Unplugged

“‘Haven’t you ever had a hard time fitting in somewhere?’ The answer is yes, obviously. We all have. Which is another reason I appreciate the Oasis. This is where I fit in better than any place in the whole world. And I don’t intend to let a spoiled rich kid from Silicon Valley ruin my time here.”

Tyrell and Grace are having a conversation about Jett’s disruptive behavior at the Oasis. Tyrell exhibits compassion for the new kid, but Grace remains hostile. She is protective of Magnus and the refuge he has built because it has become her personal fortress of solitude. As a result, Grace feels the need to reinforce the status quo as a form of self-defense.

“I spend my whole life stressing out about what could happen and what might happen. And here’s this guy who not only doesn’t care; he acts like consequences are something that couldn’t apply to him in a million years. It makes no sense, but at that moment, I love the kid!”

Tyrell reveals quite a bit about his own character in this quote. He is allergy-prone and anxious most of the time. Observing someone like Jett is a liberating experience because although Tyrell would never allow himself the same freedom, he can enjoy recklessness vicariously. However, he fails to realize that Jett’s bravado is partially fueled by the assurance that his rich father can smooth over all sorts of difficulties.

“He sighs. ‘You know what your problem is, Jett? It’s always all about you. When it rains, does it even cross your mind that everybody else gets wet too? All these “terrible” things that are happening to you—the food, the no technology, the wellness stuff—do you even notice that I’m here right next to you?’”

Matt is once again lecturing Jett about his bad behavior. In this case, the criticism carries a personal edge. Jett is not the only one who has been exiled from the life he knows; so has Matt. Both have been forced to give up their technology and endure the strict Oasis regimen of group activities and vegetarian food. In this quote, Matt points out Jett’s lack of empathy. At this point in the novel, Jett still lives in a world of one. It will take an encounter with a small alligator to snap him out of his self-absorption.

“‘Jett Baranov is a disrupter. He could spoil it for everyone.’ Disrupter. People used that word to describe Vladimir Baranov when he first started Fuego and revolutionized the tech universe. To hear Jett called that gives me a jolt.”

Matt is having a conversation with Ivory right after Jett has received multiple FedEx deliveries while at the camp. Ivory’s assessment is correct, but Matt recognizes the similarity between Jett and his father. Both are rebels who refused to accept the status quo. This isn’t necessarily a bad trait. In hindsight, Ivory’s comment is fraught with hidden meaning. By the novel’s conclusion, Jett will indeed disrupt her hypnosis scam and illegal alligator operation.

“The fix I’m in is 100 percent of my own making. I’m the best coder at Fuego, but those skills are a dime a dozen compared with the ability to keep Jett out of trouble. Well—I picture the ruined pedal boat hung up on the wrong side of the river—mostly out of trouble.”

Matt is privately considering his own woes. Even though Matt is a tech wizard in his own right, Vlad Baranov needs a babysitter for his son more than he needs another technology expert. Matt’s rapport with Jett was enough to get the coder assigned to a job he loathes. Despite his frustrations, however, he demonstrates genuine concern for Jett’s problem behavior and recognizes the lack of parental interest with which Jett has to deal. Maybe Matt is the right person for the job after all.

“This is life and death for Needles. He’s wrong for the woods, but he’s wrong for the river too. It makes me wonder where he came from. He doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. I reach a decision. If there’s no place for him, I’ll make one.”

Grace has just rescued the tiny lizard from the hot spring and now considers what to do with him. Ironically, her description of Needles would also apply to Jett. Neither one seems to fit in anywhere. However, although Grace is willing to show compassion for Needles and wants to help him, she feels no such consideration for Jett’s dilemma. This is because Jett represents a threat to her beloved Oasis rituals while Needles does not.

“‘Aren’t you scared the weight of Daddy’s money will snap the cord?’ ‘I’d be more worried about the weight of that boulder you call a head than anybody’s money.’ For all my jokes, I’m not as confident as I seem, because I really am scared of Brandon, who’s built like a mountain with feet. If he decides to toss me off this platform, there’s not much I can do to stop him.”

In this scene, Brandon and Jett are standing at the top of the ziplining platform. Even though Jett routinely courts disaster, he privately expresses his fears of Brandon. In the past, he always put himself in risky situations because he knew his father would bail him out. At the Oasis, however, Jett is on his own, and he recognizes his own vulnerability for the first time.

“I always take the safe route, and where does it ever get me? Maybe I haven’t got the guts to stand up to Sarah or Mom and Dad. But this time I’ll take a stand for Needles. If Jett and Brooklynne think this can work, I’m on board.”

