Snow Crash

“Your avatar can look any way you want it to, up to the limitations of your equipment.”

Everything in the world of Snow Crash is commodified. Even in the Metaverse, where the only limits are one’s imagination and programming abilities, a person’s avatar is dependent on their equipment and thereby limited by their wealth. Whether directly or indirectly, self-expression and identity are perpetually tied to material wealth, both in reality and in the Metaverse.

“DIAL 1-800-THE COPS/All Major Credit Cards.”

In Hiro’s world, the police force has become another corporation jostling for the attention and money of all potential customers. Rather than traditional mottos about protecting and serving the public, the police now advertise their ability to take “all major credit cards” (36). In the future of Snow Crash, even justice has been privatized.

“It reminds all The Black Sun patrons that they are living in a fantasy world. People hate to be reminded of this.”

The nature of reality, defined by extreme capitalism and corporatism, drives people into the fantasy world of the Metaverse. In this fake world, people resent any reminder of reality. Anything that breaks their immersion in the Metaverse is a reminder of their innate powerlessness. Being reminded of reality is to be reminded of worthlessness.

“The Feds have a fetish for loyalty.”

As the Mafia has become more like a corporation, the United States government has become more like the Mafia. Inside the government bureaucracy, the workers have a noticeable “fetish for loyalty” (126), just like the Mafia and its code of omertá, or silence in the face of questioning. With the lack of regulations and laws governing how corporations function, the distance between corporations, criminals, and governments has begun to evaporate.

“America is wonderful because you can get anything on a drive through basis.”

Mr. Ng’s diagnosis of American culture reduces everything to the drive-through experience. Nothing in America requires a person to get out of their car, reducing the amount of human interaction and socialization inherent in any task. Alienation increases as people are ensconced in their vehicles and hidden from one another. The irony of Mr. Ng’s fetishization of American drive-through culture is that the same injuries that necessitate his reliance on drive-throughs were caused by the American war in Vietnam.

“You think that all mechanically assisted organisms — like me — are pathetic cripples. In fact, we are better than we were before.”

Mr. Ng’s conversation with YT hints at the liberating power of technology. The technology of Mr. Ng’s armored car gives him a level of mobility that he could not otherwise attain due to his injuries. When not used for profit or monopolized by corporations, technology can provide genuine benefits to the human race. As evidenced by the distribution of technology in the novel, however, cases like Mr. Ng’s are extremely rare.

“Maybe Babel was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

The ancient event, which is referred to as a tragedy or a catastrophe, is merely a matter of perspective. The more Hiro studies the event, the more he realizes that the fragmentation of language was actually a benefit for humanity because it provided protection against control. The characterization of the Tower of Babel as a tragedy is another example of the way history and religion have been propagandized to achieve certain goals.

“All these beefy Caucasians with guns! Get enough of them together, looking for the America they always believed they’d grow up in, and they glom together like overcooked rice, form integral, starchy little units.”

The “beefy Caucasians” have been driven out of their old homes and onto the road by the onset of modernity. They ride the roads in desperate pursuit of nostalgia, searching for a time or a place that may never have existed. In this search, however, they find a form of community. They are bound together by their alienation and their marginalization, forming a community from the shared sense of abandonment.

“This sort of thing doesn’t happen with avatars.”

Hiro kills a person in reality for the first time. In the immediate aftermath, he is reminded of the stark difference between reality and the Metaverse. In reality, he has ended a person’s life. He must deal with the mess, the practicalities, and the consequences that are not present in the Metaverse. The contrast between reality and the Metaverse signals a key moment in Hiro’s life; this is a point of no return, wherein his Metaverse adventures are bleeding into reality. There is no longer a distinction.

“A mountain is growing out of the sea.”

The arrival of Raven’s submarine is a broad metaphor for the dangers lurking in society’s underworld. Hiro and the others believe that they have the advantage, only for a far more dangerous person to arrive on the scene with a level of firepower that they cannot match. In the same way, the social ills caused by Rife have been present for some time, and only now are they making themselves known.

“But she’s a fifteen-year-old American chick, and she is used to getting the occasional look.”

YT has deeply internalized the way society sexualizes her, to the point that she is surprised when men do not leer at her. The sexism is so pervasive that YT has come to expect it, turning the sexualization of a 15-year-old girl into an ambient form of marginalization. YT cannot imagine a different kind of world.

“So getting this chick back is more than just getting a chick back. It’s the concrete manifestation of an abstract policy goal.”

