Just about everyone is different from other people in some ways. These can be small, barely noticeable ways, such as taste in food or music, or major, clearly defined ways, such as race, gender, sexuality, physical ability, and personality. Many times, throughout the history of society, people who are different in one or more of these major ways are ostracized from the rest of society. Literature also often features these characters in major ways, as well as their alienation. One of these character is Aech in Ready Player One. In the novel Ready Player One, Ernest Cline presents Helen’s avatar’s and real-life characterization, her real-life home life, and eventual acceptance in order to show how society views negatively upon those who are different …show more content…
First, Cline presents Helen’s avatar’s characterization in order to show how society views negatively upon those who are different from them. Helen’s avatar is a white male known as Aech in the virtual reality called the OASIS, where everyone can make avatars that look and act however the creator wishes. When Cline introduces Aech, he characterizes him as “a tall, broad-shouldered Caucasian male” (Cline 38), and when asked about how he looks in real life, responds with “’Yes. But…even more handsome” (Cline 38). However, later in the story, it is revealed that Helen is, in real life, a black woman. This characterization demonstrates the negative views of society on those who are different because white people and males are considered the default, privileged groups, while black people and women have historically been discriminated against. Helen’s desire to portray herself as a white male shows that this society shares these views with ours, because she wouldn’t have any desire to portray herself as a white male and lie about it if it didn’t put her in a better position. However, her race and gender are not the only characteristic that puts her at a disadvantage. Cline also presents Helen’s sexuality in …show more content…
After being kicked out by her mother, Helen was “‘homeless for a little while…[then] lived in a series of shelters’” (Cline 321). The inability to find a place to live shows how society views negatively upon those who are different from them, because while the story never specifically states that her inability to find a place to live was because of her sexuality, gender, or race, her alienation from her home life due to her sexuality led her to this situation. Additionally, the society had been shown to be prejudiced against people of a different sexuality, gender, or race through the aforementioned examples, leaving it likely harder for her to find a place to live. However, even when she does find a place to live, it comes with a sense of personal isolation. She worked to save up credits in the OASIS and “‘eventually…earned enough competing…to buy [an] RV…[and] only stop[s] moving when the RV’s batteries need to recharge’” (Cline 321). Helen choosing to move around the country shows how society views negatively upon those who are different from them because she cannot find a place where she fits. Moving all around the country without stopping anywhere suggests that she does not feel that she belongs anywhere, with no one to go to and no one to check in on. After being kicked out by her mother, she has no one left to turn to.
Wade Watts is a geeky orphan who whose determination may shift depending on the situation. Wade started out living in his aunt's trailer at the Stacks, with very little money and his only access to OASIS was on a school-issued laptop. He then learned of the hunt for Halliday’s egg, a hunt which the winner would receive the late James Halliday’s fortune and unlimited power in OASIS. Wade becomes obsessed with the hunt and abandons school altogether trying to win. Yet, this is not the only sidetrack he faces. In Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, Wade’s main adversity and how he overcomes it shows that no matter how much you get distracted if you have the drive you can pull yourself back together.
Before setting out, she gave herself a list of rules she had to follow so that her experience would be as real as it could be. Her first rule was when looking for a job she couldn't mention the skills she had learned from her education. Second, she had to take the highest paying job that was being offered to her. Third, she had to live in the cheapest accommodation that she could, providing that it was a safe environment. Going hungry and being homeless weren't ever able to be options.
