Wade Watts Character Analysis in Ready Player One Essay Example

If you have ever wondered what it is like to be overtaken by a virtual utopia and leave all dystopian realities behind, you may get along with Wade Watts, the main character of Ready Player One. He is a character who forgets almost everything in his dystopian lifestyle to be captivated by this dream of a utopia. Once he realizes he can do that through virtual reality he takes the opportunity the first chance he gets. But would you do what Wade had done or would you face the harsh reality of your world? The characters and setting in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline illustrate many problems that affect modern society. To start a major problem in Ready Player One is all of the global warming disasters there are many things such as countries being completely flooded due to rising oceans another issue represented is warfare these are dystopian qualities. People get distracted by their views of a utopia or a “perfect” world and allow these distractions to prevent them from facing their true issues in reality. This problem is issued by Wade and his distractions to his reality and his addiction to this virtual world. Ready Player One illustrates ways to address this by facing issues in the real world and addressing readers’ issues and what they need to fix.

People get distracted by their views of a utopia and allow these distractions to prevent them from facing their true issues in reality. “...and the sky was always a perfectly cloudless blue” (Cline 71). The virtual utopia can illustrate how obsessive people can get in dystopian novels. By wanting perfect weather all of the time for example, that can make people in these novels get more greedy and constantly be expecting and wanting more. So in their dystopia, they get even more greedy so when they have to face their reality they aren’t as good at it because they have adapted to this perfect world and they become obsessed with it because they forgot how to face reality. Allowing people to get distracted by this perfect world even the weather in the current world may be unexpected for them and they will not be prepared. “The OASIS kept me sane” (Cline 18). This goes to prove how obsessive people become when they are living in a dystopia to the point where their sanity can depend on a game that can make their utopia come to life. It also shows how desperate people are to escape their dystopia. That a utopian lifestyle can be what keeps some people sane. Characters in a dystopia start to lose their ability to face their issues in their dystopia such as obsessions because they long for a utopia so badly.   “I was going to reach the 3rd gate or die trying.” (Cline 266) The fact that people would rather die for a fake utopia than face their reality that may be poverty, warfare, or simply even feeling as if you don’t belong in society. This proves the obsessions people have with utopias because Wade is willing to sacrifice his life in order to stay in order to not have to face his problems. He isn’t able to face the issue that he may be dying in real life because he is so blinded by this idea of a perfect world. People have many issues today but in Ready Player One, they show how easy it can be to ignore them with a virtual world. Many people living in poverty today just have to try to live because we don’t have a virtual world for free that just allows people to be who they want. In addition to the idea of allowing people to be who they want to be in a virtual world is much easier than in the real world. These problems all have the same solution in the real world, face your problems head-on and resolve them yourself.

People get distracted by their views of a utopia and allow these distractions to prevent them from facing their true issues in reality. “For the first time in as long as I could remember I had no desire to log back onto the OASIS” (Cline 372) Wade finally learned how to face his problems by getting over his obsession with the OASIS. He did this by finally completing his goal (finding Halliday's Easter egg) So he is now able to face his problems in the real world because he completed his goal. He no longer has this desire for a utopia because he had accomplished his goals and is now ready to face his dystopia lifestyle. “I wish for Aech, Art3mis and Shoto to be resurrected.” (Cline 366) He learned how to face the selfishness that many people in his society have by gaining great friends. His friends were a great help for him to get over how selfish he was at the beginning of the story. He finally began to gain better morals and learned the true importance of friendship. He was able to do this by putting himself out there more and is now able to use these basic skills in the real world. Meaning he is no longer needing a utopian lifestyle because he has people he cares about and they can make his dystopia a utopia. “Online I didn’t have a problem talking to people or making friends” (Cline 30). He faces this issue online actually. He starts by making more friends online because he has no issues talking to people there. Once the hunt began to get more and more serious he got to meet his friends in person and his online communication skills helped him communicate with people in the real world. He stopped viewing the OASIS as a utopia and began to see his friends and the perfect people realizing there will never be such thing as a perfect world in his society. Although this proves that technology isn’t always a bad thing and in this case helped Wade improve his morals, make friends and become a better person.

But in all of these cases Wade has dealt with, he faced his issues head-on and didn’t have any shortcuts and he had to no longer stay distracted by what he thought was a perfect world and know that his dystopia may never be that way, Wade is trying to get readers to learn to face their issues and not ignore them. People get distracted by their views of a utopia and allow these distractions to prevent them from facing their true issues in reality. Everyone has something they are struggling with and it is always best to address your problems right away before they get too severe and before you can no longer fix them, Wade’s world is a dystopia and there is no way into making it a perfect world but once he learns that he has to focus on his real world and making it better his life even became a utopia. All people should learn to focus on themselves and improve their lives to make their lives a better place and even could become a utopia from their point of view.