Super Sad True Love Story demonstrates that everyone in this society uses this technology and social media to communicate and stay connected. They also use this technology to learn about the norm, and copy it to blend it. When Sally is talking to Eunice, she explains that she wants a Saami summer bra because “everyone’s wearing them. Even in Fort Lee,” demonstrating how Sally wants this article of clothing just because others have it and her reliance on technology makes it so easy for her to order it (Shteyngart 31). This is not new in our society. With all of the social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, we too understand seeing someone online and wanting to copy them. While wanting to copy an outfit is not harmful, it can lead to other major harm in our society. As Kimberly Leonard states in her article, “Is Social Media Making Self-Harm Worse For Teens,” these social media sites make it too easy to follow the crowd. Seeing others do a practice, such as cutting, can trigger another’s own desire to do the same. In her article, Leonard explains how easy it is see other people’s lives on social media and want to be similar. Both in our society and the society of Super Sad True Love Story, do individuals use social media to change themselves. Lenny bases his self confidence on being a certain status as an attractive man in a public space. He changes his identity and his actions in order to increase this arbitrary number. When Lenny describes the feeling he gets when his “male hotness skirted into the 600-s,” he states that he “would like to describe this utterly new feeling to you, diary, but I fear it will come out in purely evangelical terms,” illustrating how Lenny’s self confidence purely relies on this social media practice. The number that he receives and seeing others get higher on the list, triggers him to change. Similarly, in our society, we see what others are doing on social media which triggers us to want to fit in and change our own actions accordingly, which can clearly be harmful for ourselves.

Shteyngart, Gary. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.

The article that I have selected came from the HuffingtonPost.com, and the title is called Is Social Media Dependence a Mental Health Issue. The author Klein argues that there is a connection between the use of social media and drug abuse because social media exposing drug use creates a rise in the abuse of alcohol or drugs (Klein, 2014). While social media does expose teenagers to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as using drugs, it is not justified to assume that it is the direct result of the excessive use of social media. Social media is another way of saying a technological interpretation of our society. Although there are a significant amount of images showing drug user being under the influence, that is based on the society’s preference, and social media is used as a medium to express those social preferences. As a result, if the issue is the increase of people abusing drugs, then it is up to the society itself to create the change that will benefit everyone in the future. Klein also discussed how the increase dependence in social media harms individuals mentally due to the constant self-evaluation; However, because of the biological reward that is received to ourselves from disclosing personal information, it is difficult to break from the habit (Klein, 2014). Klein then relates that component with drugs by saying that social media and drugs have similar functions in how they affect individuals (Klein, 2014). This is why in Super Sad True Love Story, the young adults were so inclined to commit suicide because while their apparati made them feel lonely at times (Shteyngart, 270), the lack of their apparati means that there is no more of the biological reward that is received when others are viewing their placement in their society.

Shteyngart, Gary. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.

Klein, Sarah. “Is Social Media Dependence A Mental Health Issue?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/social-media-mental-health_n_5268108.html>.

SSTLS Pages 154-156

In his article “Will China Surpass U.S. as a World’s Superpower?” in the Chicago Tribune, Varjavand argues that the United States will continue to holds its position as a world’s superpower due to its influential capitalistic economy and positive attitudes toward foreign policy, human rights, multiculturalism, equality, and education. Varjavand claims that China will take years to bridge the gap necessary to reach the world-status currently held by the United States because of its unstable political system. Further, the presence of many poor citizens also prevents China from growing as a superpower and despite any economic crises that the U.S. might experience ahead “there is light at the end of the tunnel” (Varjavand, 2015).  Varjavand’s position contradicts the futuristic happenings in SSTLS, where China is a global superpower with a very wealthy population. In the United States portrayed by Shteyngart China is seen as the driving force behind the American economy, but China’s citizens are parsimonious and won’t spend their money in America. In the story, in a meeting with the Governor of the People’s Bank of China-Worldwide, Wangsheng Li, U.S. president Cortez states: “The American people need China-Worldwide to become a savior of our last manufacturers, large and small. China is no longer a poor country. It is time for the Chinse people to spend”. In this dystopic world, the odds that China would become a Superpower came true, refuting Varjavand’s argument. Ultimately, SSTLS presents the worst possible scenario of what could happen if the United States wouldn’t recover from the Great recession of 2008.

Varjavand, Reza. “Will China Surpass U.S. as World’s Superpower?” Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2015. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.

