In an increasingly technology-dependent world, we find ourselves becoming more and more lonely and isolated, just as Lenny and Eunice feel in Super Sad True Love Story. Though leaders of the technology industry proclaim that the internet and social media creates expanded connectivity between people, Shteyngart’s book provides an opposing narrative that cannot be overlooked. Through the eyes of Lenny, Shteyngart reveals the longing of the waning generations to return to the unplugged era and have more personal connection. Lenny cares more about his thoughts and feelings talking to people than using his aparat to communicate for him. Despite society’s pressure on Lenny to conform, he resists and shows how loneliness appears when one tries to stay against the times.

Lenny may be seen by critics as an anachronism stuck in the novel, but Eunice and her actions are consistent with how technology does the opposite of what its creators intended. In a message to her friend “Grillbitch”, Eunice confesses, “I miss you so much, Pony. I really do. Come to New York please! I need all the love I can get these days” (75). Eunice’s pleas come across the internet even as she can communicate daily with her mom, sister, and friends. In this technologically advanced society, Eunice’s emotions are only natural do to her detachment from physical interaction. Relying on technology for emotion has gotten Eunice flustered, confused, and lonely, showing that healthiness is diminished by technology.

The beauty of an epistolary novel is that the medium through which the character communicates with the audience can greatly alter our understanding of the character. The element of Super Sad True Love Story I found relevant in our own world was the presentation of the secretive nature of man. No man can be completely candid to another person and Shteyngart explicitly displays this through the various medium through which the character communicates with the readers.

In Leonard’s personal diary, where the confidentiality of the information is guaranteed, the readers are exposed to greatly personal emotions and thoughts that one would be reluctant to share with another person, however trusted they may be. On the contrary, when the reader sees Eunice’s letters, very little information regarding her emotional position and personal worries are expressed. Also the changing style of writing when writing to her friend and to her mum clearly shows that the character Eunice presented in those letters are not truly reflective of her character. This suggests that the Eunice we see through the letter is not her true self but a Eunice barred by social conventions like writing politely to a parent and the gibberish talking with a friend. The insincere selfportrayal in Eunice’s letters evidently proves that no one can absolutely disclose their true self in the presence of others.

Certain aspects of Super Sad True Love Story parallel those found in real life, such as seclusion and ridicule due to personal differences. While the loneliness found in the futuristic setting of the novel manifests itself differently than in real life, it shows through especially in the case of Lenny. Lenny’s disconnect from his peers is seen especially in pages 57-65, upon his return to work. In the novel, most people are trying to achieve eternal life and the illusion of being young forever. Lenny, however, is visibly aging while surrounded by young people. He does not like new technology, likes to read books, and simply does not have the funds to complete the anti-aging treatments that others do. He is shamed for being visibly older and laughed at when he tries to fit in. Certainly most of us would agree that we have felt excluded at some point in our lives, whether that be due to differing interests, cultures, or personalities and this is exemplified in Super Sad True Love Story.

This scene in the novel alludes to those instances in real life, in which someone tries to fit into a group in which he or she is clearly not comfortable or does not conform to what is “normal” for that group. This is an important issue, because in Lenny’s case, this exclusion makes him want to change who he is and how he acts. Unfortunately however, real people also experience these things every day and want to change to fit in with certain groups. The theme of loneliness and exclusion based on personal differences in Super Sad True Love Story translates into real life scenarios, and shows how destructive this behavior can be to those targeted by the ridicule.

Desiring to rekindle his past relationships as well as attempting to rejuvenate his health, Lenny decided that it was time for him schedule a reunion with his friends, Noah and Vishnu. Though much to his dismay, the night did not go in the direction that he anticipated. Meeting with his friends only emphasized how outdated he was as a result of the trip to Rome. The night for him only seemed like embarrassment as he unintentionally acted more ancient than his peers. In particular, after seeing Lenny’s many book purchases, Vishnu commented that it will only make his personality rankings go down. Even though books were once seen as a tool to strengthen minds intellectually, Vishnu contradicted the popular belief by saying that books only debilitate a person socially.

