Who is our narrator? What kind of man is he?

Who is Dave? How do he and Phil come to work and live together?

Is there any significance to the fact that the last women they dated were identical twins?

Why does Dave break up with his girlfriend? Why does Phil break up with his?

What is Phil's job? How is it significant to the work he does with Dave?

What ailment does Mrs. van Styler's son have that Phil is hired to "cure"? Do you consider this "cure" ethical?

Who or what is Lena?

How and why do Dave and Phil experiment with Lena?

What is their ultimate goal?

Why do they order their new robot in a "female case"?

What is at stake in naming this machine Helen?

Reread the first few paragraphs of the story when they unpack Helen. How do they locate her metaphorically?

What experiments do they carry out on her?

What ideal does Dave hope Helen will fulfill? Is his dream realized?

How does Helen learn about herself and her world?

How is she "taught" what is means to be female?

How does she embody femininity?

What kind of femininity is this? How is emotion involved?

How does Helen demonstrate her love?

Why do Phil and Dave discard the notion of "curing" or rewiring her?

What makes a woman?

What characteristics set Helen apart?

How is she an improvement on the twins?

How does she combine the most desirable characteristics of a woman, a mech, and a man?

What does it mean that she is "perfectly ... made to imitate a real woman ... in all ways"(27)?

In what ways is Helen limited?

How is Helen and Dave's story resolved?

Is this a love story? Why or why not?

Why does Helen make the choice she finally makes?

What does Phil imply in the final line of the story?

Who is Deirdre? What happened to her?

Why is it that Harris thinks of her as dead?

Would you consider Deirdre dead?

Should they, as Maltzer suggests, have let her die?

Is your mind or your body the seat of your self? Are both tied inextricably from identity? What does the story have to say about this?

How is Deirdre like the Phoenix?

C.L. Moore offers us two selections from the poem about Deirdre of the Sorrows (an Irish myth). How does this poem inform the present story?

Consider the multiple significance of the phrase "no woman born"?

Several times in the story Maltzer compares himself to Victor Frankenstein. Would you draw this parallel? How is Maltzer similar to and different from Frankenstein?

What other indirect parallels are made in the story between Maltzer and Victor (consider how he looks when Harris first sees him)?
Is Deirdre like Frankenstein's creature?

Why does Deirdre refuse this notion?

What does Harris expect to find in the room? What does he find?

What are the three shifts in perception he goes through?

How is Deirdre's voice crucial to her identity?

What kind of body has she been given? How is it similar to and different from her original body? (a creative response for this story could be a drawing or painting of Deirdre's new body).

How is this body held together?

What physical and sensual abilities has she lost and gained?

Why do they dress this new body?

Consider Deirdre's analogy of herself to ships and other inhabited inanimate objects. What is going on here? Can you read it more than one way?

Look at the parenthetical comment linking pages 37 and 38. What is implied here?

Why retain death? What is important about mortality?

Maltzer says that Deirdre has ceased to be a woman. Does she agree? Do you?

What crucially feminine things does Maltzer believe Deirdre has lost in her transformation?

What makes someone a woman? (consider woman who undergo mastectomies, etc.)

In claiming that Deirdre is no longer human, Maltzer makes an argument from the senses. Do you agree or disagree?

Harris notes that Deirdre is somewhere between a human and a robot. Is this a position of power or weakness? Both?

Do you agree with Maltzer that what he has done to Deirdre is worse than death?

Why do Harris and Maltzer think they have some control over Deirdre?

Why does Deirdre want to go back on the air-screen?

Why does Maltzer think she should be prevented?

What happens when she goes on? What is this dance like?

In what ways does her new body transform her dance?

How does the audience come to realize who is dancing?

How does she connect with them? Do you think this is a real connection?

Do you think she could play Juliet?

Upon returning home what performance does Deirdre give for Harris and Maltzer?

What does Maltzer decide must be done? How does Deirdre stop him?

How has her re-embodiment changed Deirdre?

Is she more or less human now? What makes someone or something human?

What does Deirdre finally confess that she fears?

What does it mean to be lonely? How does this connect us back to Frankenstein?

Will there be others like Deirdre? Why or why not?

Can you read Deirdre as a metaphor? What might she stand for?

Consider the narrative voice of this story. What effect does the narrative have?

Who is telling the story? To whom is the story told?

Why is the listener called a zombie?

How does the narrator mock the listener's expectations (and by extension your expectations)?

What is the future like? How is it like the present? How is it different?

Who are the young gods? What makes them gods?

What is the difference between gods and mortals?

How do the people in the GTX tower live?

Why are there no ads in the future?

What is distinctive about P. Burke? How is she described?

Is P. Burke a monster? Would you approach her on the street? Talk to her in class?

What kind of life has P. Burke lived? Could this be considered a human life?

What does it mean to be "anout as far as you can get from the concept girl" (68)?

Consider how the narration turns away from her. What is implied here? Are you implicated?

What choice does P. Burke make at the beginning? Would you make the same choice?

Why does GTX select her?

Why isn't this "Cinderella transistorized"? Might it be?

How does this story comment on the traditional Cinderella story?

What does P. Burke want from life?

Who is Delphi? How is she described? Contrast this with the descriptions of P. Burke.

What is a waldo? How is it different than a robot?

How does the Delphi body perform celebrity and femininity?

How close is Delphi to the concept girl?

Can you connect this to modern performances of identity?

What is the speech that Mr. Cantle doesn't give?

In what ways is Delphi's body insensitive? Why is this important?

What does Delphi's corporate purpose?

Why is it significant that Delphi begins to talk in her sleep?

What kind of life does P. Burke live as Delphi?

What sort of life does she lead back in Carbondale?

Is this divided life an improvement over her old one? Is it more or less real?

How is it like reality television?

Who is Paul Isham? What does he value?

Who is Rima? How does she relate to Delphi?

How does Delphi relate to Paul?

What does this mean to P. Burke?

How and why does GTX try to rein Delphi in?

What is the mistake does Paul make when he attempts to rescue his love?

What is P. Burke's first face to face meeting with her love like?

What ending were you hoping for?

What finally becomes of P. Burke? Of Paul?

How is Delphi reborn?

How is the imitation game played?

What are its stakes?

What would it mean for a machine to be determined human? For a human being to be determined a machine?

What does this imply about our everyday encounters with other beings?

How do we recognize the humanity in others?

Consider each of the objections in turn. Which ones do you find the most compelling?

Are these also objections to machine humanity?

Can you think of another objection to machine intelligence? (This is also a possible creative option for this paper).

What are the ways in which Turing suggests we might go about creating machine intelligence that approximate human intelligence?

What do you think of the notion of "child" or learning machines?