The Mafia wants to save YT because they want to preserve their reputation for loyalty. The act of saving YT will be symbolic, showing the world that the Mafia’s talk of loyalty is not empty. In a world built on virtual reality and hollow expressions of identity, genuine acts such as this are even more valid expressions of actual values.

“This statement is translated and moves like a wave through the some eight hundred and ninety-six Filipinos who have now converged on the area.”

Hiro’s innocuous comment is translated and spread through the crowd of Filipinos, a low-level example of how language can function like a virus. The statement jumps from person to person, changing them on an emotional level. If Hiro’s comment can spread this rapidly, then Rife’s language virus has the potential to devastate the world in short order.

“No piece of software is ever bug free.”

Every piece of software has flaws because every piece of software is written by a person. The people who write this software have their own flaws, which are then inserted into the code. The flaws in software are an abstraction of the flaws in humanity, a codified representation of the impossibility of perfection.

“Fisheye wasn’t really using Reason the right way.”

Fisheye used Reason as though it were any other gun; he did not read the instruction manual, and as a result, he was killed by his own weapon. Fisheye’s fate is a wry metaphor for the human condition, in which people act on their assumptions rather than learn the truth about the world around them. Fisheye was punished for his assumptions, while Hiro, who bothers to read the manual, will be rewarded with success.

“Another delivery made, another satisfied customer.”

YT demonstrates the universality of her delivery skills. She may only see herself as a courier, and society may not value her contributions to the world, but she defeats more powerful people using the exact same skills that she has acquired by delivering packages. YT’s development is iterative, in which she progresses by applying the same talents in new contexts.

“Being here is like following Jesus or Mohammed around, getting to observe the birth of a new faith.”

Juanita cannot help but be fascinated by Rife’s plan. She believes that Rife is evil and that he must be stopped, but her intellectual fascination with events means she cannot keep herself away. Juanita wants to be at this important moment in human history, even if being there means placing herself in danger.

“He slammed into one of the stanchions that holds up the monorail track — a perennial irritation to high-speed motorcyclists.”

The stanchions are an intersection between reality and the virtual world. They represent a vestigial need for architecture, even in a virtual space where the laws of physics do not necessarily apply. Humans still conceive of the world in terms of architecture, so they built the Metaverse as a reflection of the real world rather than a complete abstraction. The motorcycle chase is slowed down purely by the vestigial human expectation of certain architecture and physics.

“Fido comes out of his doggie house, curls his long legs beneath him, and jumps over the fence around his yard before he has remembered that he is not capable of jumping over it.”

Fido is able to overcome his cybernetic programming when he feels an emotional connection with the world. He wants to save YT, so unthinkingly, he is able to break the rules that govern his existence. This ability to defy an operating system hints at a vitality beyond cybernetics. Fido is not a robot; there is still an emotional core at the heart of the machine, one powerful enough to overcome the rules of the computer that governs his existence.

“There’s no such thing as enough.”

Raven’s stark comment on the insatiable nature of revenge can be applied to many of the novel’s themes. From revenge to hedonism to consumer capitalism, consumption is a never-ending sprawl in Snow Crash. In a world where everything is available at a price, there is “no such thing as enough” (322).

“There was this dude named Ahab that I read about.”

YT references Moby Dick to demonstrate how old ideas can be repurposed for a new context. Her invocation of Captain Ahab recontextualizes Ahab’s pursuit of a whale, recreating an aesthetic but replacing its emotional context. YT frames herself as Ahab, just as Enki’s words are modernized or samurai swords are turned into code. Old ideas are constantly reinvented for the modern age.

“Some new piece of radio babble comes in over the lieutenant’s headset.”

The Mafia officers use radio headsets to communicate. When overheard, however, the blasts of static sound like “radio babble.” Even though the Mafia is trying to stop Rife’s plan, their means of communication are obvious echoes of how Rife’s people communicate in strings of babble through antennas connected to their skulls. The Mafia and Rife may be on different sides, but they are united in their universal need to communicate.

“Enzo is now seeing the world in dim black and white, like a cheap Metaverse terminal.”

Enzo’s fight with Raven brings the world into focus. Background noise is removed, and nuances are flattened until everything becomes black and white. This duality is heightened by Enzo’s desperation. The subtleties of his plan evaporate and are replaced by a desperate need to survive. In the most pressing moments, even an intelligent man like Enzo is reduced to simple motivations.