw-... Magdescu waited for the sentence to be completed, and when it seemed that it would not be, he completed it himself. "A man?" "We shall see," said Andrew." (p. 280).



Characterization

There are few major characters aside from Andrew within this short story, displaying the isolation Andrew experiences as well as the spread of time of the work. Andrew is characterized through comparison to other robots. His entire life is judged not by his personal nature, rather, how he differs from the norm. This is captured in the scenes when his artistic talent is discovered (p. 250-254) or when his impact on robot history is explained (p. 268-272). Other characters are mostly characterized by their relation to Andrew: Little Miss is displayed as a caring and lovely girl with a desire of justice. Her son Paul mirrors his mother's compassion and serves as the fighting vessel for Andrew to achieve some of his dreams. Various company leaders are pictured as cruel and closed-minded if the reject Andrew, and are treasured if they help Andrew. Basically the characters of this story are shaped by their relationship to Andrew and Andrew's journey.

Setting

This tale is set in a seemingly future society of Earth. Some clues imply that it's set in a relatively modern time, aside from the advancement of robots, such as the use of books (Andrew writes a book), maps (p. 261), titles( Sir, Little Miss, cooperate titles), and travel methods (p. 261-262). On an interesting side note, the fashions seem to retrogress, from classic suits, to floppy clothing, to bear, Egyptian-like at the end. The major emphasis of this setting upon the ideals of the book is that it doesn't change too much throughout the book. This parallels the notion that although the society has advanced many decades, fears and injustice has not been resolved. Andrew is pushing the society to change, but he's only one force. The given setting also reflects the spread of Andrew's ideas and protest. The detail of setting expands from Sir's house to various corporations until reaching the global courts. The setting is used to display Andrew's impact from the Earth and even to the Moon and how he can only make so much impact.

Theme

" How can they fear robots? "It's disease of mankind, one of which it is not yet cured." (p. 264)

The major idea of this tale is to display the effects of fear. Not only human fear of ruling robots, rather the fear of mistake, accepting mistake, and the possibility of the future. Throughout the work, this theme of fear defines the human population: (describing a robot) "There would be no hesitation in his work, no stumbling, no quivering, no mistakes. That came with specialization of course, a specialization so fiercely desired by humanity that few robots were, any longer independently brained." (p. 246). Countless leaders refuse to provide Andrew with his dreams simply due to fear of providing the chance of flaw and mistake. This story represents the common human action to take things too far; the cliche saying "The sky's the limit" now chokes this society. Morals and limits have to be set rather than reaching the most maximum advances. When Andrew fights for seemingly fundamental things such as freedom, rights, and acceptance, he challenges the concept of accepting mistake and changing motives. This story displays how many try to overlook the objections to their plans, wanting to avoid mistake and flaws. The theme of this story is the fear of mistake and flaw.


Favorite Quotes:

" I don't know the proper way of phrasing things, but I hope you will listen to my meaning and ignore the words" (p. 255)

"Freedom is without a price, Sir" said Andrew. "Even the chance of freedom is worth the money." (p. 254)

"Andrew said, "Are not human bodies beautifully functional, George? Yet you cover yourselves" (p. 258)

"Yet he was no really alone. If a man had died, the firm of Feingold and Charney lived, for a corporation does not die any more than a robot does." (p. 277)