Saying Goodbye to Yang

Personification of Yang is the heart of “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” as narrator Jim contemplates aspects of the robot’s behavior. While Jim and Kyra outwardly consider Yang a machine, Jim grapples with the loss of Mika’s Big Brother as he tries to get him fixed and then, failing that, buries him. Jim recalls moments shared with Yang with varying emotion. When trying to introduce Yang to certain milestones he will share with Mika, in Yang’s aloofness, Jim is reminded that he is just a robot; when he takes Yang to a baseball game, he cheers because Jim cheers, not because he feels any excitement. Yang’s Fun Facts and caretaking are programmed into him, factory settings that nevertheless contribute to Jim’s family. Jim does slip into thinking of Yang as a real boy, especially when viewing the mementos he left behind, which magnifies his grief. Jim has lost not just a machine, but a robot on top of whom he grafted his emotions.

Jim is the first-person narrator of “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” thus readers experience his coming to terms with loss first-hand as he wrestles with how he is perceived.