Theme evaluation

Theme: Literacy and/or Literature in the Online Social Network Era 

 The first passage I found interesting was one in which Lenny was at a bar with Noah and Vishnu and he begins talking about his emotions/love for Eunice, “the two of us. What if we just went home and read books to each other.” Noah proclaims, “You just halved my viewer load. You’re killing me here...” I feel, as this phrase is a wonderful way to summarize the people’s appreciation for literature, as soon as he mentions literature and his emotions, people stop listening to the stream. This is one of the first times in the novel where Shteyngart gives you a feel for the people’s repulsion for books.

Another passage which was very appealing was, “what kind of freaked me out was that I saw Len reading a book… I was going to teen my sister but I was so embarrassed I just stood there and watched him read.” It is quite fascinating how Eunice felt about Lenny reading a book, its like he’s committing a sin which sounds pretty ridiculous. The passage helps show you the disgust people in the book feel about literature. Yet, with the way our culture is evolving with the Internet, we aren’t too far from a society in which books are rarely used.

A third passage, which deals with Literacy, is one in one of the chats between Eunice and her sister Sally. Eunice types, “So please act brain smart. Do you know anything about Classics?” and sally responds by telling her she has scanned some of them and asks, “ Why do we have to impress him?” This passage seems very important, in the sense that it shows the two girls view on literature, and although neither of them are very into it they understand it is accompanied by intellect. This passage is significant because it seems like it is the first time where someone is appreciating the ability to read, sans Lenny. These are a few passages, which have an impact upon the theme of literacy.