We discussed The Thick Night on #feministSF twitter chat today, and I’m still thinking about the story. I like stories that challenge me, and this one really did — it’s a story about a third world woman who’s given a humanoid robot as part of an aid program. Not a machine-style robot; an artificial intelligence eager to do anything the woman wants it to do.
Of course, things will happen in the village when one person has such a gift and the rest don’t. But what hooked me was what happened to the woman who got the robot, whose first response to it is to think that she doesn’t want a slave. The story takes the reader right along with it, so at the end you sit back, sigh happily, and then say ‘WHAT? REALLY??’ — at yourself, not at the protagonist.
I’ve been walking around ever since with this niggling question at the back of my mind. Do I really want a slave? I mean, if I could have one without those inconvenient maintenance, rebellion, legality, morality issues? And how many of the characters I love to read about in books are Dream Slaves? The perfect nannies in Elizabeth Goudge? Mrs. Hudson in Sherlock Holmes? Bunter in the Peter Wimsey stories?
I judge the strength of a piece of writing by how much it inconveniences me in my daily life and makes me question my gut reactions. This one is about a 9 on the inconvenience meter. That’s a compliment.