Tyrell is debating about whether to jump into the boat and take a forbidden trip with the others to Hedge Apple. He uses the same rationale that Grace did when she first rescued Needles. The tiny lizard causes the campmates to act in uncharacteristic ways for his benefit. Tyrell is willing to overcome his usual timidity for the sake of Needles. He also trusts the confidence that Jett and Brooklynne display more than he trusts himself.

“This place was easier to take before Jerk Baranov got here. I know it sounds like I hate Jett because he’s rich. That’s not it at all. The reason I hate him is because he’s so hateable. Armando says Jett and I have a lot in common, because we both don’t like the Oasis. He’s missing the point. I don’t like the food here, but I eat it. I don’t enjoy meditation, but I put up with it.”

This quote comes from Brandon in the only chapter devoted to his perspective. He makes an interesting point about why he hates Jett. Brandon may hate the ridiculous rules at the Oasis just as much as Jett does, but he doesn’t rebel. He shows respect for the establishment. In contrast, Jett thinks that he is above the law and that the rules don’t apply to him. His father’s money has always made that sense of privilege possible.

“This summer is a little different because of Needles. I don’t usually let myself get too close to people, but this time around it just worked out that way [...] He’s not big enough to survive on his own. So he needs us. Maybe that’s why it’s such a nice feeling—the being needed part.”

We have already seen how Needles has changed the behavior of Grace and Tyrell. This quote comes from Brooklynne. She is willing to break out of her solitary existence for the sake of the reptile. She also articulates the reason why her two campmates altered their patterns as well. All three of them felt needed by the tiny creature.

“I may be the richest kid in the richest town in the richest country, but I never had the normal experience of a pet waiting at the door for me when I come home from school. I used to be okay with that [...] At least I thought I was okay. Now I know I wasn’t.”

This quote is Jett’s contribution to the Needles discussion. Just as his three campmates have discovered, it’s nice to be needed. This is a particularly poignant issue for Jett because his parents are so neglectful. Their lives aren’t impacted by his presence or absence at all. His heavy reliance on technology has also limited his chances to forge interdependent connections with other humans. A pet therefore becomes his entry point into normal social interactions.

“He laughs it off, because he gives zero hoots. Meanwhile, the illegal candy/lizard/boatjacking is stressing me out. I wish I could be more like Jett and not care, but it just isn’t possible. I give hoots. I’m too nervous not to be nervous.”

Tyrell is once again expressing his anxiety at all the rule breaking that has been done in the service of Needles. Jett finds the whole adventure exhilarating, but Tyrell doesn’t. Much as he admires Jett’s bravado, Tyrell has more of a social conscience. He cares about following the rules and staying on good terms with authority figures. This makes the entire Needles venture very stressful for him.

“Even standing still, you can tell that Jett is pure chaos, waiting to be unleashed on the world. Needles is the opposite of that—peace, intelligence, tranquility, contemplation. He belongs at the Oasis. He may be against the rules, but he’s as whole as any living creature could be. Just the sight of his unmoving brownish form has the power to relax me.”

Grace makes this comment as she sits beside Needles and watches him floating in his metal pan of water. Magnus’s frequently expressed motto is “Be whole.” Grace notes that Needles has already figured out how to do that without attending a fancy retreat to master the art of wholeness. Just watching Needles makes Grace feel more at peace.

“‘You think I cared one way or the other if he drowned in the river or got snapped up by some hawk?’

‘He’ll be okay—’ she begins.

‘You made me care!’ he thunders. ‘And now I’m supposed to turn it off just like that’—he snaps his fingers— 'because you’re done with the poor little guy? Yeah, well, I’m done with you!’”

Jett and Grace are arguing after Needles escapes. At this point, Jett is still convinced that Grace is responsible. His accusations stem from more than frustration that the reptile is gone. Jett has been able to cope with his life through detachment. His parents don’t care much about him, and he doesn’t care about them or anybody else. This stance protects him from heartbreak. Unfortunately, Jett has gotten invested in Needles and can’t bear the loss, so he lashes out at the person who roped him into joining Team Lizard in the first place.

“I miss Needles too. Till now I didn’t know how important it was to have a cool secret thing going on in my life. I mean, Needles didn’t have much personality, but dealing with him added some variety to my days.”

This quote is Brooklynne’s response to the loss of Needles. She is processing the escape in a quieter way than Jett but notes that everyone has lapsed into their old patterns and gone their separate ways. The statement provides a sense of Brooklynne’s monotonous life at the Oasis year after year. Her experience there is solitary and frequently boring. Needles engaged her, and now that experience is gone.

