Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

2652 Words6 Pages

Everyone is faced with difficult obstacles at some point in his or her life, whether or not they are able to overcome them can define them as a person. Every story has a plot, but a plot is determined by the characters and their actions to events that take place in the story. According to the article “Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots” written by Patricia S. Warrick, many of the plots in Asimov’s novels depend on “computers and robots [along with] space exploration and development” (54). Characters in the novels written by Isaac Asimov have to figure out the capabilities of new technology, understand other characters, and find solutions to problems with no end in sight. Characters’ actions and responses to problems play large roles in the plot of a story. The characters in Asimov’s novels have to solve problems that could affect the future of humankind. With such great advancements in technology, the humans begin to worry that technology such as robots will take over and become the primary race. In Isaac Asimov’s novel, Foundation and Empire, one of the themes is deception and some characters use deception to get what they want, and in a world of power, they became the most powerful of all. When the structure of organizations and countries begin to fall apart in the world, there are some people who will do almost anything to gain power. In Asimov’s eyes, the future world is going to be enormous expanding across galaxies, having unlimited technology, and billions of people. Asimov is one of few writers who has had success writing novels containing science fiction and mystery. Isaac Asimov depicts similar themes of power and deception by using the plot, characters, and setting, while the use of all these makes him an i...

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...simov. Ed. Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg. N.p.: Taplinger, 1977. 32-58. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 41-45. Print.

Short, Sue. "The Measure of a Man? Asimov's Bicentennial Man, Star Trek's Data, and Being Human." Extrapolation 44.2 (2003): 209. General OneFile. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

Warrick, Patricia S. "Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots." The Cybernetic Imagination. N.p.: The MIT, 1980. 53-79. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 53-56. Print.

Watt, Donald. "A Galaxy Full of People: Characterization in Asimov's Major Fiction." Isaac Asimov. Ed. Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg. N.p.: Taplinger, 1977. 135-73. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 45-50. Print.

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