PROJECT SPACE

Ready Player One

The Influence of Space
Think about the concept of space in your life and in your readings (primary and
secondary).
Choose a space that you would like to research and explore. This place can be anywhere
a coffee shop, a record store, a specific street corner, a sports arena (see more ideas in
the list below).
Develop a commentary about society or community/belief systems based on your chosen
space and/or how it defines you individually or who we are collectively.
Writing Task:
Consider how the particular space you studied during your group work reflects some
form of ideology or how it shapes our understanding of difference. Does the space
highlight a specific social and/or political issue? Does the space reflect socioeconomic
concerns? Are certain issues connected/related to particular spaces? How is this
mirrored in the spaces in the novel?
For the Project Space Essay, you should further explore the implications of space and the
social issues tied with it. The goal of your essay is to clearly define how certain spaces
are wrought with ideologies that affect and shape our conceptions of world and being, or
how certain issues are tied with certain spaces.
Some questions to consider:
Does the use of space fit its purpose?

Consider how this supports/challenges the customary way we see the world
around us.

How is this Los Angeles or LA? What do the spaces within Ready Player One say
about that world?

Discuss how the space functions in a larger context? (Hospitals, Museums,

Schools, Universities, Government Buildings, etc.)

How does the history of this space hold meaning for us? How does the history of
the space within the novel hold meaning for the characters?

How does this space shape us, and/or how have we shaped it? How does a
space shape the characters within the novel?

Do not simply answer these questions but rather use them to get ideas for the kind of
information you should include in your essay.

Project Space asks that you form groups of four to consider the
socioeconomics and politics of space within Ready Player One and also our
world. While space can be defined as urban, community, social, and
personal, it may also be institutional (e.g., the university, hospital, military).
Were interested in how space shapes our conception of world, self, and
other. We will read Ready Player One and look at how space may equate to/
or create country, ideology, childhood, and understanding.
Project Space Requirements:
Critical reading of Ready Player One/supplementary readings
Weekly Moodle Posts
Space/ Theme Assignment
Ethnography/Walking Tour
Outline
Individual Essay (4-6 Pages)
Ethnography/Walking Tour- After a lecture on the rhetoric of space,
students will be asked to analyze a space and then type up a 2-3 page paper
about the rhetoric of a location of the students choice. Student must go to a
specific location and record at least 1 pages of notes about the space of a
location/ and how the said space changes peoples interactions and etc. Then
they must type up their observations in a clear and concise format. (2-3
pages and notes)
Space/Theme Assignment- In a group you must discuss the multiple uses of
space and overall themes in the novel Ready Player One. Id like for each
group to come up with a list of the different depictions of space within the
novel and the themes within the novel. Then, each group will share them
with the class. From that list, each student must choose a depiction of space
within the novel to rhetorically examine. How does the shape of the space in
the novel affect the characters and their interactions? How is this theme
represented through this space? In this mini essay, you should explore how
the spaces influence and shape the characters in the novel and then prove it
with some textual examples. (2-3 pages)
Outline- Please write a rough outline of your essay. See the following

prompt for directions and write an outline of your argument. (1-2 pages)
Essay 1-The Influence of Space (@4-6 Pages)
In this essay, Id like you to rhetorically analyze the use of space in our
everyday world/ and in the literary world of Ready Player One. I would
suggest focusing on a shared theme in the novel and the space you choose
(such as government control, video games as culture, space in
media/technology, censorship, fluid identity, behavior modification, gender
roles, and etc.). How does the rhetoric of a space change a person/character
and influence their interactions with the world around them? You might want
to think about: Courts, bathrooms, video game identities, reddit identities,
libraries, schools, amusement parks, and etc.
What does this mean? You can think of space in Ready Player One (and in
everyday interactions) as a rhetorical force, which shapes our interactions
with people and even changes our interactions with the space itself. If you
believe that space shapes peoples reactions, then create an argument that
specifies how space changes interactions with the world around them. Be
specific. If you dont believe that space shapes a person, then create a thesis
that supports your point in detail.
Examine one of the many Spaces in Wades life and describe how this
space influences him. Then, examine a specific space in your life and
explain how this space influences you or people around. You can do this by
providing textual and personal observations and then analyzing them.
When thinking about how space rhetorically shapes Ready Player One and
your own life, consider the space of:
Social Interactions (gender codes, us vs. them, social codes, and etc.)
Institutions (military, education, corporation, police, and etc.)
Physical Spaces (Home/ Reality/ Room/ Classroom)
Virtual Spaces (OASIS/ Facebook/ Reddit/ Xbox/ Playstation Plus/
Online Dating)
Public/Private (Compare and contrast a public/private space from your
life and the text)
Space of the Dystopian World or a Virtual Utopia
Your essay should be about the Rhetoric of Space. In the essay, you
must discuss how space influences your everyday interactions with

people just as much as it does for characters in a novel. You must provide
valid evidence from the novel and observations from your life that
supports your conclusions.
Questions to consider
How does a virtual space like Oasis differ or is similar to your own virtual
space online?
How does your creation of an identity differ or is similar to the creation of
identities with virtual spaces in the novel?
Are you the same person that you depict online?
Do you censor yourself/ your online presence? How does that affect peoples
expectations of you?