71 pages • 2 hours read
Ernest ClineReady Player One
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 17-22 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “0017”
Wade chats with Art3mis. Though Art3mis is standoffish at first, she opens up when Wade reveals that he has a crush on her. He persistently attempts to flirt though Art3mis evades him. They take turns asking questions about each other’s real lives. Eventually Art3mis signs off, telling Wade that he should stop inviting her to chat. In response, Wade starts e-mailing her. He and Art3mis grow closer, “meeting in private chat-room sessions at least once a day” (174). They start sharing details of their research and exchanging theories about the Almanac. Wade loses interest in the Hunt and only wants to spend time with Art3mis. He reveals almost everything about himself, though Art3mis “always adamantly refused to reveal any details about her own life” (178).
When he’s not chatting with Art3mis, Wade levels up his avatar. He tries to focus on deciphering the clue to the Jade Key with no luck. At one point Wade thinks he has a lead, but it goes nowhere. No one else makes any progress either. Wade and Art3mis begin going on dates in the OASIS and share a kiss after seeing The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Chapter 18 Summary: “0018”
Wade receives an invitation to an exclusive party held by Morrow in a dance club in a zone of the OASIS designated PvP (player versus player). This means that Wade could be attacked by another avatar, making it a dangerous event for him to attend. Wade finds Art3mis, who invites him to dance. Wade tells Art3mis that he’s in love with her, but Art3mis replies, “You aren’t in love with me…You don’t even know me” (186). She says that their relationship has become a distraction and that they should avoid contact until the Hunt is over.
A Sixer army blasts a hole in the dance club, attacking the attendees and targeting Wade and Art3mis. Morrow is annoyed at having his birthday party ruined and vaporizes the entire army of Sixers without harming anyone else. Wade is “awestruck” by “the most incredible display of power by an avatar” he has seen (189). Morrow returns to the party as Art3mis leaves.
Chapter 19 Summary: “0019”
In the wake of his talk with Art3mis, Wade becomes depressed and more reclusive. He outfits his apartment to reduce distractions from the outside world (including light) and reinforces his security. He spends any money he receives on constantly upgrading his OASIS rig. A few weeks after Art3mis stops speaking to him, Wade buys an anatomically correct haptic doll for sexual purposes, but discards it “out of a combination of shame and self-preservation” (193). Wade’s new system agent software, Max, assists him throughout his days with information and conversation. Wade observes that the hour after he wakes up is his “least favorite part of the day” because he spends it “in the real world” (195).
As a way of combatting his sedentary lifestyle, Wade enables OASIS fitness lockout software that prevent him from logging in if he doesn’t meet his daily exercise and diet requirements. This helps him get in better shape; he gets sick less and has more energy. After finishing his morning routine, Wade logs into the OASIS.
Chapter 20 Summary: “0020”
Six months have passed since Wade cleared the First Gate, but he is still unable to decipher the location of the Jade Key. He takes some time to vote in the OASIS elections. He also broadcasts his own personal channel within the OASIS, showing “classic 80s TV shows, retro commercials, cartoons, music videos, and movies” (202). He keeps a monitor tuned to Art3mis’s personal channel; he has tried to contact her but had no success.
Wade also tries to reconnect with Aech, they get into a shouting match and do not speak for a month. Wade teams up with Daito and Shoto for a quest in Japanese, which awards them an artifact that allows “the avatar who possessed it to transform into Ultraman once a day, for up to three minutes” (205). As a way of trying to gain favor, Wade tells Daito and Shoto to keep the artifact.
To earn money, Wade takes a job doing OASIS technical support, which he hates. At the end of a shift, he logs out and learns that Art3mis has found the Jade Key.
Chapter 21 Summary: “0021”
Shortly after Wade and the others cleared the First Gate, the Sixers purchase an artifact called Fyndoro’s Tablet of Finding, which displays an avatar’s location. It allows the Sixers to figure out where Art3mis is moments after she finds the Jade Key and reveals to the entire OASIS that she and the key are in Sector Seven. Wade feels that he wants to win the contest “more than ever” (211) to in order to prove himself to Art3mis. He combs maps of Sector Seven and concludes that he needs to go to Archaide, where there are replicas of Halliday’s Game Design of the Year awards. Wade boards his spaceship which he stole from a gunter clan that tried to attack him and heads for Archaide.
Chapter 22 Summary: “0022”
Wade lands on Archaide and jumps down into the OASIS’s largest classic videogame museum; the games get older the deeper into the museum he travels. He comes to the GSS Museum where Halliday’s trophies are displayed. He feels that his trip has been “a waste of time” (219). On his way back to the surface, he stumbles across Happytime Pizza, a restaurant that has never been “mentioned on any of the gunter message boards or strategy guides” (219).
While exploring Happytime Pizza, Wade finds an unplugged Pac-Man machine. Plugging it back in, he sees that the game contains some oddities, including a saved high score just shy of the game’s maximum top score. Wade realizes that he has found an Easter egg though he knows it isn’t “the Easter egg. Just an Easter egg” (221). As he plays Pac-Man, he receives a notification that Aech has found the Jade Key. Wade manages to complete a perfect game, winning the high score. As a prize, a quarter on top of the game cabinet becomes part of Wade’s inventory.
Returning to the surface of Archaide, Wade receives a peace offering from Aech: a manual for the game Zork. Wade sets course for Frobozz, which contains a detailed re-creation of Zork. He now knows the location of the Jade Key.
Chapters 17-22 Analysis
In this section, Cline focuses on Wade’s relationships with the other members of the High Five, particularly Art3mis, and with himself. Wade lacks social skills and feelings of self-worth, and this leaves him unequipped to handle conflict or process emotions productively. His over attachment and aggressive, relentless behavior drive Art3mis away. In the wake of this rejection, Wade is forced to come to terms with himself. He tries to repair his damaged relationship with Aech—which is only partially successful—and forge new bonds, however tentative, with Daito and Shoto.
Most importantly, Wade shows glimmers of practicing the self-care he so desperately needs. He still lives as a shut-in—never going outside, never interacting with another real person, and eating only food delivered to him—but his impulsive addition of the fitness lockout to his OASIS setup forces him to improve his overall health. He exercises, he eats better, he sticks to his new regimen, and realizes the difference it makes in how he feels both physically and emotionally. Cline aligns Wade’s quest for the Easter Egg with a separate journey of personal growth and self-awareness, suggesting that Wade finding the egg is not the only way for him to become a more fulfilled person.
