Corporate Critique and Nostalgia in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Introduction

Ernest Cline wrote Ready Player One, which became one of the most popular works of the decade. Wade Watts, the book’s protagonist and narrator, is eighteen years old and reflects the author himself. The central idea of Ready Player One is that big institutions like governments and companies have no morals and will frequently do whatever it takes to accomplish their objectives. Also, it creates a vivid environment with real people going through plausible interpersonal conflicts.

Book Review

Ernest Cline’s writing in Ready Player One may be characterized as descriptive due to his ability to help the reader imagine the setting, experience tension, and relate to and comprehend characters. The story relies heavily on the reader’s ability to imagine the setting so that they may fully immerse themselves in it and the problems the characters encounter. Within these settings, Kline creates a fascinating and living world.

The novel is drenched with nostalgia for better days, with frequent allusions to the 1980s and James Holliday’s youth. Holliday exploited his passion for 1980s pop culture and media to escape his difficult familial situation. Wade, who had a similarly terrible upbringing, indirectly experiences this nostalgia through Holliday’s hobbies (Cline, 2011). Similar to how the OASIS is utilized, the author portrays nostalgia as a form of escape.

The book critically analyzes companies and their effect on the environment. Unlike privately held businesses motivated by the owner’s vision, corporations typically regard profit as their primary aim. They minimize or stifle uniqueness by treating the individuals who work for them like replaceable cogs in a machine (Cline, 2011). Moreover, a major corporation’s financial resources make it extremely hard for an individual to refuse.

Conclusion

Overall, the novel is entertaining and compelling, making it a good read for everyone. The author heavily emphasizes corporations and how they ruin the world. They are merciless and will employ whatever shady and criminal practices they can get away with, making them unreliable. Cline’s main point is that businesses are bad things that can only destroy things that already exist.

Reference

Cline, E. (2011). Ready Player One. Ballantine Books.

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StudyCorgi. (2025) 'Corporate Critique and Nostalgia in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline'. 18 August.

1. StudyCorgi. "Corporate Critique and Nostalgia in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline." August 18, 2025. https://studycorgi.com/corporate-critique-and-nostalgia-in-ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline/.


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StudyCorgi. "Corporate Critique and Nostalgia in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline." August 18, 2025. https://studycorgi.com/corporate-critique-and-nostalgia-in-ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline/.

References

StudyCorgi. 2025. "Corporate Critique and Nostalgia in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline." August 18, 2025. https://studycorgi.com/corporate-critique-and-nostalgia-in-ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline/.

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