Character Response To

Ready Player One  by, Ernest Cline

“ Ready Player One” by, Ernest Cline, is a sci-fi book set in 2044 where people spend more time in an online virtual utopia, OASIS, than on  Earth.  OASIS was originally created as a video game, and many people treat it like a video game, making their avatars wizards with magical powers and things like that.  When the creator of OASIS dies, a hunt is setup where you have to clear three hidden gates.  The first person to do all of that takes over the whole game!  The main character, Wade, goes through many changes when he becomes one of the few people to clear the first two gates, and eventually the only person to clear the third and final gate.

Before Wade cleared the first gate, or any of the gates, he was a different person mentally, socially, and physically.  Mentally Wade had low self esteem.  For example on page 30 Wade says, “ I was a painfully shy, awkward kid...”.  Socially Wade had no friends in the real world and only one in OASIS.  He also didn’t like being around people.  To prove this on page 25 he says, “ This van was my hideout, out of sight and very isolated...”.  I think Wade’s weight had something to do with Wade being socially awkward, and having a low self esteem.  On page 30 Wade says, “ I was overweight, and had been for as long as I could remember...”.

However, after Wade cleared the first gate and eventually the last two gates, Wade changed for the best.  Wade’s self esteem was high as ever.  He even became a little bit overconfident after clearing the first gate, taking a break from the hunt to enjoy his fame after becoming the first person to clear gate #1.  Socially Wade had become a celebrity and a hero.  On page 214 he even said, “ The usual suspects crazed fans, and wannabe disciples..”.   This was definitely a big jump from when he had no friends before the hunt started, now he has fans and was a role model.  Thanks to Wade’s huge popularity growth he decided he wanted to look presentable to himself and the rest of the world.  By that he meant wanting to get into shape.  On page 197 he says, “ The pounds began to melt off , and after a few months, I was in near-perfect health!”.  This was a huge change for Wade and it showed me something about Wade.  It showed me that if Wade was motivated he could do anything he wanted to.  It took months, but he stayed committed to the workout plan and diet and exceeded all of his goals.  Also, he diminished all of his weight problems.

All in all, I think winning the contest, and just competing in it helped Wade out a lot.  He changed for the better and saw that he could do things.  Surprisingly the hunt also helped Wade realize that OASIS wasn’t everything.  Things like friendship and change, helped a boy whose escape was OASIS, escape the idea that OASIS was life       

“Before we were Free” By, Julia Alvarez

In “ Before we were Free” by Julia Alvarez, the lesson is to fight for what you believe in.   This book is set in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s during the Trujillo dictatorship.  The main character, Anita de la Torre, is a twelve year old girl who’s father is in a plot to take down Trujillo.  In the beginning of the story Anita’s cousins move away to America, while Anita’s family stays and plot how to fight the cruel dictatorship.  During all of the chaotic things that happen while trying to take down the dictatorship, Anita’s dad is killed and her sister moves to the United States for safety reasons.  By the end of the book what’s left of Anita’s family, Anita, her brother and her mom, are forced to leave the country.

  Anita’s dad is what you would call a freedom fighter because he organizes riots against the dictatorship of Trujillo, and participates in the assassination of Trujillo.  When Anita first learned this about her dad, she wanted to leave the country just like her cousins so they wouldn’t get killed by the government.  But the more she learns about the horrible way Trujillo treats the people of her country the more she wants to help her father take him down.  And in some ways she does, like the time when the SIM (the secret police that work for Trujillo) came to her house while her dad was having a meeting about organizing riots with other rebels.  She warned her dad who broke up the meeting and the other rebels left undetected.  Anita’s dad’s plan to kill Trujillo works, but the head of the military, the most important piece in the plan, double crosses the rebels.   He tells Trujillo’s son who was responsible for killing his dad.

     As you could expect, Trujillo’s son isn’t very pleased with his fathers death, so he places a price on all rebels and their families heads.  This is why Anita, her brother, and her mom have to flee from the Dominican Republic to the United States.  It takes a year but the United States government convinces Trujillo’s son to stop the bloodbath and give up his power.  In the end Anita’s dad got what he fought for, freedom for his country.  The dictatorship didn’t end right away, but it did all because the rebels fought for what they believed in.