Microserfs

In Microserfs Douglas Coupland attempts to analyze the lives of people whose work is closely associated with most advanced machines that attain yet been made computers. The title of the fabrication Microserfs introduces the ii main ideas of the novel it is a play on the dominant force at heart the computer diligence (Microsoft) and the word serfs, which refers to the semi-slave groups who existed within feudal societies in medieval times. Coupland suggests that the people who work for companies like Microsoft atomic number 18 essentially a king of voluntary serf.The characters within this novel want to be machine-like for a number of reasons. First, that seems to be the characteristic which has enabled Bill Gates (the founder and CEO of Microsoft) to rise to the top of the industry. part they apparently detest their jobs at Microsoft, leading to their leaving them and attempting to set up their own company, they also greatly admire the machine-like quality that Gates brings t o his work. Secondly, a machine is totally twisting with what it is doing it has no distractions that will operate it away from the task at hand. Third, there is the beautiful logic of software code which contrasts with the often chaotic nature of their private and professional lives.In Microserfs the great spur for activity is the search to be One-Point-Oh, that is to be the first to do the first version of something(Coupland, 1995). Computer software is commonly identified according to which version of the program it is, so to be one-point-oh (1.0) is to be the best. There is a machine like logic to this idea which is of course not rattlingly based upon reality normally the first version of any program is crude and ineffective compared to later versions which are more sophisticated and choose been adapted according to the real-world experience of the software being used.In many ways the main characters of the novel such as Daniel, Susan and Todd are removed from the real wo rld to the extent that they need to employ someone from that world to be their reality-check, that person being Daniels mother. The characters are obviously satirical in nature, and are taken to such an extreme that they almost seem like people who inhabit a video game.Take for example Michael, who is a brilliant only if awkward programmer who leaves Microsoft to start his own company, and decides to adopt a Flatlander diet (Coupland, 1995). This involves only eating two-dimensional food (Coupland, 1995) which means food that can be slid under his door, He has a screen name of Kraft Singles (Coupland, 1995), an ironic comment upon his peculiar diet.Michael is just one example of the tendency to take matters to an extreme among the characters. Todd is not just a body-builder, but an obsessive body-builder. Bug is not only experienced, older and a little more cynical than his jr. fellow workers, he calls himself the Worlds Bitterest Man (Coupland, 1995). All of these characterization s make the people who inhabit the novel seem essentially machine-like they are one/two dimensional, relentless in their pursuit of an end and often limited in outlook. A software program is designed to do one thing super well, but nothing else. In the same way the characters attempt to do one thing, or be one thing, extremely well.The constant conflict in the midst of the need for a pure existence as a designer, body-builder, bitterest man etc. comes up against the natural human tendency to diversify and to be multi-faceted. While Microserfs was written before the massive explosion in Internet usage, the manner in which people are now essentially locked to their computers- constantly checking e-mail nonetheless in the most remote locations is a natural development of the kind of process that Coupland sees in this novel. The ongoing discussion between machine and human being, something which is reflected within Couplands novels, continues unabated.In conclusion, the characters of Microserfs seek to be machine like because they see this as a route to success. Their king, Bill Gates, who they leave, is nevertheless an icon to be aimed at. He seems more like a machine than a human being according to Coupland, and has all the strengths and weaknesses that are associated with this identity. The characters of this novel, wonderfully funny, but often genuinely sad at the same time, reflect this search to be the perfect human machine. The fact is that they seem to lose their humanity along the way.Works CitedCoupland, Doug