Build-A-Bear

Publication(s)

  • First publication
    • Jim Baen's Universe, June 2006

Summary

Viola, a single woman on a cruise, gets a custom-created teddy bear named Theodore. It is much more alive than it first appears and it acts as a bodyguard for her.

Analysis

  • Sources of quotes
  • Meanings of names
    • Viola is a character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night who loves Count Orsino. Orsino sounds like 'ursine', or bear-like.
    • Theodore means 'Gift of God', appropriate for a bear that acts as friend, confidante, and protector. It's also a long form of the name 'Teddy'.
    • The original "Teddy Bear" was named for President Theodore Roosevelt.
  • References to other works
  • Theories about what happens under the surface, what the narrator isn't telling us, who the narrator is and when and why s/he is telling the story, what the whole thing "means," etc.
    If there are multiple or competing theories, each one should be given a name with a three-bang (!!!) header; if the page begins to get out-of-hand from the size of these, as could happen in a few cases, they should be shuffled off to their own page(s).
  • Etc.

Unresolved Questions

  • How could Viola adapt so quickly to the bear's aliveness? Is she crazy?
  • If the bear's behavior is all in her mind, with her performing ventriloquism for it, how does she get the gun on the would-be rapist?
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