Setting

Physical setting

The short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brain Aldiss was published in 1969. However, the advanced technology presented in the story – holograms (l. 225), synthetic life-forms with human-like intelligence, animated toys, machines such as an ultrasonic dryer (l. 18) – suggest that the action takes place in a fictional society in the future. 

The dystopian setting is indicated by the issues encountered in this society: reproduction is government-controlled, three quarters of the world population suffer from starvation and only a third is well-off, but suffers from obesity, while loneliness and isolation affect millions of people (ll. 158-159). The dystopian setting is also suggested through the fact that, to solve loneliness and isolation, companies such as Synthank create synthetic beings which can keep people company. 

The general physical setting is the part of the world where people do not suffer from starvation (ll. 56-57). The city where the Swintons live is described as “full of crowding people, blowboats, and buildings” (ll. 28-29). The presence of high buildings and blowboats, which are a type of boat used in shallow waters or swamps, could suggest that the city is also flooded. 

The Swintons live in “one of the ritziest city-blocks, half a kilometer above the ground” (ll. 219-220), which suggests that they are wealthy. The building itself is designed to help the inhabitants avoid the realities of the external world: “Embedded in other apartments, their apartment had no windows to the outside; nobody wanted...