Blog about my favorite books | Teen Ink

Blog about my favorite books

June 10, 2024
By Bdstewart26 SILVER, Troy, Michigan
Bdstewart26 SILVER, Troy, Michigan
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments


 
In Max Barry's "Jennifer Government," readers are thrown into a dystopian future that is an extreme version of our current capitalist society. Barry takes a funny view at the effects of unrestrained corporate power, examining issues of consumerism, the role of the government, and personal freedom.  This book keeps all of its readers very interested with things like an intriguing  story, good characters, and a mix of comedy and political satire. All of these aspects contribute to a great storyline and many deeper meanings.
            One of the key elements contributing to the novel's effectiveness is its intriguing storyline.  Barry's skills to successfully mix together several plot lines, all of them focusing on another aspect of the book's bigger message of a corporate-dominated society, shows his skills as an author.  The plot moves fast, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they watch characters whose lives are getting harder because of the mischievous plans of the large corporations. Barry uses an engaging and usually surprising storyline to encourage readers to see the key element of unrestrained corporate dominance and the consequences that they could have on the society as a whole. In “Jennifer Government,” businesses dominates every aspect of life, meanwhile governments are not nearly as important. Readers are so interested in this dystopian “vision”, because of its amazing parallel to corporate dominance in our real world and the consequences that can come from unregulated capitalism.
            This uncontrolled capitalism can be closely related to the money making frenzy that is included in the plot of the movie, “The Wolf Of Wall Street.” Although, these two pieces are pretty different from each other, there are some fascinating parallels that can be drawn between the two of them. In the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” viewers follow Jordan Belford and his journey of illegal stock fraud and driven and crazy he is about money. He controls all of his clients’ stocks and manipulates their money to perform illegal stock exchanges, and will ultimately result in him being busted and going to jail. Jordan Belford can symbolize the actions and power of the big corporations within the world of “Jennifer Government.” Jordan Belford can represent big corporations in our society and how they wash peoples’ minds to be addicted to materials over everything.
 
            Another strong dystopian theme in the book is its examination of consumer society and the extent people will go to get the looked upon branded goods. The “Nike mercurys” sneaker, which was bought with violent methods, it shows the severe consequences of living in a world where brand loyalty is literally a matter of life or death. This situation tells readers to consider the growing power of materialism, and the potential effects it can have on social values and personal liberty.
 
This picture depicts corporations pushing consumerism on the mass population. This picture can be related to “Jennifer Government” because big businesses use strategies to get people to look up to their brand and totally stop using their heads. The no brain sign can show how people are so addicted to buying and buying that they have no morals. The society within the novel pushes the same efforts onto the mass population. This also can paint a picture of our real lives and how big corporations advertise and mold our lives to become focused on materializing and desiring branded goods.
 
 
 
 


           
Relating to the morals in the society of the book,
Jennifer Government
, this picture can have readers deeply thinking about how big corporations take over peoples minds. The picture illustrates how the human brain is filled with junk that has been pushed on them by big companies.
 
 
            “Jennifer Government” impresses in terms of exploration, amazing storytelling, and flow of the narrative. In addition to keeping readers interested, Max Barry’s mix of suspense, dark humor, and action suggests readers to consider the bigger social issues involved.
 
            In conclusion, the effectiveness of the dystopian elements in “Jennifer Government” is because of its use of creating social issues in its fictional world that are similar to the ones of the real world. Due to the brilliant comparison to our real world problems— the book helps paint a picture of real world problems that we are experiencing without even knowing it—and reminds readers the importance of preserving personal liberties and preventing the dominance of corporate America.         


The author's comments:

This piece is special to me because i really get two go in depth of some of my favorite books and i extract parallels within them.


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