In Super Sad True Love Story, social media interactions are the top priority of everyone in the world. The problem is so huge, people actually are willing to commit suicide when the networks shut down and apparati can no longer be used. It is an age where the world is completely dependent on social interaction through technology, and one that appears quite similar to our own. One effect of this social media practice seen in both our society and the novel’s is a waning in empathy. In an opinion article titled “Stop Googling. Let’s talk.” printed in the New York Times, author Sherry Turkle explains how empathy between college students has decreased 40% since the technological age, the majority of the decrease occurring since 2000, and how even five days without using technology, such as at summer camp, can show an increase in human connection and meaningful conversation.

Turkle’s ideas are an intriguing commentary on our world and can be added to Shteyngart’s arguments in his novel. First, characters don’t have much empathy for one another. Jenny doesn’t acknowledge Eunice’s heartfelt comments about friendship (176) and Eunice’s first encounter with David leaves her saying they aren’t all in together for David’s cause (146). In contrast to this, while following Turkle’s arguments, Eunice, cut off from technology after the Rupture, sends messages that cannot be received by anyone. In one message to Jenny, she says, “White people don’t really care about old people, except for David who tried to help everyone. And then they shot him like a dog” (265). Eunice changes her earlier seemingly apathetic comments about David to empathetic ones. After spending time thinking about the atrocities and having no connection to technology to distract her, Eunice is finally able to connect to David’s strive to help people and be angry with his death.

   On page 247 of ‘ Super Sad True Love Story’, the author described Lenny’s and Eunice’s running back to Manhattan at the special time of political upheaval.  When they needed to get on the ferry, Eunice told Lenny that she could go to find her sister and David alone but Lenny thought that Eunice’s credit was too low to be distinguished from the LNWI protestors that she would easily be killed by mistakes.

   What a horrible and dystopic world! In my picture above, the bad credit card and good credit card are pointing to different life directions; this book corresponds to this picture very well that bad credits point to death and good credits point to life. In the world Lenny lived, people were no longer fresh bodies but digitalized credit numbers. When people were interacting, it would not be one’s integrity or characteristics that can make people like him but his credits. Humans were put in rankings just by credits; there is no human equity deep down people’s thoughts. When one’s number is lower than one certain value,  he would be no longer deemed as valuable and worthy to be saved. Worst of all, this pathetic phenomenon could be a vicious cycle that if people only appreciate high credits, then people who have credits could be put in higher positions and had priority in using social resources, which can result in generations of high credits. Gradually, the social wealth would be controlled by small amounts of social elites, causing opportunities to climb up social ladder to be infinitely small. What would happen then? Turmoil. Killing. War.

     Thus, I believe that as the biggest threat of world relying on highly developed technology, digitalization is also the most dystopic point in this book.

Pg 8-9

It only makes sense that a notable characteristic of a dystopian society is introduced at the beginning of the novel when the setting is being introduced. Upon his return to America, Lenny is confronted by an otter that questions him regarding his activities abroad. What is particularly reflective of a dystopian society here is that everything has to and will be reported to the overarching government. When the otter was asking Lenny intimate questions such as accounts of sexual intercourse, it became clear to me that the world of SSTLS is an exemplary anti-Utopian society in which the government surveils the lives of the citizens to the point where the word privacy essentially becomes a null term. Furthermore, the way in which the otter tries to promote patriotism is characteristic of a totalitarian society in which the public is brainwashed to serve the nation for the “collective good”.

The picture I chose is very self-explanatory. It shows, perhaps in an exaggerated way, how in the world of SSTLS, the lives on people are often spied upon by the government. I found it interesting the way Lenny was passive-aggressively questioned about his daily life and the way patriotism is promoted but not enforced. This to me is an indication of the world heading towards the path of a totalitarian society and it sheds grim premonitions about the future events that are to unfold in this novel due to a seemingly dystopian setting the audience is introduced to.

A dystopic scene from Super Sad True Love Story is one presented by Eunice’s friend “Grillbitch”. On July 10, Eunice writes a long, passionate message to Grillbitch about Lenny and, at the end, her sympathy for David and the rebels. Two days later, Grillbitch sends an emotional reply, saying how her father’s factory was taken over by LNWIs because the LAPD no longer exists and the National Guard is too useless to do anything, ruining her life (200). I see this as particularly dystopic due to a variety of factors, the largest being anarchy. Due to the weakness of the Bipartisan leadership, there is no one in clear control as rebel groups pop up around the country. This is a disturbing scene: chaos as a regular business is overthrown due to the anger of impoverished people retaliating against those who are better off without seeing the damage they cause in others’ lives.

