Awakening

"Awakening" by Bryce Walton is a science fiction story from the 1950s that looks at artificial intelligence and feelings through Alice, a robot maid who is in love with her owner, Kelsey. The story asks big questions about what it means to be alive, to love, and to find yourself in a world that depends more and more on machines. Alice really likes Kelsey, but he doesn't notice because he is dating a human named Gloria. Alice feels very alone and wants to be more like a human so Kelsey will love her, so she decides to change herself. She steals a form to order a more beautiful robot body, hoping it will make Kelsey love her. But after she becomes pretty, Alice learns that changing how she looks won't fix Kelsey's problems, because he is also struggling with feeling empty. The story ends with Alice understanding more about love, life, and who she is, and she accepts herself as a robot.