The Bicentennial Man Analysis

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The Bicentennial Man is a story about one of the first robots ever put into service on earth. He goes through trials, both literal and figurative, to become more and more human. At the beginning of the story, the robot, originally unnamed, is in service to the Martin family. It possesses almost no free will or individuality, an inhuman appearance, and few rights. By the end of the story, he has a name, a human appearance, rights, and, both legally and in most conceivable ways, his humanity. Each step along the path is marked by a desire for something, at first, small things, but growing in complexity and scope as he became more and more human. This illustrates, I feel, that desire is at the core of humanity, and helps to clarify the division …show more content…

After that, Andrew begins emulating humans more, and begins to wear clothes in line with human fashion, despite his otherwise inhuman appearance. His next desire is to learn more about humans. His studies up until this point, however, have largely been concerned with woodworking and furniture design, and his desire pushes him to make a trip into town. An encounter with two townspeople almost leads to his destruction while on the way to the library. Only with the intervention of Little Miss's son, George, is disaster averted. While nearly catastrophic, Andrew's next desire is made clear. He must be able to protect his own dignity. This leads to the next legal battle, where he wins, and establishes legal rights for all …show more content…

While he still adheres to Asimov's three laws of robotics, he does so much less rigidly than before. Instead of being utterly deferential to any human, he pushes to have a new, much more human looking body created for him, for his brain to be installed in. After installation, his desire to be more human continues to grow. His attentions are now directed towards crafting artificial organs to more accurately simulate the function of the human body. In the eyes of most people, he seems human, although his legal status still clearly defines him as a

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