These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the novel.

Personal Response Prompt

Ready Player One is rich with real-world pop culture references from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. What are some things from a different era that you enjoy? It could be music, movies, art, a décor style, celebrities, games, or just a fondness for a particular period (think Renaissance Faires or Civil War re-enactments). How were you exposed to it, and what aspects drew you to it?

Teaching Suggestion: Use these questions to guide students toward a discussion about the cyclical nature of pop culture and how the theme of 1980s Nostalgia present in Ready Player One bolsters its popularity and represents recent pop culture trends.

• an article from The Patterning explaining the “nostalgia pendulum”
• a Newsweek article about the popularity of 1980s nostalgia that specifically mentions Ready Player One

Post-Reading Analysis

Wade and his friends live in a world marked by extreme poverty and corporate control, which they escape through the world of the OASIS. Do you think a global system like the OASIS would be a good thing or a bad thing in the real world? How close do you think we are to realizing a system like this?