"Students who passed the Grand Exam in the highest two percentiles were bid for by universities." (50)



"I cannot always distinguish between myth and reality, because myth forms reality and we act out of what we think we are; we know on many levels truths that are irrational as well as reasoned or experimental." (25)


I really liked both of these quotes. I liked the first one because I thought it was really interesting how children took a test (kind of like the SATs?) and were bid on by universities. The highest scoring children were paid to go to school. Now, is this payment on top of tuition (like a job), or is it just merely funding their education?

The second quote I loved because it seems so true. Think of how many times we aren't sure if something it the truth or not. How many times are myths told so often that they become accepted as true? Just some questions...

Nonsense. You're as much a part of the earth as I am. We are all made of the same molecules, the same set of compounds, the same elements. You're using for a time some of earth's elements and substances cooked from them. I'm using others. The same copper and iron and cobalt and hydrogen go round and round and round through many objects," (185).

i like this quote for a few reasons. There's something almost comforting--stable about the concept. In terms of the book i think it's important because it signifies a turning point for Shira, as she starts to think of Yod as something other or more than a computer.

This passage in particular reminded me of Neuromancer and that society's dependence on artificial intelligence, cyberspace, and large corporations:

"Her field was the interface between people and the large artificial intelligences that formed the Base of each corporation and every other information-producing and information-eating entity in the world, as well as the information utility called the Network, which connected everyone." (1)

Also, isn't it interesting that both books concern the stretch of the U.S. between Boston and Atlanta? I'm sure now that this must be based on some factual information or predictions about urban sprawl.

Clearly the creation story of the Golem is a parallel to the creation of the cyborg, Yod. I fear this quote from Malkah may prove to be an instance of foreshadowing:

"Creation is always perilous, for it gives true life to what has been inchoate and voice to what has been dumb. It makes known what has been unknown, that perhaps we were more comfortable not knowing. The new is necessarily dangerous. You, too, must come to accept that of your nature, Yod, for you are truly new under the sun." (67)

I was struck by the writing style in the following paragraph, particularly how the author carried the sugar imagery throughout:

"She felt a roiling hot mixture of emotions, like a pot of thick fudge about to boil over, but there was no sweetness in it, only resentment, guilt, complicity. Was Gadi still trying to recreate that lost and secret place of pure sugar intensity, fused bodies and hearts?" (98)

In addition to the quotes above, I also thought that these were interesting.

"Dangerous thought is a disease that rots souls" (28). This quote reminded me that these people are living in a society that is controlled by mega-corporations, but also because it makes me wonder, what exactly is dangerous thought? While reading the passage that this is in, I think it is alluding to the power of thoughts that seek to challenge norms and societal traditions, which aren't always fair, just, or sensible.

"Most people who lived in free towns like the one she had grown up in could have sold themselves to a multi directly, instead of contracting for specific jobs, but elected to stay outside the enclaves because of some personal choice: a minority religion, a sexual preference not condoned by a particular multi, perhaps simply an archaic desire for freedom" (33). I found this one very interesting for two reasons, first because personal choice is looked upon as archaic by Shira, and secondly because she makes it sound like the inhabitants of this world resembles slaves.

"There were still elections...but they were just highly bet on sporting events. All politicians did was run for office" (35). HA! I just finished John Grisham's new book entitled The Appeal, and this quote is unfortunately true in many cases. Is the deterioration of politics and the increase in corporate power a sign that we are moving in the direction of these futuristic societies??

"We cannot survive free without economic integrity" (166). This is a powerful statement that is true especially of our world today. Countries that have no economic integrity are not highly valued, and thus, the people are left to fend for themselves.

"But Shira felt as if all the rooms of her childhood had suddenly changed place. She was annoyed, even angry with Malkah for having lied to her, for making her feel foolish. In storybooks, bubehs made cookies and knitted; her grandmother danced like a prima ballerina through the webs of artificial intelligence and counted herself to sleep with worry beads of old lovers" (83).

"She was a techie whose only operation had been retinal implants to correct hereditary myopia. She had borne a child. She would seem almost middle aged to him. She was commonplace, banally human, as natural as seaweed and mud. She felt ashamed, as if her unaltered, unenhanced body were something gross" (131).

"What is physical aging to a base-spinner? In the image world, I am the power of my thought, of my capacity to create. There is no sex in the Base or the Net, but there is sexuality, there is joining, there is the play of minds like the play of dolphins in surf. In a world parceled out by multis, it is one of the only empowered and sublimely personal activities remaining. I have always known I was exceptionally blessed to be able to revel in my work.
Now I am reduced to my aging body in my room, which is luxurious but insufficient as a world. At seventy-two, I knock against the limits constantly in the flesh..." (167).

I am drawn to these quotes because they focus on the two female protagonists and how they are shaped and shamed by the world around them and what that world considers beautiful and useful.

Something that I found interesting in this book is not only the relationships between humans and machines but the relationships between men and women. It's interesting that there's such a big difference in the Y-S and the Tikva. In the Y-S it seems as men and women are looked at somewhat on the same level when it states,

"She pulled over her backless business suit the thin black covering almost all womem and old people and many men wore in the streets. It covered age, class, sex, and made all look roughly the same size" (31).

