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.
Character Analysis
Shira
Though she is the novel’s protagonist, Shira is a relatively passive character. Throughout most of the text, she lacks the technical skills (or, at least, the belief in her own abilities) of Avram or Malkah while lacking the philosophical quandary that makes Yod such a vital character. Indeed, she spends most of the novel slowly falling in love with Yod, pining for her son, and assisting others in their projects. By the end of the text, however, Shira has rediscovered her vitality. She takes Malkah’s position and reconciles her grief for her lost loved ones. While the novel is chiefly concerned with the humanity of the cyborg, Shira’s slow journey toward self-actualization and self-acceptance is the most prominent narrative.
To some extent, Shira’s life is defined by three lovers. Her youth is preoccupied with Gadi; the young couple are so in love that Gadi’s infidelity leads Shira to believe that her capacity for love is broken. The end of this relationship leads Shira directly to Josh, an adequate partner whose lack of emotional engagement is preferable to the hurt Shira. After losing such an important relationship, Shira settles down with Josh to prevent herself from being hurt. His dull personality is a coping mechanism for Shira, allowing her to shutter her own feelings and prevent herself from being hurt again. At the beginning of the novel, however, the marriage between Josh and Shira has broken down. Shira is introduced to the audience at this point in her life, where she is slowly rediscovering her emotional range. This leads her to Yod, the cyborg whose love allows Shira to accept her past relationships. The inherent tension of Yod’s questionable humanity prompts Shira to ask herself how she cannot love when a robot is seemingly capable of doing so. Thus, Shira’s slow process of self-acceptance is channeled through her relationship with Yod.
As such, the end of the novel reveals the end of Shira’s emotional arc. She loses Yod and, in learning how to process her grief, deals with her past relationships. She no longer obsesses over her time with Gadi, knowing that it has not permanently damaged her. Shira breaks free from the confines of romance and gives herself over entirely to her community, her child, and being happy as an individual.
Yod
Yod is a cyborg, created by Avram to protect the small free town of Tikva. The question of Yod’s humanity is covered extensively throughout the text, with many characters offering their opinions. Whether a cyborg should be treated as a human (and whether it should be considered a Jew) is debated at town meetings, in tense negotiations with Y-S, and in the lab. Yod also offers his opinion and, ultimately, it is Yod who decides his own fate. Yod’s suicide is a tragic, essential act. In deciding that he does not want to live as a conscious weapon, Yod has examined his own existence and has realized that—simply by being alive—he is endangering those he loves most. His suicide is an attack on Y-S and an act of sacrifice. He saves the town that has taken him in, the woman that he loves, and those who have taught him how to be human.
Yod’s capacity for self-reflection differentiates him from the other machines in the text. While Gimel mindlessly performs whatever task he is assigned, Yod demonstrates an intellectual curiosity that compels him to find out more about the world around him and, most importantly, himself. Shira teaches Yod about metaphor, and he soon discovers a book that helps him make sense of his life. Reading Frankenstein, Yod learns about a monstrous creature, created by a scientist with little regard for oversight or morality. The tension between creator and creation speaks to Yod, who frequently mentions the book when discussing his relation to Avram. Like the monster, Yod and Avram become one another’s agent of demise. Avram orders Yod to kill himself and Yod obeys, but he kills Avram in the process to prevent the creation of more cyborgs. With his final act, Yod destroys his creator and overcomes the programming, demonstrating a capacity for growth that could be considered human.
Gadi
Gadi is the other important man in Shira’s life. His infidelity as a teenager left a mark on her, driving her into the arms of the multis, but it also exposed the inherent flaws that will come to define Gadi’s life. With his mother dead and his father seemingly unimpressed by his son’s personality, Gadi has a craving for affection. He wants to be loved, but as soon as he has found a person who is willing to devote themselves to him (or even show him any sign of affection), he loses interest in them. Shira was the first to experience this but not the last.
This need to be loved has led Gadi into a life of fame and celebrity. His understanding of the problem has given him a career as a stimmie creator: He makes imaginary worlds in which people experience strong emotions, helped in part because Gadi knows what he is looking for and recreates this. Thus, Gadi’s life becomes one of indulgence and hedonism. As well as the fake worlds that he creates and inhabits, he is always chasing after the next form of stimulation, anything to keep him from remaining in one place for too long. Just as he becomes bored with women or anyone who shows him affection, he is in danger of becoming bored by situations, objects, stimulants, drugs, drinks, sex, or anything else. Until Gadi is able to reconcile his inherent character flaw, he will be locked in this cycle. When Gadi meets Nili, for instance, he meets a woman who seems to care little about his fame or his capabilities. She is barely interested in Gadi, which only captivates him more.
Gadi struggles to accept Yod’s existence at first but quickly becomes enamored. In Yod, he discovers another of Avram’s creations. He views Yod as a brother, victim to the same harsh upbringing and parental derision that has shaped Gadi’s life. In this respect, the flaws in Gadi’s character become clear. Yod becomes a proxy war for Gadi, allowing him to poke and prod at his father without ever confronting Avram directly. Gadi is still desperate for his father’s love and, unable to fill that hole in his life with his hedonistic habits, he begins to needle away at his father’s creation. He informs the council of Yod’s existence while trying to force Avram to properly compensate Yod for his work. This sets in motion the events that eventually lead to Avram’s death. After his father’s death, after all of his chastening experiences, Gadi finally heals.
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By Marge Piercy
