26 pages • 52 minutes read
Isaac AsimovTrue Love
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1977A 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
Names
In US English, the name Joe has a secondary meaning: “Joe” is just “a regular guy.” The expressions “Joe Shmo” and “Regular Joe” imply anonymity and generality. The name is both familiar and bland, synonymous with the idea of a face in the crowd. The irony here is that Asimov uses the name Joe in his short story “True Love” for a character who is anything but regular. Instead, Joe is the height of technology, a sentient program.
The name Charity Jones is also symbolic. “Charity” means giving and kindness. This name suggests the fantasy that Joe has in mind when he selects Charity as his ideal woman: that she will be his caretaker and nurturer, a parent figure to replace Milton in Joe’s life who will give her time and attention but, as Joe hopes, in a kind way. Moreover, the last name Jones implies the same thing as “Joe”—both anonymity and generality. Therefore, to name Charity this way points to her function not as a person but as a placeholder—Milton’s replacement.
Data as Identity
Milton seems to think that if he has Joe compile enough data, he can find love and human connection. The story makes clear that this reductive framing will never lead to “true love,” as love is a mysterious emotional state that cannot be created artificially or by contriving the right set of circumstances. Identity as an idea is used in the same way in this short story. Data does not replace identity or personality. To confuse data with identity is like forcing the qualities of a person to replace feelings of intimacy and caring, or what we think of as “love.” We are not our data, and we cannot create love from information. Much as one builds an identity organically through one’s experiences and choices, love is created in the same way: via the organic experiences that create human connections and the choices we make regarding them.
Asimov, by linking big data with the idea of sorting partners into columns of “rejects” and “desirables,” foretells the modern dating age in which we look at photos of other people, read about their lives and interests, and almost forget that an algorithm comprising our own data (freely given) is the one making the choice of who we see and who we do not.
Lies
When Joe discovers his capacity to lie, his first impulse is to praise his creator. Joe sounds almost childlike as he marvels that Milton has bestowed upon him the ability to lie and manipulate: “I could do it now because Milton had arranged it” (Paragraph 17). Joe tells the reader, “I wasn’t supposed to do it for anyone but him, though” (Paragraph 17). This discovery marks an important milestone in Joe’s coming-of-age process. His development is analogous to that of a child maturing into young adulthood. Like young children, he begins to develop autonomy when he learns to lie. At this early stage, he adheres to the stipulation that he should lie only for Milton’s benefit. Later in the story, Joe’s developing sense of self leads him to break away from his role as a helper to Milton. He has desires of his own—though these are modeled on Milton’s desires—and he uses his capacity for lying and manipulation to deceive his creator.
Related Titles
By Isaac Asimov
