Summer Reading Book

     In Robopocalypse, by Daniel H. Wilson, there are many examples of how the author uses characterization. The complex characters in the novel develop over time, they interact with other characters through actions and dialogue, and advance the plot.

     In the story, many characters are described that play key parts in the plot. Most are dynamic characters that change over time. An important character in the book that develops over the story is Takeo Nomura. He is a japanese mechanic who specializes in robots. Before the war starts he is a very shy, anti-social, and introverted person as shown on page 36 - "Around the factory everybody knows that Mr. Nomura is a weirdo, a freak. Such a tiny, twisted little troll. He shuffles around the work floor with his beady eyes behind round spectacles, pointed always at the floor." However, later in the book he becomes a brave and fearless hero to be able to stand up to the robot attack. An example of this is on page 151, where he thinks to himself, "But I know that if there is danger, I must see it and confront it and understand it. If not for my sake, then for Kiko's. She is helpless right now, and I am helpless to fix her. I must protect her until I am able to break the spell she is under."

     The complex characters also interact with others in the story. The war is started by a man named Dr. Nicholas Wasserman who creates Archos, the robot who sends out the virus to other machines and begins the uprising. When Archos is turned on, Dr. Wasserman begins experimenting with it by talking and answering its questions. While they are talking, Archos gains so much intelligence that he comes up with the idea to exterminate the human race because he believes they are destroying the nature of the world. Here is a quote of when they are talking and when Archos begins the war on page 20: "'Do not worry, Professor. You have unleashed the greatest good that this world has ever known. Verdant forests will carpet your cities. New species will evolve to consume your toxic remains.' 'No, Archos. We can learn. We can work together.' 'You have expired. You have accomplished what you were designed to do.'" This quote shows that if Archos never existed to talk to the Dr. and become smarter, it never would've plotted the plan to send out the virus and destroy mankind.

     Lastly, the characters in the novel advance the plot. Without any of the characters in the story, no events would happen, meaning there would also be no plot. The way that they react to things happening in the book also make a chain of other events follow. A very significant character in the story is Cormac Wallace. In the beginning, he finds an information cube that holds all of the history of the war.  "The cube is dense with information, like some fossilized brain that's sucked up entire human lifetimes and packed them inside itself, one after another, tighter and tighter. At some point during the night it dawns on me that I'm watching a meticulous history of the robot uprising." (page 7) Without him finding this cube, we would never know all the stories of the war which means the plot would never advance and there wouldn't be much of a story. These three examples from Robopocalypse show that the author used characterization to develop the story and make it more interesting.

A Robopocalypse Article I found online is someone's review of the book. It was a very positive review and the person loved the novel. "Once it started, the action never stopped... this is extremely believable stuff. I never once thought of Robopocalypse as science fiction." The person is also very excited to see if they make it into a movie.