The Eye of Minds
51 pages • 1-hour read
James DashnerThe Eye of Minds
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Themes
Content Warning: This section contains discussion of death by suicide, graphic violence, and death.
The Mental Repercussions of Virtual Reality
Throughout the novel, Michael reminds himself that the things that he experiences in the VirtNet are not real. This non-reality is something that he uses to comfort himself as he sees brutal, horrifying things in the virtual world. He calculates the cost to himself in his ability to stay alive and little else; when he speaks of returning to the real world, he flippantly discusses seeing a therapist and putting the trauma of what he has witnessed behind him. Even so, the novel presents the things that Michael witnesses as having a mental and emotional effect, even if they do not have a lasting physical effect. Dashner’s novel therefore examines the mental repercussions of virtual reality.
The most dramatic trauma that Michael and his friends suffer in the novel is the violence they experience when in the war-based game Devils of Destruction. The three teenagers are horrified not only by the pain they experience and extreme violence they witness, but by the realization that the adult players who populate the game perpetuate this violence because they think it is fun. The novel does not explicitly state that video games inherently desensitize their players to violence in a manner that encourages them to commit violence in the real world, which is a common criticism against games that imitate violence. Nevertheless, the teens all find the violence in Devils of Destruction to be excessive, outrageous, and appalling, which raises the question as to what should count as entertainment.
However, the novel does suggest that video games offer the opportunity for those who wish to commit violence to do so without repercussions or risk. Moreover, the novel clearly indicates that video games offer players the skills to commit violence, particularly virtual reality video games that bring players closer to the experience inside the game. Even before beginning to play Devils of Destruction, Bryson comments that he is not presently up to the task of killing someone with a knife, speaking in a manner that indicates that he has done so before and knows the psychic cost of it.
The Eye of Minds thus plays with the nature and limitations of physical repercussions in virtual worlds, as sometimes people in the Wake experience physical harm, but sometimes do not. However, it frames the mental repercussions as being persistently real and difficult to manage, even though the players wish to deny that they are suffering trauma from their experiences.
The Tensions Between Appearance and Reality
In the opening scene to The Eye of Minds, Michael negotiates with Tanya, a player who is threatening to die by suicide. Initially, Michael is scarcely concerned by Tanya’s threat, as negotiating with players with suicidal ideation is part of the “Lifeblood experience.” Indeed, any death in the VirtNet is really only a pseudo-death, as players can easily resurrect and play again. Michael even notes that some players routinely enjoy the “thrill” of dying in the Sleep. As Michael soon discovers, however, not everything is as it appears, introducing the tensions between appearance and reality.
When Tanya removes her Core, the thing that reminds her physical body of the non-reality of the VirtNet, Michael finds that the situation feels suddenly real to him as well. He is horrified when Tanya makes good on her threat to jump, as it will kill her body in the real world. Her death is Michael’s first encounter with the fraying of the border between the real and unreal, something that becomes blurrier to him as he continues the search for Kaine on behalf of the VNS. As he continues through the physically grueling tasks that Kaine has set along the path, which test his need for food, water, and sleep, Michael finds that he increasingly struggles to recall that the things he experiences are not real.
The blurring between appearances and reality corresponds to the rising stakes of the three teenagers’ quest. When they face the relentless carnage of Devils of Destruction, for example, they are less reminded of their own embodiment than when they are on the Path, where the stakes of death become more real. Michael feels his virtual experiences are the most real when they have the most “real” stakes—though, as he learns in the novel’s final chapters, his sense of having a real body has never been true at all. Everything that he has considered to be “real” has actually been digitally manufactured, and yet his experiences and his memories remain his own.
Dashner thus emphasizes the “reality” of virtual reality throughout the narrative. Though Michael turns out to have been a Tangent, he remains a character in the novel, not a symbol—he retains his agency and ability to move through worlds similar to how a person would. The final revelation of Michael’s digital origins thus makes the border between appearance and reality even less clear, suggesting that this theme will continue to develop as the series goes on.
Friendship as an Anchor in Unusual Circumstances
When the VNS first approaches Michael and sets him on the quest to find Kaine, they tell him that he is permitted to tell his friends Bryson and Sarah about the Mortality Doctrine—but not that he is required to do so. Even so, Michael immediately reports everything to his friends, who, in turn, immediately agree to help him hunt down the elusive cyberterrorist, despite the intense danger that this presents not only for their hard-won digital personas but for their real bodies as well. Through the trio’s bond, the novel explores friendship as an anchor in unusual circumstances.
While some of the characters’ willingness to plunge into adventure arises out of naiveté, their collaboration is part of a deeply felt loyalty between the friends. This loyalty proves an important anchor for Michael as he moves down the Path and closer to Kaine, especially once he realizes that his memories of his parents and nanny are mysteriously fading.
The trust between the three friends is unshakeable even in the face of serious circumstances. When facing the clock riddle, Michael notes that he trusts Bryson’s gaming instincts. Even when Bryson turns out to be wrong about the clock, Michael’s trust remains. When Bryson realizes something about Kaine, then is killed by the Tangents before he can explain himself, Michael does not doubt that Bryson’s discovery was correct, instead merely wondering what his friend might have divined. When Sarah dies after being splashed by magma, Michael continues his quest to hunt down Kaine largely out of his promise to her, not because he has any desire to continue the quest on his own. Indeed, he notes that undertaking the quest becomes significantly more mentally draining once he no longer has his friends at his side to support him.
When Michael learns that he has been wrong about his humanity—he is really a Tangent who has only recently become embodied—one of his first questions is about his friends. He asks Agent Weber to confirm that Sarah and Bryson were both “real,” meaning human, and that neither of them knew about his virtual origins. He’s relieved to learn that his friends were not involved in Kaine or the VNS’ machinations—relieved, but not necessarily surprised, as his trust in them remains secure even after everything he knows to be true is upended. Michael’s faith in his friends suggests that Bryson and Sarah will continue to be important allies to Michael in the series’ subsequent installments.
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