“There’s a certainty to Grace that’s a little scary. The same way she can convince herself to keep a lizard, she can change her mind and convince herself he has to go [...] when she turns on a dime, those convictions can whip around and whack you in the side of the head.”

Tyrell makes this observation about Grace’s black-and-white way of seeing the world. She has the courage of her convictions even when those convictions diametrically oppose one another. Because Grace always needs to believe that she’s right, she will find a way to justify her position, no matter how much it contradicts her previous stance. As Jett has already pointed out, this attitude can destabilize her relationships with others by making her seem untrustworthy.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been so angry. ‘This isn’t about Mr. Karrigan! This is because you always have to prove that you’re right and everybody else is stupid! It’s not enough that you don’t like it here. There has to be some terrible secret.’”

Ironically, these inner thoughts and external criticism are coming from Grace, and she directs her criticism at Jett. Throughout the novel, she demonstrates a compulsive need to be right under all circumstances. Grace is judgmental, and even though she doesn’t say that everybody else is stupid, this is her core conviction. In this quote, she is projecting her own way of dealing with reality onto Jett.

“There’s absolutely nothing positive about my life right now. I’m in wellness Alcatraz; Needles flew the coop; my friends hate me; and Matt—along with every other adult—is under the spell of a meditation Marvel villain. There’s zero to be happy about. But for some reason, chugging into this un-town feels like coming home.”

Jett has just had another altercation with Tyrell and Grace, so he’s going it alone once again. However, his attitude has changed for the better. He no longer views Hedge Apple as a place beneath contempt. It feels like home because he now has good memories to associate with it. The town grounds him in a way that nothing else in his life has done to this point. 

“There were kids there, even back then. They formed friendships, played together, had fun. And none of that included me. I’m still not sure why. Maybe I was too special, almost the princess of the place [...] Whatever the reason, I was on the outside looking in.”

In this quote, Brooklynne explains the reason for her solitude. As the daughter of the Oasis founder, she was always treated differently. That difference prevented her from forming friendships with other youngsters her own age. Over time, she stopped trying and became the resident ghost of the retreat center. It might also be argued that Brooklynne allowed her outsider status to define her and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“How can Grace and Tyrell sit on their hands and do nothing while their families are being robbed by Ivory? Tyrell—who saw exactly what Ivory is capable of? I get that he’s scared. I get that watching your dad being brainwashed freaks a person out. But there’s a time when you have to fight back.”

Jett is trying to understand the reaction he receives from Grace and Tyrell when he tells them about Ivory’s evil scheme. They rationalize her behavior and doubt Jett’s interpretation of the facts. In this quote, Jett articulates the one quality that separates him from everybody else. He fights back. He resisted his parents’ neglect by becoming a super brat. Now, he intends to right the wrongs being perpetrated against the Oasis guests by doing the same.

“I’m sure my complexion is glow-in-the-dark red. If I wasn’t so freaked out about so many other things, I’d be better able to focus on how ashamed I am. Not only was Jett right, but so far, every single thing has turned out exactly the way he described it. Then he asked for our help, and we turned him away.”

Grace has just made a spectacular about-face in her attitude toward Jett. As Tyrell said earlier, her reversals of direction are extreme enough to cause whiplash. Now that Grace has seen the evidence at the alligator farm with her own eyes, she feels a proper sense of embarrassment for having doubted Jett. To her credit, she is now fully onboard with his plan to expose Ivory’s schemes and free the alligators.

“Okay, so maybe his food stinks and his philosophy isn’t for everybody. He believes in what he does, and there’s nothing phony about him—unlike you. He’s a better person than you’ll ever be!”

Ivory has just been arrested and insults Magnus for his ridiculous philosophy. Surprisingly, Jett comes to the founder’s defense by making this comment to Ivory. Even though Jett has mocked Magnus and his methods throughout the book, he can finally appreciate the man’s sincerity. Magnus truly wants to help people and has inadvertently helped Jett to be a better person in the process.

“The same attitude that made me Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat may have helped me take down Snapper when everybody else thought I was nuts. Not that being a brat means you should get a medal. But stepping up to do what’s right is a good thing, even if it’s a brat who’s doing it.”

Jett is pointing out the upside of his rebellious streak. In the past, he never cared what other people thought of him. He also never worried about the consequences of his bad behavior. Both those traits come in handy when he sets his sights on taking down Ivory’s illegal operation. The old Jett stirred up trouble just because it was fun. The new Jett stirs up trouble to do what’s right. His pranks now have a purpose.