Analysis Of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One

As Edmund Burke so wisely said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Ernest Cline shows how human beings do not sit back but take action in the face of injustices in his novel, Ready Player One. Ready Player One is a novel set in futuristic Earth that is suffering from an energy crisis. The populace escapes the grimness of their lives and the even more grim prospects for the future using the OASIS, a virtual reality simulation. IOI, a major telecommunications company, is planning to take over the OASIS and pervert its original purpose by monetizing it in a way that would restrict most of the populace from using it due to the extreme poverty they live in. Ernest Cline illustrates the great lengths

to which humans will go to prevent injustice through the characters of Wade and Shoto.
Wade Watts, the main protagonist, makes enormous sacrifices to rebel against what he believes is persecution and restriction by IOI.

In his own words, “The thought of the simulation being privatized by IOI horrified us…. it was like threatening to take away the sun.” (Cline,34) He perseveres through abuse, violence and threats to his life in order to prevent IOI from carrying out their plan. After a bomb planted by IOI goes off at his home, he says, “My aunt Alice and her boyfriend were dead, along with everyone who had lived in our trailer….If I had been at home I would be dead now too.”(146) Despite having the last remaining members of his family killed, he continues on his life goal of preventing IOI from winning and gaining the OASIS. The sacrifices he is willing to make are made startlingly clear when he carries out an insane plan of allowing himself to become an indentured servant to IOI to sabotage it from the inside. As Wade puts it, “I would alter the financial records and allow myself to become indentured by IOI….. If this didn’t work, I would have sold myself to lifelong slavery.” He is willing to sacrifice his own life and others just to stop IOI, showing his unyielding and adamant nature. His determination and perseverance to his cause are astounding and demonstrate human nature’s ability to make sacrifices for the greater

good.
Shoto, another protagonist, remains steadfast in the face of possible death from IOI to help Wade in his cause. Shoto hears from Wade how IOI tried to kill him and is still resolute in the face of this extreme danger; Wade explains, “No joke? They tried to kill you?.... If they’re able to locate any one of us, we’re dead meat.”(154) As Shoto explains to Wade after his own brother is killed, “The Sixers killed my brother last night…. They broke into his apartment, pulled him out of his haptic chair, and threw him off his balcony.” (242) Despite enormous trials and sacrifices he had to make, Shoto stands unfazed and courageous in their quest to defeat IOI.
Shoto and Wade are examples of humanity’s ability to stand up for what one believes in even in the face of extreme danger. Their devotion to their cause is what ultimately allows them to defeat IOI and let the OASIS remain open for all. Ernest Cline uses these characters to convey the message that humans are not spineless, weak-willed creatures that buck in the face of danger.