This scene in Super Sad True Love Story alludes to the idea that in our society, the increase dependence of technology may result in a diminishing interest in books in the future. One can already begin to notice the start of a transformation just by seeing tablets replacing bibles in a church or audiobook sales increasing while bookstores suffer. Since books in Super Sad True Love Story are associated with old age, it is frowned upon socially to possess or to read books in order to be a part of the juvenile society rather than an outsider. While technology is useful in terms of accessibility, books provide greater insight than any typical machinery could provide. For instance, through the author, we can acquire valuable ideas and cultural aspects that existed in the time period, and books also give us awareness and different perspectives that authors present based on their research on a certain topic. This element in Super Sad True Love Story draws attention to being aware of how much a reliance on technology can have the ability to hinder other essential contributions to our society if we allow it to occur.

When it comes to the topic of identity, most of us will readily agree that ethnicity has a lot to do with how people identify themselves. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of stereotypes. Whereas some are convinced that stereotypes are factual, others maintain that they distort the personality of individuals. Although Super Sad True Love Story is a fictional futuristic novel, stereotypes about our present world are described.

One particularly important scene in the novel is Chung Won Park’s communication to Eunice on page 72. In this letter Eunice’s mother writes to Eunice to give her orders about what to do with her life. This alone labels Asian mothers as being strict. The letter is also written in broken English, which brings about the assumption that all American immigrants speak and write inadequately. Within this message one can see the stereotype that Koreans are racist. Chung Won Park mentions that Eunice’s father thinks Eunice “is probably with black man,” giving black people a negative connotation. Chung Won Park also reiterates “we are not like American…Which is now why Korea very rich country and America owe everything to China.” This does not only stereotype Koreans as racist, but it mocks America as a nation. Furthermore, throughout the letter Eunice’s mother mentions how her husband is abusive, which can also be viewed as categorizing Korean husbands and manipulative and abusive.

In sum, then, the elements in the online communication on page 72 demonstrate that while Super Sad True Love Story is a futuristic novel, it raises issues of our present-day world.

During my reading of Super Sad True Love Story one thing that consistently stood out for me was the character’s total lack of privacy. When Lenny is passing time on his flight from Italy to the United States he spends some time researching Eunice Park’s life. Through a short time’s scrolling he manages to discover a huge amount of information that would generally be considered private. He finds details of her recent purchases, photos from when she was still in school, and even the worth of her old house. While most of this information is accessible today, it would take hours of research, and even then certain things could not be found.

Though this may seem like a relatively innocent scene, I find it incredibly disturbing if only because of its feasibility. Almost everyone has a Facebook, a linked-in, or some other form of social media account. These accounts reveal the minutiae of our lives to anyone committed enough to find them. Already employers and universities research our online footprint during application processes. In the book, the fat man with no apparat is considered strange and alarming. Likewise, when I meet someone without a Facebook I instantly assume they have something to hide. Social media denies the average person from their right to anonymity, and the scene in the book feels like a worrying glimpse into a not-too-distant future.

“It’s so sad. I’ve been crying for days now… God, I’m sorry, Precious Pony. I’m such a downer. The weird thing is that I have been thinking about Lenny, the old guy. I know he’s gross physically, but…I need to be taken care of too.”
In the novel Super Sad True Love Story (on page 74), the author Gary Shteyngart adapts the lack of community in the dystopian society by pouring strong Eunice’s heart through her Globalteens account through a message she sent her best friend “Precious Pony.” In this way, the reader can notice how Eunice, under the thick skin she demonstrates to have, hides a very self-conscious girl who longs for comfort. In this instant message between best friends, Eunice describes how she desires for a person to take care of her. Sincerely, it is a human desire to feel of importance, guided, cared for, longed for, and most importantly, loved.
Focusing on the style of the compositon, Eunice is barely using abbreviations. This lack of abbreviations demonstrates her concern for what she is writing about. Therefore; if she worries about the topic, she will adapt the syntax to an almost perfect grammar. On the other hand, if she cares less about the topic, she will use vernacular language and abbreviations. As the reader, one could notice that she intends to hide the loneliness she is experimenting. It is remarkable how connected the society seems to be to their äppärät yet how lonely they may field. A similarity to our own world is that we use social media that can connect us to everybody all over the entire world, yet how lonely one may feel when no one answers.

