True Love

The repetition of certain words or elements is a literary device that an author uses to create a mood of apprehension and draw attention to one thing but away from another. In “True Love,” the repetition of the word “arrange” is used to highlight the relationship between the computer program and the computer programmer. By using this word, Asimov makes two specific points: that Joe is working at Milton’s request and that Joe’s grasp of ethics is completely logical and therefore can be manipulated by logic. Asimov thus creates a feeling of apprehension in the reader, suggesting that what Milton is doing is wrong and that Joe doesn’t understand right versus wrong. Joe seems innocent, and it is only near the end of the story that the reader learns that Asimov has tricked them—Joe was in control the entire time while he had been telling the reader his story. He uses the word for his own actions in that he “arranges” for Milton to be arrested. With Milton out of the way, Joe “arranges” a relationship with Charity in Milton’s place.

“True Love” is unusual in that it has no clear setting. The lack of setting can be seen here as a literary device in and of itself, emphasizing the universality of the story’s themes. Instead of a setting, the reader is told that Joe “is part of the Multivac-complex and [is] connected with other parts all over the world. [He] know[s] everything. Almost everything” (Paragraph 1). For readers familiar with Asimov’s other work, the detail about the Multivac-complex links this short story to Asimov’s fictional universe. Aside from this detail, however, there is nothing to connect these events and characters to any specific location, and the implication is that this story could happen anywhere: The folly of trying to quantify the unquantifiable is modern problem, not a problem of any particular place.