49 pages • 1 hour read
Marie LuWarcross
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Virtual Technology as a Replacement for or an Escape from Reality
Warcross consistently shows the reader a near future in which a common pastime dominates users’ interest and involvement. The use of the NeuroLink gives those wearing the glasses the capability to replace actual reality with an enhanced reality around them, by supplying a “layer” of virtual reality superimposed on what’s actually there; examples of this include labels on buildings and people, translated words above the speaker of a language foreign to the listener, and “paintable” walls that appear to the user in any color they want.
When Emika arrives in Tokyo, this enhanced reality almost overwhelms the senses: Virtual models show off fashion the viewer can purchase with a tap; passersby show off virtual pets; and “the sky is filled with virtual flying ships and colorful orbs, some displaying news, others displaying commercials, still others just there seemingly because they look pretty” (76). When Emika sees her room in the team headquarters, she discovers she earns Warcross points toward improved levels in her personal account for taking the enhanced features under her control: She can paint her walls, customize her scenes, and swipe her floating monitor from its desk location, all for Warcross notes. This suggests that the NeuroLink encourages personal investment in its daily use, which makes it easy to see how addicting this enhanced reality can be.
The NeuroLink can also “turn off” reality altogether, and in this way, the glasses provide a direct escape from the gritty, crime-filled surrounding world. For example, the hired car’s windows on the way to the airport show Emika a virtual scene that is serene and completely unlike the reality it masks. When she arrives in Tokyo, Emika asks for the windows to reveal the real city—which, ironically is still greatly enhanced virtually. To give users a way to better connect with and learn about the NeuroLink, Hideo created the game Warcross; people all over the globe turn to the game as an escape from their troubled reality, as exemplified by Emika’s roommate Keira. Unemployed and in debt, Keira gives up and spends her days in the made-up world of Warcross.
It is ironic that Warcross makes the user feel as if they have some control, as shown when Emika first steps into the ceremonial game. Even as a spectator, she can jump and fly through the beautiful landscape. Eventually readers learn, however, that Hideo’s ultimate mission is to remove at least a share of control from every user, in that he wants to control their negative behaviors through the NeuroLink. When she learns the truth, Emika sees another irony when she considers how effectively Warcross has “hooked” its users, and how easily they will succumb to the use of the contact lenses: “Why would anyone give up the perfect fantasy reality just because they have to give up their freedom? […] Even without the film against their eyes, people would never stop using it” (343).
The Dark World shows another, deeper layer of virtual escape from reality. This layer is not condoned or supported by Hideo and Henka Games, but it is very popular; users who go to the Dark World under the cover of anonymity can fulfill vices, commit crimes, acquire illegal goods, and generally behave in a way they could not under their real identity. It is significant that shame and punishment come to a user of the Dark World if he or she exposes his or her actual identity; avoiding that reality is crucial for success in the Dark World.
How Loss Shapes Character Traits and Objectives
A general theme of loss presents strongly in Warcross, and over the course of the story the reader sees how loss impacts a character’s arc with the development of strong traits and goals. Emika, for example, lost both her mother and father when she was young. When her mother leaves, Emika is obligated sometimes to step into a caretaking role, despite her young age; she recalls the glue in her father’s hair from his work with fabrics, and how she would “need to help him cut the sticky strands out later” (33). In third grade, though she wants to excitedly show her father her yearbook design, she senses his traumatized emotional state, tries to redirect him with questions about dinner, and chastises him for accruing additional gambling debts. When her father dies, Emika is only 11; the joyous, fun-filled moments she remembers having with him are suddenly and harshly replaced with a cold, drab existence in a foster group home where she is bullied and abused: “I can hear myself crying quietly in my bunk as I imagined my father rescuing me from that place” (26).
Emika falls into depression but rescues herself when, inspired by Hideo’s success, she finds interest in learning computer programming. Her childhood loss prompts experiences throughout adolescence that shape Emika into a tough and resourceful yet judicious young woman: She runs away from the home, refocuses on her studies, learns enough about coding to seek revenge on those who cyber-bullied Annie Pattridge, and seeks to eliminate her father’s gambling debts even when it means a trip to the Dark World. Her overall loss of family and lack of roots motivates her eagerness to leave New York for a mysterious job in Tokyo, and her innate loneliness is assuaged by new friends and a romantic relationship with Hideo throughout the Warcross competition.
The kidnapping of Hideo’s brother Sasuke and Hideo’s subsequent goals to construct the NeuroLink, Warcross, and eventually the mind-control algorithm show equally well how loss shapes character traits and objectives. Hideo admits to Emika that his game with red and blue plastic eggs in the park and other games that Sasuke loved directly inspired his creation of Warcross, and that everything Hideo invents in a sense is for his brother. Ultimately, Hideo wants to prevent kidnapping and other crimes, so he invents the contact lenses to convey the NeuroLink capability to users and ships them free of cost worldwide: “I could have stopped the person who stole Sasuke—the NeuroLink can stop anyone who might do the same now to another child” (342). In a way, Hideo lost his parents when he lost Sasuke because his father’s health declined and his mother became distracted; Hideo, still feeling responsible for Sasuke’s kidnapping and his parents’ changes in personality that accompanied the tragedy, wants to serve as a caretaker for them, supplying groceries and making sure their house is well-guarded.
Rewards and Costs of Risk-Taking
After the changes in Emika’s personality that occur because of her father’s death, her character seems predisposed to taking risks. Her job as a bounty hunter is risky by nature, and the surrounding setting of futuristic New York City with its crime, traffic, and conflicts is a risky place in which to live. Emika risks a day’s work in the opening chapter on hunting down one mark for a big price instead of looking for more consistent work; this risk does not pay off, as she apprehends the suspect but loses the credit of being first on the scene to an unknown fellow bounty hunter. Despite this risk’s negative outcome—or perhaps prompted by it in desperation—Emika risks an attempt at stealing the high-value power-up in the opening ceremony game of Warcross. She questions her choice immediately before committing to the risk, but only briefly. This risk pays off in a big way, when Hideo offers Emika a job with a tremendous payout if successful. Emika’s risk-taking in the opening chapters juxtaposes against roommate Keira’s behavior; Keira gives up all risk-taking in that she cannot even motivate herself to look for employment, opting instead to watch Warcross passively.
Emika also takes a risk by allowing a romantic relationship with Hideo. Romance in general is fraught with risk, in terms of trust. Emika’s relationship with Hideo is especially risky, as he is her boss in their secret bounty arrangement. Emika knows that Hideo keeps secrets from everyone, but her interest in him, her passion, and her long-time fascination with his creative ability keep her involved. When he bares the secret of the tragic loss of his brother, Emika sees that Hideo is taking a risk in trusting her as well, which reinforces her desire to continue the relationship despite the risks. Emika and Hideo discontinue their romance when he reveals his true motives.
Emika coaches herself into other risk-taking situations throughout the novel. She risks endangering her team when she brings them in on Zero’s activity and a plan to hack the final game of the Warcross competition. She also takes a risk on trusting Tremaine’s file, when he offers to help in her pursuit of Zero. Though Emika is trepidatious in both these decisive moments, she gains success (stopping Zero, gathering info from the file) because of taking the risks. Ironically, these successes inadvertently aid Hideo in his plans, and Emika realizes too late that staying in Tokyo and involving herself in the last game was the greatest risk of all.
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