47 pages • 1 hour read
Marge PiercyHe, She and It
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Golem
The story of the Golem functions as an analogy, comparing the “lives” of Joseph the Golem and Yod the Cyborg. The Golem and the cyborg face similar challenges: They slowly accept the reality of life and try to become more human; they both fall in love and their love ends in tragedy; both are eventually killed by their masters after protecting their community from an outside threat.
The main narrative (the story of Yod) is told through a third person omniscient narrator. The story of the Golem, however, is related by another character in the first person. As Malkah relates the narrative to Yod, it draws attention to the act of storytelling. The reason the story is being told—and the way it is being told—are important; it has already been demonstrated that Yod can download and ingest fiction on his own. Instead, Malkah’s reading of the story demonstrates her belief in the analogous qualities of the story, as well as her investment in Yod’s human characteristics. The mode of narration is quiet and intimate; it is like a bedtime story told to a child, and it is clear that Yod appreciates the telling of the story. The symbolic story of the Golem is given added weight by the narrative structure, in that it shows how much Yod values other people and how much other people value him.
Yod learns from the story of Joseph. Both Joseph and Yod are killed by their creators (Yod is ordered to destroy himself, though he does agree with the order). Yod understands his role as the protector of the community and understands that to fulfill this role, he must destroy himself. Unlike the Golem, Yod decides that there must not be any more cyborgs in the world. Whereas Joseph’s clay body is preserved, Yod destroys himself, his creator, and (almost) all of the logs used in his creation. The symbolic meaning of the Golem helps him understand what he must do; Malkah’s bedtime stories inform Yod’s decision to kill himself and the potential for future cyborgs.
Childbirth
Childbirth and the role of motherhood in the characters’ lives is a frequent motif throughout the text. As well as thematically being used to motivate characters (such as Shira seeking to be reunited with Ari), the physical act of childbirth carries symbolic weight. In a world beset by numerous issues of sterility in the population, traditional childbirth has forever changed, to the point where women like Shira who carry a baby to term and give birth to the child are considered strange and unusual. As such, the act of giving birth carries a significant cultural meaning for the characters.
When Shira thinks about her son, she thinks about the act of giving birth. She is aware that her decision marks her as different to the rest of the women around her. In Y-S especially, women who make such a decision are considered odd, and their personnel files are marked accordingly. This could be considered a cultural response to the traumatic events that have led to the post-apocalyptic society. The population needs to cope with their inability to produce children in the traditional manner, so the culture adjusts to accommodate the new normal. With the majority unable to bring a baby to term, those who can are now in the minority. The cultural superstructure accommodates this newfound otherness, and the corporation internalizes these changes. Motherhood and childbirth are commodified and altered, just like everything else.
The metaphor of childbirth is made more pronounced when projected onto Yod. Avram, Yod’s creator, fills the role of the mother. Just as Shira gives birth to Ari, Avram is said to have given birth to Yod. Indeed, Yod attempts to strengthen this bond, deliberately calling Avram “father” in the hope that Avram will not decommission a robot if he views the robot as his son. In the sterile future, with many children born in labs rather than the traditional manner, the symbolic meaning of childbirth in relation to Yod is even more pronounced. Yod is born like most of the people in the society (brought to life in a lab), whereas a child like Ari is not. However, Yod’s existence is debated frequently while no one is unsure of Ari’s status as a human being.
The Post-Apocalyptic World
In the novel, the world itself is broken. The planet has endured a climate catastrophe, which has then caused great plagues and famines, leaving large parts of the population forever changed by the pollution and newly harsh environment. This post-apocalyptic world is unaccommodating and poisonous, using pathetic fallacy to mirror and exacerbate the problems and dangers faced by the characters. The town of Tikva, for instance, is constantly under attack and under threat from the multis in the same way that it is under threat from the world itself. Life outside of the community is dangerous and the world is lethal; the people inside need to stick together and depend on one another to survive.
Though the exact events are not detailed, the role of Judaism in the novel intersects with the post-apocalyptic world. Israel is the epicenter of a nuclear disaster, one that led to wars and destruction so bad that an entire section of the Middle East has supposedly been rendered uninhabitable. For the Jewish population of Tikva, this event looms large. With so many people blaming Israel (and, by extension, Jewish people) for the disaster, the founders of Tikva needed to find a safe place for their people to live. This fostered the sense of togetherness and community, as well as a focus on strong defense, which endures in the novel. Added to this, however, there is also a guilt and a need to atone for the events of the disaster. Characters such as Malkah feel this responsibility (to their community and to the world as a whole), meaning that the post-apocalyptic world is—to them—a reminder of how they must act in the future.
The harsh, lethal environment is also a reflection of the novel’s themes. The arid desert that surrounds Tikva is seemingly devoid of human life. Though it seems dead, it is actually able to accommodate life. Bugs and animals evolve and adapt; to them, this change is essential, and they learn a new way to live. This functions as a reflection of Yod’s humanity. He was a collection of inanimate parts, but his dead body was given life, and he has adapted to live in a different manner than many might have expected. In the post-apocalyptic world, life finds a way to continue living. In a cyborg’s body, the artificial approximation of life functions in a similar manner.
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By Marge Piercy
