The Importance of the Easter Egg Hunt
Chapter 1
Settings of Ready Player One
For Wade Watts, the easter egg hunt is one of the most important things in his life. Wade says, “I only do hunting at the free time.” (p.171, 2008, Cline), when he was asked about his free time. As you can see, Wade is obsessed with OASIS, and always thinks about the easter egg. But why is Wade so obsessed with OASIS?
I personally think Wade is so obsessed with OASIS, because of the settings he is living at. According to the novel’s description, Wade lives at Oklahoma City, 2045. There is nothing wrong about living at Oklahoma City, but Oklahoma City at 2045 is described as one of the fastest devastating cities in the world. Because Oklahoma City is one of the fastest devastating cities, Wade’s emotion is generally depressed. Additionally, Wade’s parents are described as dead. Hence, Wade feels no hopes in the real world and wants to run away from it. He needed something to console him. At that time, Wade met the OASIS, and it was the only place to feel hope and happiness to him. Because OASIS is an ideal world, Wade was comforted from the OASIS, which leads to an obsession.
Start of the Easter Egg Hunt
Additionally, when Wade was obsessed with OASIS, James Halliday died and the easter egg hunt was begun. The ambition of winning the Easter egg hunt and obsession of OASIS made Wade addicted to the game. The easter egg hunt also maximized the obsession of OASIS, because it was the only place where he could’ve felt an accomplishment. As the book referred, Wade always felt like a loser due to his Aunt Alice and Rick. Additionally, Wade explains himself as antisocial and has no friends. Wade couldn’t feel any accomplishments and winnings in the real world. Therefore, he was so desperate to win the easter egg because of the lack of hope and accomplishments he felt in the real world.
