Sing The Body Electric

Compare and Contrast Media Essay: “The Sing the Body Electric” Ray Bradbury’s “I Sing the Body Electric” is a science fiction story about a family who, after the death of the mother, replaces her with a robot. In Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone episode, “I Sing the Body Electric,” Anne must learn to understand and accept that her new grandmother can be tender, loving, thoughtful, and caring. The Grandmother’s ability to love changes the tone of the story, which in turn, changes the reader’s level of emotional engagement. Also, by removing the Egyptian imagery from the story, the Twilight Zone diminishes the intensity of the children’s relationship with the Grandmother. In addition, the Grandmother is more human in the Twilight Zone episode, unlike
As Bradbury’s story proceeds on, a Sarcophagus arrives and has hieroglyphics for each child telling of the children’s future lives. As Agatha’s tears were being wiped away, “the golden mask of the woman carved on the sarcophagus lid looked back at the children with just the merest smile which hinted the children’s joy, which accepted the overwhelming upsurge of a love the children thought had drowned forever but now surfaced into the sun” (11). Even though the children’s lives are untold, the symbols engraved on the sarcophagus still tell the children’s future. The Grandmother did not mourn for time spent, instead the robot was “ready to be drawn upon and used” (12). This implies that the Electric Grandmother only exists for the use of the children. The symbolism links the Grandmother’s eternity and makes herself into a goddess that the children worship. Conversely, the Electric Grandmother from the Twilight Zone, arrives by walking down the street to the family’s residence. Although the beginning of the Twilight Zone episode is different than the beginning of the story for possible budgetary reasons, the effect changes how the Grandmother appears to the audience: human and not immortal
In the story, when the robot goes to leave, the Grandmother explains to Agatha what happens after the family does not need a robot to supervise, “others go to be drawn and quartered, parts distributed to other machines who have need of repairs” (33). Unless the family pays a “very small fee,” the Electric Grandmother will stay and comfort the family, while the family is still recovering from the death of the mother (34). The Electric Grandmother is threatening, manipulative, and terrifying the family. This distances the reader from the Electric Grandmother because the reader feels like Fantoccini is manipulating his customers. On the other hand, in the Twilight Zone episode, the Electric Grandmother talks nothing about a fee, instead the Grandmother will go to a Room of Voices and talk about the children’s lives. This part of the episode is important because the kids and the audience cares, the Grandmother appears to be more human in the Twilight Zone than in Bradbury’s story. The Twilight Zone episode is more noble, whereas the conclusion of the story is more