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Desire In T. C. Boyle's The Relive Box

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The feeling of desire can be one of the strongest emotions among humans. People will give up many things just so they can fulfill their desires. This trend is apparent in T.C. Boyle’s “The Relive Box.” In his story, people slowly fall into the addiction of the Relive Box, a device that allows them to immerse themselves in their past. As a result, they build an addiction. This addiction reveals the many different desires humans can have, along with the dangerous effects while on the journey of life. “The Relive Box” reveals that humans have many different desires. The general desires that the Relive Box satisfies are the desires to stay in the past and avoid change. Its sole purpose is to take users back in time, so it would make sense that …show more content…

His desire for love is emphasized when he uses the Relive Box for the first time in the story. He was reliving an experience about love. He was well into his session with the device, and he was about to get off because he had work the next day. As he was getting out of the virtual reality, he recalls how “She took my hand, the soft friction of her touch alive still somewhere in my cell memory, and then she was leading me out onto the dance floor. She was leading. And I was following,” (Boyle 5). By including words like “soft friction”, Boyle shows how immersive the Relive Box is. He puts emphasis on how it makes the user feel so alive in the chosen time and place. It also shows the desire that Wes has for love. The experience of love in the Relive Box is so realistic and important to Wes, that it makes him stay on rather than get off. Although the desire for love may be prominent in Wes, he is certainly not the only one who uses the Relive Box for love. He even says that “most people, when they got their first Relive Box, went straight for sex, which was only natural. In fact, it was a selling point in the TV ads…” (Boyle 2). This shows how widespread this desire for love is. If it is one of the main selling points, it must mean the majority of the people who use the Relive Box use it for love purposes. It reflects the idea that most humans take love as a priority in their …show more content…

One of the ways Boyle shows this is through the deteriorating relationship between Katie and Wes. Throughout the story, Katie wants to use the Relive Box to see her mom again, but Wes constantly denies her request. He did not want the Relive Box to negatively affect things in her life, such as her school performance. Katie does not respond positively to this, saying “‘...it's not fair. You can use it all you want, like, day and night, but whenever I want it-’ And she broke off, tears starting in her eyes,” (Boyle 8). This exchange between Wes and Katie proves that the Relive Box has negatively impacted their relationship. It is pulling them apart because they have different views on using the Relive Box. Another negative impact that Boyle shows is the impact on how people behave after the extended use of the Relive Box. One day in the story, Wes noticed that “since the new model had come on the market, I’d noticed that randy, faraway gaze in the eyes of half a dozen of my fellow-employees , including Linda Blanco, the receptionist… Instead of breathing ‘Moos and Associates, how may I help you?’ into the receiver, now she just said, ‘Reset,’ (Boyle 7). This shows that the Relive Box is effectively taking over its users. By mentioning the change in behavior in Linda’s actions, Boyle shows the magnitude of the control it has. If the Relive Box

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