Monica Swinton

Outer characterization

In Aldiss' short story, “Supertoys Last All Summer Long”, we meet Monica Swinton. She is the wife of Henry Swinton, one of the directors of Synthank, a company that makes synthetic life-forms. Monica and her husband are part of the wealthy group in their society (ll. 56-57). She is a housewife and only has the company of robots at home. 

Monica is described as young and beautiful: “Monica Swinton, twenty-nine, of graceful shape and lambent eye, went and sat in her living room, arranging her limbs with taste.” (ll. 22-23). She is not obese, probably because, like other rich people, she  has “a Croswell (…)  in the small intestine, a perfectly safe parasite tape-worm” (ll. 59-60), suggesting her privileged status in society. However, it also suggests that to some extent she is artificial despite being a real human being, just like her husband.

Inner characterization

While Henry’s words suggest that Monica is a superficial woman – “ ‘Monica prefers to stay at home thinking beau...