Rebellion, Obedience, And Satire In The Perfect Match By Ken Liu

746 Words3 Pages

In the short story “The Perfect Match” Ken Liu shows readers that if everyone turns to technology all the time then the world will be full of people that don’t truly know themselves and what matters to them, because they are provided with more ideas supporting what their initial thoughts instead of being exposed to new ideas that they may challenge their original ones. Through the use of a rebel, obedience, and satire, Liu warns his readers of the immense issue facing society. At the beginning of the story, Jenny runs into Sai and asks him to take down the camera above his door. Jenny further explains why she doesn’t want Tilly near her apartment, “Tilly doesn’t just tell you what you want,” Jenny shouted. “She tells you what to think. Do you even know what …show more content…

Jenny is trying to get Sai to gain self awareness upon himself because he hasn’t realized even when he thinks he wants something he still goes with what Tilly suggests. This challenge of thought causes exposure to new ideas which wouldn’t have been possible without a rebel, Jenny. Jenny is a rebel because she sees the truth behind the Centillion company and the manipulation it’s causing. Sai, like a majority of the population, disagrees with her and dislikes that she has her own ideas separate from the uniform ones the rest of the population has regarding Tilly. In addition, Tilly, a representation of all technology, was not actively engaging during this conversation, which causes Sai’s original thoughts to be truly challenged without outside influences. Obedience is another element that demonstrates this. Sai and Ellen are on their supposedly perfect date, because they’re exactly each other's types. As Sai starts to object to Tilly’s suggestions, while he recalls Jenny’s thought-provoking questions, Ellen states, “But you know that the more Tilly knows, the more helpful she can be. Don’t you want to be sure we don’t make silly mistakes on a first