She allows her mother to control her and make decisions for her. During their conversation, she asks her mom if she should marry Mr. Jones even if she does not love him. Her mother does not seem to care until Helen mentions that he is Vice-President of the company. Her mother says that she should marry him whether she loves him or not because he will be able to take care of her and Helen. They continue to discuss how Helen can marry this man that she doesn’t like so she will never have to work again and he can support her mother, or she can say no at the risk of losing her job and not being able to support her mother anymore. Helen ties in how life is making her “feel like I’m stifling!” (591). Again, I feel this is another representation of Helen not being able to handle the pressures of society. Helen can’t talk about important decisions she has to make without feeling claustrophobic and blowing up by saying things like “I’ll kill you!” (592). I think she blows up because her mother is always nagging her and she can’t handle it in that moment anymore, especially since it is a conversation about
The name “Player One” holds significance, by it being the name in which “one” has complete control of the world and time. Player One is an avatar that Rachel uses to be human. In the novel, Rachel is Player One, making her the one to have complete and total control of what is happening. Player One is the narrator that illustrates the future of the characters, and the feelings and impact that each scenario is having on them. Player One, as a narrator gives a fore-shadowing view, of what is to be like the role of a higher power in reality. The characters are trapped within their bodies for seventy or so years, unable to free themselves and roam around, like Player One. Due to Rachel having a lesion in the right side of her brain, she is prevented from being able to comprehend humour, irony, passion and god. Theses are all given neurological significance, since they are all identified by the brain. These characteristics lead and prevent her from having a personal identity, that is considered “normal”. The lesion prevents Rachel from being able to differentiate among all these, making her “non-human”. She has no identity, nothing that makes her an individual is capable of being differentiated by her brain, classifying her as a robot. Humans love being able to classify and define what is being portrayed in front of them.Anything which is not understood by the brain, is considered abnormal and inhuman like. Rachel then, uses Player One to be able to feel and express all theses characteristics. To Rachel, Player One is a medium, she can use to express herself and feel normal. Rachel does not have a true personal identity, until she is tied down with Player One. It is ironic, considering that for Rachel to be able to feel “human”, she relies on technology, but in the end she is able to fulfil her life’s goal through human interaction. Rachel signifies
The search for one’s identity can be a constant process and battle, especially for teenagers and young adults. Many people have a natural tendency to want to fit in and be accepted by others, whether it be with family, friends or even strangers. They may try to change who they are, how they act, or how they dress in order to fit in. As one gets older, society can influence one’s view on what they should look like, how they should act, or how they should think. If society tells us that a certain body type or hair color is beautiful, that is what some people strive for and want to become in order to be more liked. This was especially true with Avery as she longed for the proper clothes to fit into a social group and began to change the way she spoke to match those around her. As a young and impressionable sixth grader, she allowed herself to become somewhat whitewashed in an attempt to fit in with the other girls. However, Avery did not really become friends with any of those girls; her only real friend was
Queer. Exile. Class (Clare 31).” When Clare writes about losing home, he is writing about the parts of his identity that pulled him away from the place that he raised, as well as the parts of his identity that prevent him from finding home in other places (Clare 41). These words, queer, exile, and class, are both driving forces behind why Clare can’t find a place where he feels fully comfortable settling, but also these words give him a place where he feels at home. Clare explains his trouble finding home best when he describes, “I was a rural, mixed-class, queer child in a straight, rural, working-class town. Afterwards, I was an urban-transplanted, mixed-class, dyke activist in an urban, mostly middle-class, queer community. Occasionally I simply feel as if I’ve traded one displacement for another and lost home to boot (Clare 46).” This telling of Clare’s displacement highlights how his queer identity drove him from his childhood home, but his rural, mixed-class background prevents him from feeling content in the city (Clare 46). His queer identity, and his desire to escape his class situation, is part of what forced Clare into the exile that he experiences. However, these identities don’t only serve as a point of alienation for Clare but also as a place where he can belong. When talking
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is a novel set in the year 2045 where almost everyone engages in a virtual reality called the OASIS. Cline’s novel published in 2011 can be compared to The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins and the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. Collins’ first book was published in 2008 and Roth’s published in 2011. These three novels written and published during the same time period share many similar ideas and concerns of our culture. The appalling future society, the budding romance, the teenage protagonist are all found in novels like Cline’s. A Cultural Criticism of Ready Player One examines the similarities it shares with other dystopian novels of the twenty-first century and possibilities as to why the genre has been thriving.
Flannery O'Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. "The Displaced Person" introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader's eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in "The Displaced Person," Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life's harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually -- or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.
