How we cite our quotes: (Act.Paragraph)
Quote #1
DOMIN: What do you think? From a practical standpoint, what is the best kind of worker?
HELENA: The best? Probably one who —who—who is honest—and dedicated.
DOMIN: No, it's the one that's the cheapest. The one with the fewest needs. (prologue.92)
Helena is arguing for viewing workers as human beings. Domin, the factory owner, rejects that; workers are just widgets. Or at least, they'd be best if they were just widgets. The working class, for Domin, is best treated as not human. Domin sounds like he'd treat human workers like robots if he could get away with it.
Quote #2
HELENA: I saw the first Robots back home. The township bought them…I mean hired—
DOMIN: Bought, my dear Miss Glory. Robots are bought. (prologue.100)
Again, Helena tries to think of robots as human and Domin won't have it. Robots are not hired like workers, Domin insists, they are bought like equipment—or like slaves.
Quote #3
HELENA: Why won't you make souls for them?
DR. GALL: That's not within our power.
FABRY: Nor in our interest.
BUSMAN: That would raise the cost of production. Dear Lord, lovely lady, the beauty of our product is that it's so cheap! (prologue.302-305)
Gall says he can't give the robots souls. What does this mean if robots are workers? Does it mean that working class people don't have souls? Or does it mean, as Fabry and Busman suggest, that treating working class people as if they have souls is expensive, inconvenient, and dangerous?