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Gloria
Gloria’s mother in “Robbie.” After two years of allowing her daughter to be taken care of by Robbie, Mrs. Weston begins to realize that she does not want her daughter raised by a robot. She cites several reasons to Mr. Weston as to why she wants to get rid of Robbie: the fact that he has no soul, the worry that he will go berserk and hurt Gloria, and that the neighbors fear him and do not want to come near the Westons’ house. Asimov shows all of these lines of reasoning to be completely irrational: first, Mrs. Weston proves to be far crueler to her daughter than the compassionate Robbie when she gets rid of him, effectively taking away her daughter’s best friend. Second, Robbie cannot hurt Gloria due to the Laws of Robotics. Third, their neighbors’ fear proves to be just as irrational as her own. But in deciding to get rid of Robbie, Mrs. Weston starts a chain of events that results in Gloria’s depression and nearly ends in her death at a robot factory. Robbie is the ultimately the one to save Gloria, proving how Mrs. Weston’s fear and irrationality leads to her own folly.
Mrs. Weston Quotes in I, Robot
The I, Robot quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Weston or refer to Mrs. Weston. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Robbie
Quotes
“You listen to me, George. I won’t have my daughter entrusted to a machine—and I don’t care how clever it is. It has no soul, and no one knows what it may be thinking. A child just isn’t made to be guarded by a thing of metal.”
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“Why do you cry, Gloria? Robbie was only a machine, just a nasty old machine. He wasn’t alive at all.”
“He was not no machine!” screamed Gloria, fiercely and ungrammatically. “He was a person just like you and me and he was my friend. I want him back. Oh, Mamma, I want him back.”
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It took split-seconds for Weston to come to his senses, and those split-seconds meant everything, for Gloria could not be overtaken. Although Weston vaulted the railing in a wild attempt, it was obviously hopeless. Mr. Struthers signalled wildly to the overseers to stop the tractor, but the overseers were only hu man and it took time to act.
It was only Robbie that acted immediately and with precision.
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Mrs. Weston Quotes in I, Robot
The I, Robot quotes below are all either spoken by Mrs. Weston or refer to Mrs. Weston. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Robbie
Quotes
“You listen to me, George. I won’t have my daughter entrusted to a machine—and I don’t care how clever it is. It has no soul, and no one knows what it may be thinking. A child just isn’t made to be guarded by a thing of metal.”
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Why do you cry, Gloria? Robbie was only a machine, just a nasty old machine. He wasn’t alive at all.”
“He was not no machine!” screamed Gloria, fiercely and ungrammatically. “He was a person just like you and me and he was my friend. I want him back. Oh, Mamma, I want him back.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
It took split-seconds for Weston to come to his senses, and those split-seconds meant everything, for Gloria could not be overtaken. Although Weston vaulted the railing in a wild attempt, it was obviously hopeless. Mr. Struthers signalled wildly to the overseers to stop the tractor, but the overseers were only hu man and it took time to act.
It was only Robbie that acted immediately and with precision.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