I agree with the notion that dystopia is a prediction of the future based on humanity’s flaws, but I also believe that dystopias reflect themes from today’s society. The picture here is from the Houthi takeover of Yemen’s capital. In an extremely violent conflict, Houthi Shiites stormed the capital of Yemen, run by Sunnis, because they felt marginalized by an unorganized government. This scene is in line with the one Grillbitch describes, with those who feel damaged and undermined rise up with lack of foresight of what their actions may cause. Only in this case, it is 2015, and other countries around the world are willing to pitch in to stop the conflict, trying to restore government.

Pages 56-57

I interpret a dystopian society as one that is not only imperfect but as also one that strives for a perfection that will never be achieved. It is clear that in Lenny’s world, the concept of perfection is closely tied with the concept of immortality. However, realistically, even everyone in this world is mortal. As Lenny returns to the United States of America following a yearlong stay in Rome, Italy, he decides to pay a visit to his boss Joshie at The Post Human Services division of the Staatling- Wapachung Corporation. As Lenny returns, he smells and describes fetid “post-mortal odors” thought to be the “scents of immortality” and reflects on the anxiety of younger co-workers that cry about their “blood-glucose levels” and “adrenaline stress index”. Further, his reappearance is not warmly greeted and he is chastised for his skewed “insulin levels”. Despite him being a skinny thirty-nine years old, Lenny is still not accepted because of his off scale body values. In this society, one no longer cares about living happily and healthily in the moment. Rather, one attempts to push untouchable buttons to achieve something that cannot be achieved, immortality. A waste of energy and a waste of life.

According to nature and their genetic make-up, penguins cannot fly. Penguins would be able to fly only if they defeated the basic laws of nature that clearly define how one’s anatomy can or cannot facilitate flight. In Lenny’s society, it seems a common goal to want to defeat nature. But nature cannot be neither defeated nor tricked. If penguins had minds and suddenly decided they wanted to have an anatomy capable of supporting flight, they wouldn’t be able to do so. Perfection cannot be achieved.

Image Source: http://pravda-team.ru/eng/image/photo/2/3/2/69232.jpeg

A scene in Super Sad True Love Story that strongly represents a distopic image of the world is demonstrated on page 103 as Eunice and Lenny visit Central Park together. In the scene, Lenny describes the dying transit system, explaining that it now is run in a for-profit manner by corporations aligned with the corrupt American government under the repeated propaganda that “Together We’ll Go Somewhere”. He continues to describe the segregation that exists on the train between the business class who pay, as he explains, “the extra ten dollars” to be given a small piece of somewhat comfortable seating and the protection from the National guard against Low Net Worth Individuals who find themselves restricted to the regular cars.

Not only does the transit system represent an unjust, apocalyptic, survival-like arrangement dedicating to protecting the upper class, but the notion that there would be any form of unity and togetherness as brought-forth by the slogan of the ARA is simply preposterous. Eunice’s interjecting question “Why do you live here?” perfectly sums up the attitude of readers of the novel who find this to be a sad, broken state of living. The horror and disgust towards the system she feels resonates with that of any sane point of view on this lie of an existence.

I chose the image of a Nazi propaganda to demonstrate the notion that corrupt and broken governments have continuously through history utilized such falsities in order to gain the approval of citizens and to create perhaps a sense of hope in a time of absolute doom. In Germany, this doom was created by the aftermath of World War one in the form of the great depression and the treaty of Versailles. In Super Sad True Love Story, this is represented by the systematic degradation of the US.

A particularly dystopic passage from Super Sad True Love Story that I have found interesting is pages 89-90.  In this scene, Lenny is being taught by Noah and Vishnu in a bar how to use all of the new features on this apparat.  The new features use the plethora of information on each person’s profile to determine various rankings.  Everyone is so absorbed by these ratings, and they have such a strong influence over people’s actions and behavior to the point where books have become “artifacts.”

This image is from The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.  In this novel, the society is infected with this disease that makes men’s thoughts able to be heard by everyone at all times.  This never-ending stream of thoughts called “Noise” is similar to the continuous flow of information and data found in Super Sad True Love Story.  Everyone has access to all of the little details and secrets about everyone else.  There is no hiding in either of these societies.  In both of these situations, the disease and the technology cause the population to be in a daze, and control their lives.  These limitations dehumanize the population and strip away their lives to that of a monotone nature.