In the dystopian setting of Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, privacy is nonexistent. A wide variety of information is available about any individual at the press of a button. People are monitored throughout daily life, from flashing credit scores above streetlamps as you walk down the street to answering personal questions from a stranger in order to board a ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan. One of the more disturbing scenes in Super Sad True Love Story occurs when Lenny goes to a bar in Staten Island with his friends, Vishnu and Noah. During the night, Lenny spots a pretty girl across the bar, and Vishnu introduces the term FAC, an acronym for “form a community.” After pressing the appropriate button on his äppärät, looking at the girl, and placing his äppärät over his heart, Lenny was presented with an entire list of facts about the girl. Her entire life story became available to him instantly, including her sexual preferences, abusive familial background, financial status, and her opinion of him (in terms of fuckability, anal/vaginal/oral preference, and personality). The girl was provided with a similar biography of Lenny, and could see his opinions of her as well. This scene clearly illustrates, if it wasn’t clear already, that privacy is nothing but an illusion.

In our present world, social media has almost completely destroyed privacy. Obviously our financial statistics and credit scores aren’t written on our Facebook pages, but anyone can see our pictures, our friends and family members, and things we like and don’t like, such as actors, movies, music, etc. Through programs like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, it is possible to monitor individuals regularly, and obtain information about them in the blink of an eye. The technology available in this day and age eliminates privacy from our daily vocabulary, and most of our society is unaware of the degree to which they can be monitored.

As the protagonist of ‘Super Sad True Love Story’, Lenny is Gary Shteyngart’s guinea pig whose life shows the process of people compromising their citizens’ rights. The insignia on soldiers’ uniforms, a sword superimposed over Lady Liberty’s crown can best describe the invisible power overriding people’s mind and life.

In the book, the United States collapses and the olive-shaped social structure becomes a pyramid-shaped social structure which means an aggravation of discrimination between different classes. However, people refuse to explore and correct this social injustice but instead deride poorer people, forming a vicious cycle. In the book, everyone is exposed to their authority’s surveillance and others’ peeping that even strangers can visualize Lenny’s love for Eunice in real time. Without those internal and private emotions kept to ourselves, people in those books can hardly be regarded as independent individuals. In the book, people prefer playing apparat rather than reading books. They no longer clean their hearts and enrich their brains through reading but accept the rude and inhumane data stream.

Are these scenarios kind of familiar? Yes, they are the soon future our society may become if we continue exchanging our ability to think and criticize for high tech products. Just as the world described by Neil Postman in ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’, “people hypnotize themselves into addiction to TV”. In ‘Super Sad True Love Story’, the only difference is that people are addicted to apparat and FAC which nearly reduce real human contact to zero despite having sex.

Reflecting on our current society, businessmen are acceleratingly accumulating money and deepening the gap between classes; ubiquitous cameras and the Internet’s open information are cornering people to total exposure; an increasing amount of people are satisfied with only reading books’ gists. Most importantly, people are too focused on high tech to notice those crises. Though the situations described by Gary are exaggerated, we still need to carefully deal with technology’s brainwashing power.

People who live in modern society seem to have an endless discussion about our excessive dependence on technology. A controversial issue is whether technologies such as e-books should replace paperbacks. While some argue that unlike paperbacks, e-books can save countless trees and thus protecting the environment, others contend that paperbacks can help the readers build a more direct and close relationship with the author and understand the literature work better. In Super Sad True Love Story, the protagonist Lenny is a huge fan of paperbacks. However, during his trip, one of the passengers complains about the “wet socks” smell of his book. Lenny’s obsession with books isolates him from the society since the future generations view paperback not only as an inconvenient media but also as a disgusting product due to the smell of it. Through this passage, the author expresses some mixed feelings. He concedes that paperbacks will, sooner or later, be replaced by some technologies much as vehicles replaced carriages, e-mails replaced pigeons and missile replaced cannons. However, he decides to regard this phenomenon as a natural evolution instead of judging it. The point that the author tries to demonstrate here is not whether paperbacks will disappear but to what extent it will disappear. In the novel, people view Lenny as a weird person and estrange him only because he reads book. The author emphasizes on the judgments that people around Lenny make in order to show the readers that he hopes people will stay neutral about paperbacks instead of criticizing them. The author exaggerates the scene sarcastically so that readers are able to realize how ridiculous it is to criticize someone because of the media they choose to get information from. Technologies will diminish people’s interests in paperbacks for sure, and the author knows this trend is unstoppable. Nevertheless, he wants readers to realize that there are still people who prefer paperbacks, and no one should ever judge them.