71 pages • 2 hours read
Ernest ClineReady Player One
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
1980s Nostalgia
Nostalgia for the 1980s is the most prominent and consistent themes in Ready Player One. Presented as Halliday’s obsession that drives the Hunt, Cline’s own affinity for the decade permeates every aspect of the story, from characters to plot to set pieces. Much like the in-story guide Anorak’s Almanac, Ready Player One details movies, books, music, video games, TV shows, comics—American and Japanese—that were popular during that particular decade. Wade’s encyclopedic knowledge of the 1980s and his willingness to share with the reader make reading Ready Player One analogous to reading Anorak’s Almanac itself, effectively drawing the reader into the Hunt.
Cline also sets up a dichotomy of yearning for a world on the cusp of advanced technology while living in a world in which this technology exists but has not led to a better existence for most people. In 2045, when the story is set, most people have some level of access to technology even in the face of an energy crisis. Participation in the OASIS becomes a necessary function of life for everything from shopping to school to social interaction. Ironically, thanks to Halliday, the entire population of this advanced, immersive videogame becomes obsessed with a decade when technology was more rudimentary.
This dichotomy between immersive technological of the present and basic technology of the past serves two purposes. It connects to Halliday’s final message that reality is more important than the OASIS. Halliday’s yearning for the 1980s is connected to his yearning for human connection—something he was inept with and which became increasingly more difficult as technology advanced. In a world with no technology to hide behind, people had to interact with each other in person and form real connections. Secondly, focusing on the 1980s gives the novel an air of hope. By looking back to the decade when technology was a dream on the horizon, everything feels like possibility—the future is open to whatever people can make of it. This stands in contrast to world of 2045 where everything feels hopeless. Ready Player One comes full circle at the end by bringing that hope for the future back for Wade, and by extension, for humanity.
Reality Versus Escapism
Ready Player One takes place in two entirely separate worlds—the real world of 2045 and the virtual world of the OASIS. Like many of his generation, Wade has little desire to interact with the real world which has been ravaged by famine, poverty, war, and crises of climate and energy. Besides the looming macro level problems, he also faces personal challenges. His parents are dead, and he lives in a trailer park in which the trailers are stacked precariously on top of one another. Wade’s only relationships in the real world at the start of the story are with his drug-addict aunt who only takes him in for his food vouchers, her violent boyfriend, and one kind old woman who occasionally takes pity on him.
In contrast, the OASIS is a paradise of potential. A poor boy with no friends like Wade can feel a sense of engagement and purpose, particularly once Halliday announces his Hunt and gives people a reason to work for something specific and life-changing. Over the course of the novel, Wade abandons the real world to the point where he vows not to leave the OASIS except to sleep; he paints over his windows and barely leaves his haptic chair. His reliance on the OASIS becomes so great that the prospect of losing access makes him seriously consider suicide. Yet, ironically, the more Wade devotes himself to the OASIS, the more experiences he has in the real world—improving his fitness and diet, infiltrating IOI, and moving, first to his own apartment, and then to Og’s mansion. Ultimately, Halliday impresses upon Wade that reality is more essential than the OASIS.
Dystopia Versus Utopia
Tying into the theme of reality and escapism, Cline also sets up a juxtaposition of capitalist and socialist ideals. In the novel, unchecked capitalism has contributed to the real world’s decline, creating enormous gaps between the elite few and the poor masses struggling to survive. Those not born into privilege are left fighting for minimal resources, living in dirty, dangerous conditions, lacking access to education and healthcare, and being largely forgotten by those who actually possess the means to address the situation. A massive corporate conglomerate that treats people as an expendable means to an end, IOI epitomizes capitalist greed. Sorrento tells Wade that no one will care about an explosion in the stacks that kills multiple people. This demonstrates his corruption and depravity, but even more troubling is that he is correct. IOI bombs Wade’s home, and the world reacts as though nothing has happened. Similarly, Daito’s murder is disregarded since IOI controls much of the media.
The OASIS, on the other hand, provides an egalitarian space that is free to access and filled with possibility. Education is free to any school-aged child who can manage to log in, and while there is still a system of credits and payments, there are many more opportunities for advancement. Avatars do not need to worry about food or clothing. At first, gunters mostly look out for themselves, but when threatened by Sixers, they band together. Despite the promise of untold riches both in the OASIS and in real life, Halliday’s egg is not the most important thing to most gunters; the OASIS itself is. Gunters repeatedly fight to prevent the takeover of their virtual utopia, to the point of sacrificing themselves in large numbers for the greater good. Wade himself starts out wanting to use the contest winnings for himself, but, inspired by the people close to him and by the gunters as a whole, he eventually decides he would rather use it to help make the world a better place.
