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Loneliness in "Supertoys Last all Summer Long"

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Loneliness in "Supertoys Last all Summer Long"
�PAGE � Larabee �PAGE �1�

Nichole Larabee

Professor Jett

English B1A

February 2, 2014

Loneliness in "Supertoys Last All Summer Long"

Brian Aldiss 's "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" is a short story that depicts on how Monica is alone, David isn 't real, and Henry just feeds into Monica 's loneliness "An over crowded world is the ideal place in which to be lonely."(Aldiss 112) David 's sole purpose is to fill a void with Mrs. Swinton, but it is hard to see a child who you want to love but can 't in the same sense as your own flesh and blood. David tries to express to his mother how he feels but simply can not. Why can she not communicate with her son? Why must they use a robotic teddy bear to have communication? Ultimately futuristic technology is used to provide companionship while waiting for your chance at parenthood.

The Swinton 's are what one would consider the perfect family, living in the perfect house, having a perfect child, the perfect husband with a perfect job, and a perfect wife who has a perpetually perfect garden. As the outside world is looking in on this family, perfect is what they see. Mr. Swinton has the ideal job where he is never alone, while Monica is at home trying to love a robotic boy "She had tried to love him"(112) is describing how Monica feels about David. How can a mother say that she had tried to love him? To have a mother say she tried to love him makes you question how perfect this family really is. Monica is longing for more than just David. She seems to try to want to love him but simply cannot in the same sense as the love for her own child. David wants to tell Monica how he feels " 'Darling Mummy, guess how much I love--- ' "(117) David cannot complete his sentences he writes on papers, he simply doesn 't think that they are good enough. He asks teddy for help but the only advice teddy can give David is to write what he wants to say in crayon.

According to Robert M. Geraci "Robots and the Sacred in Science and


Cited: Aldiss, Brian. "Supertoys Last All Summer Long." _Adaptations: From Short Story to Big Screen._ Ed. Stephanie Harrison. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005. 112-18. Print. Geraci, Robert M. "Robots and the Sacred in Science and Science Fiction: Theological Implications of Artificial Intelligence" _Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science_ 42.4 (2007): 961-80. _Academic Search Premier_. EBSCO. Web. 4 Feb. 2014 McConnell, Kathleen. "Creating People for Popular Consumption: Echoes of Pygmalion and "The Rape of the Lock" in Artificial Intelligence: AI." _Journal of Popular Culture 40.4 (2007):_ 683-99_. Academic Search Premier_. EBSCO. Web. 4 Feb. 2014
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