Somehow, everything about the whites appear to elicit a reigning beauty that raises hatred and envy the black girls have against the white girls. Packer argues that even small thing like hair contributes to hostility. The fourth grade says; “their long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as spaghetti from the box” (Packer, 16). These reinforcements are ingredients of prejudice that brings about racial discrimination. The black girls get jealous of the white girls’ hair, and this leads to discrimination against them. It is worth noting that the prejudices are handed down by the environment and society that people are brought up in. Arnetta, remembers a mall experience when she and her mother were being seen as if they were from China. They were being discriminated because of their race. The various treatments given to black people has played a vital role in intensifying the issue of prejudice, magnifying people’s sense of inferiority, and shaping the views of the black people on the white people. Arnetta says; “Even though I didn’t fight to fight, was afraid of fight, I felt I was part of the rest of the troop; like I was defending something” (Packer, 12). This is a clear indication that society has the power to influence youths. It depicts how society joins hands to fight for what they think is their right. Owed to the fact that this is a society. Everything and everyone is interlinked in a given way, making racism and prejudice hard to do away
...the female and male gender across cultures. This role can cause problems when mistaking a male for a female much like Gallimard did in the play. Everyone from children, to the media, creates stereotypes. Stereotypes corrupt members of society, compelling them to view cultures and gender unfairly. Societies must eliminate the amount of stereotypes that are being distributed to various cultural around the world. Stereotypes are powerful, limiting, and discriminatory, and they prevent people from understanding other cultures fully. Without the demolition of stereotypical ideas, cultures that stereotype others will not see the differences between the stereotypical ideas and the real ideas of a culture.
In the novel, the women look at their individual housing situations as a giant disappointment. To explain, even though Kyra and Delaney housing situation brings both families closer together and they each have their own separate house, there is still that need to have an even bigger and a much better living condition for their families. Although, Kyra and Delaney both agree with their significant others dissatisfaction with the current situation that they find themselves in. I also believe that yet again the significant of this goes back to the American Dream and how we as Americans strive to make better in our life.
In Helen’s therapy session, she describe being discontent with her life. She specifically identifies her marriage as an area where she is not happy. Furthermore, Helen’s “top dog” is telling her that she must always play the role of a good worker and wife, otherwise calamity is bound. Her polarized belief is displayed when she says that “people will not make it if you are not where you said you would be” (MyLab, n.d). Additionally, the defense mechanism Helen is portraying is introjection, which is uncritically accepting beliefs of others, because she avoids taking responsibility for her own self. Lastly, Helen reports that change will be difficult, placing her in the impasses layer of neurosis, characterized by feeling trapped (MyLab,
Within The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Sun Also Rises, Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway respectively illustrate characters that hold a fascination for their own beauty. Through this essay I will compare and contrast those characters, Dorian Gray and Brett Ashley, and their obsession with their said beauty. Within The Picture of Dorian Gray both Dorian Gray and Lord Henry value youth to extreme extents, and Dorian is able to grasp a sense of eternal youth only to drive himself to his own demise. Brett Ashely on the other hand, uses her beauty to find a powerful identity within a patriarchal society, and at the end of the novel she finds herself cycling back to who she was in the beginning of the novel. While both characters use their beauty to gain power, Ashely is able to avoid the downward spiral that Dorian suffers due to her dependent relationship with Jake Barnes. Within The Picture of Dorian Gray, Basil is incapable of forming any reciprocal relations with Dorian, thus allowing Lord Henry to mold him. Henry plants the seeds for Dorian’s development, but Dorian breaks away from Henry and begins to develop an overzealous form of masculinity that excludes all external relationships. It is due to this disconnect that Dorian is unable to reach the same fruition of his goals as Ashely is. Through their tales both Dorian and Ashely developed into strong idealized figures of beauty, but only Brett is capable of maintaining her mentality.
Portraying the characters rejection to conformity, American literature illustrates the distinctive following of one's own standards. From what has been analyzed previously, the authors are trying to display a message of change through the characters words and actions. Many times it is apparent that the characters are in there times of most comfort when they are acting in such that makes them their own being, stepping aside from the standards of the rest of society. Writers try to express the importance of stepping outside of that comfort zone in order to grow and develop as a human being. How will one ever know who they are if they conform to be what everyone is told to be? The biggest advocate of rejecting the norms of America is Chris McCandless.
Theme of Alienation in Literature A common theme among the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne is alienation. Alienation is defined as emotional isolation or dissociation from others. In Hawthorne's novels and short stories, characters are consistently alienated and experience isolation from society. These characters are separated from their loved ones both physically and psychologically. The harsh judgmental conditions of Puritan society are the cause of isolation for these characters and eventually lead to their damnation.