Then in the Tikva society it seems as if men and women are not at all equal. This is partly shown in the text when Shira explains her advice from Malkah,

"Malkah said love was mostly nonsence and self-hypnosis, and men were by and large fine to work with and fun in bed, but never expect much otherwise" (38).

Well, I haven't gotten too far, but this quote really jumped out at me,considering the discussion about Hayles.

"He makes an absolute distinction between the truths of science, which are based on observation and are always changing as the world is always changing (a radical concept because the world had been considered static and unmoving for centuries), and the truths of religion which are of another order. In that sphere, thought is action and words are not signifiers of things or states but real and potent forces" (26).

What do people think about the connection between religion/spirituality and science/logic in this book so far. Are they just two sides of the same coin?

In the case of religion and spirituality, I believe that they are very much detached from each other in this society. For Malkah, her religion is Judaism and she clearly maintains a since of history and connection here, but her spirituality seems to be more attached to her work with the Base. Though different multis espouse different religions (as with different marriage arrangements and sexual preferences), I think mostly this is superficial and that the all powerful focus is on business. Business has become their true religion, and this doesn't leave much room for spirituality. For some, like Malkah and Avram, science and logic seem to have replaced religion. This seems a natural progression to me, in any future scenario. As knowledge is gained about the natural world, there is more of an emphasis on finding naturally-occuring answers, rather than attributing these happenings to faith and God. (No judgements here, just observations.)

Hi Rachel,

It's interesting that you mention how "Business has become their true religion, and this doesn't leave much room for spirituality." Although I'm not even a third of the way through the book yet (sigh), I feel as if there is a very deliberate attempt by Piercy to make connections between the initial creation (heaven and earth etc.), human procreation, and the human desire to create artificial intelligence. In this sense, all creative expression, including artistic of course, could be considered spiritual. I do, however, anticipate things going wrong with Yod, which might alter this point down the road.

Here are some more signficant quotes from the latter half of the book that I think are important to include in our discussion.

"Information shouldn't be a commodity. That's obscene. Information plus theology plus political bias is how we sculpt our view of reality...The ability to access information is power" (201-202).

"Dreams are the fire in us" (302).

"More than ever, I have been thinking what overweening ambition and pride are involved in our creating of conscious life we plan to use and control, when we cannot even fully use our own minds and we blunder and thrash about vainly in our own lives. No life is for us but for itself" (407). Malkah is discussing human flaws, which she realized will simply be perpetuated by man-made creations, including cyborgs.

"Only hatred shocks me. If we can love a date palm or a puppy or a cyborg, perhaps we can love each other better also" (436). I think this quote adequately sums up the lesson that I believe Piercy wanted readers to take from this novel: that all kinds of love teach us new things about others and ourselves.

"Myth forms reality and we act out of what we think we are; we know on many levels truths that are irrational as well as reasoned or experimental. Our minds help create the world we think we inhabit." (27)
I really like this idea - it can apply to everything from self-justification to self-delusion.

"Message robots...ambled around the world through the Glops, into multi enclaves, onto the tubes and the zips, far more freely and safely than people or animals could. Shira watched it wistfully. That was true freedom, she thought, something now available only to special machines." (115)

I thought this quote was interesting because I think freedom, especially the freedom of women, was a major theme in this book. The world that Shira lives in is greatly restricted in the freedom of mobility, but she chooses to begin a romantic relationship with Yod because she knows that it will likely not intrude on her freedoms within her society. However, Chava, in the story of the golem, chooses not to begin any romantic entanglement, because she knows that it will enfringe upon the freedoms she is enjoying, which are uncharacteristic to women in her time.

"Gadi shrugged eloquently. 'Look, nowadays in this gutted world, only fools want to live life. The rest of us want something sweeter. We can imagine far prettier than ruins and trash.' (385).

While Gadi wants to escape real life, Shira wants to immerse herself in it and work to improve her surroundings. She has had a taste of the sterilized version of life, in the Y-S multi enclave, and she realizes that it is a fantasy, and the price one pays for buying into it is losing all sense of self.

This is unrelated to quotes but my blog is not working and I wanted to get this out. I loved this novel. After spending so much time typing the title for my review, though, something pops into my mind. Where ist he comma that is supposed to be after She? I notice that many of you put the comma in automatically, as well. Could Piercy have left it out on purpose? To add some subtle meaning. Like there is a he AND THEN there is a she and it together, separately from the he. Like Gadi, Shira and Yod. Or did she make a mistake and forget the comma. I really doubt that. There must have been purpose. But what?

I understand what Avram , my old lover, felt when he created a person in his laboratory as truly as when he put his prick into sara and they made gadi together. As truly as when I gave birth to riva and she lay beside me real and red and screaming. Every life is new. Every word is constantly speaking itself for the first time: birth,love,pain,want,loss. Every mother shapes clay into Caesar or Madame Curie or Jack the Ripper, unknowing, in blind hope. But ever artist creates the open eyes what she sees in her dream. Pg 69

“But a person reacts and decides what’s good or bad. For us the world is primary and paramount. We can curse each other to death or cure with words. With words we court each other, with words we punish each other. We construct the world out of words. The mind can kill or heal because it is the body.” Pg. 267