Title: The Girl Who Was Plugged In
Author: James Tiptree, Jr.
Date of First Publication: 1973
Place of Publication: New Dimensions 3
Type: Short Fiction
Characters: No Character
Themes: ANDROID; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER
Critical Summary: The short story takes place in the future where no commercials or ads are allowed and everyone is controlled by a person and a device. One day, a girl by the name P. Burke, or Philadelphia, is in a hospital because she attempted to commit suicide. Philadelphia is approached by a man looking to recruit her. She is asked if she would like to become a remote so she can try and advertise items in secret ways. Philadelphia agrees to this arrangement. Once the process begins, Philadelphia is required to have modifications and implants to allow her to control another body by a remote. The body that Philadelphia creates is a girl by the name of Delphi who, because she does not have her own functioning brain, is controlled by Philadelphia via satellite. Delphi’s function is to buy products and use them in ways to persuade others to buy those products as well. However, because ads and commercials are banned, if Delphi is caught advertising to people, she can get in a lot of trouble. Along the way, she meets a boy named Paul Isham, and he ends up falling in love with her but towards the end finds out that Delphi is really remote which causes him to become infuriated. Because of this revelation, Paul seeks out the lab in which Philadelphia is hidden and he pulls out all of her implants, resulting in the deaths of both Philadelphia and Delphi.
An aspect that really connects to Frankenstein is the creation of Delphi, who did not ask to be given existence. Just like the creation of the Creature, Delphi was created for the sole purpose of another person’s satisfaction. Both were also created at the wrong place and the wrong time. The Creature was completely put off, alone, and isolated even though he did not want to be, which in time ended badly. For Delphi, although her remote life was not the worst, the good times did not last. She ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which resulted in her being killed, and for the Creature, it resulted in him living a miserable life and killing others. Another aspect that can be connected is the fact that both Frankenstein and “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” did not have a happy ending. Once reaching the end of both of these stories, we come to find out that both Delphi and the creature come across death. Philadelphia and the Creature also share similar characteristics. Before Philadelphia created Delphi she was very lonely, as she did not have any family or friends she could go to. That is similar to the Creature because he did not have anyone; he was abandoned by Victor and every time he tried making friends they ran. Now transitioning into themes, one of the themes that I decided to put for this short story was Android and that is because Delphi was known as a remote, she was created by an actual person, but she really stood as a robot because she was being controlled.
Administrative Notes: Leslie Dunne, CSUF; Lee Koehler, CSUF (editing)