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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:
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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 Character Timeline in I, Robot
The timeline below shows where the character Mrs. Weston appears in I, Robot. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Robbie
...their ride, Gloria begins to recount the story of Cinderella to a rapt Robbie until Mrs. Weston , Gloria’s mother, calls out to her to come back inside. Robbie carries Gloria back...
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Later that afternoon, Mrs. Weston approaches Mr. Weston. She vents her frustrations about Robbie, saying that she doesn’t want it...
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Mr. Weston reminds Mrs. Weston of the First Law of Robotics, that it’s impossible for a robot to harm a...
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Two nights later, Mrs. Weston comes to Mr. Weston and tells him that the neighbors believe Robbie is dangerous. They...
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...as well. When she cannot find him in the house, she becomes upset and afraid. Mrs. Weston explains that Robbie just walked away, and that they’ve looked for him, but can’t find...
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Gloria is distraught, refusing to accept the dog. She sobs and wails, and Mrs. Weston tells her that Robbie was only a machine. Gloria screams, “He was a person just...
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Over the next few days, Gloria stops crying but remains silent and depressed. Mrs. Weston sends the dog back, and complains to Mr. Weston that Gloria is driving her to...
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Just then, Mrs. Weston bursts into the room, along with the engineer, who points out that Gloria is not...
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Mrs. Weston , Mr. Weston, and Gloria take a tour of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men the...
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Mrs. Weston immediately whirls on her husband, accusing Mr. Weston of planting Robbie in the factory, because...
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