The Shockwave Rider - Themes

Themes

The novel was written shortly after two pivotal events of the 1970s, the resignation of Richard Nixon and the overthrow of the Chilean President Salvador Allende. Both are referenced in the novel as examples, in Nixon's case, of a failed attempt by organized crime to suborn the Presidency, and in the second, of the consequences of working against multinational commercial interests.

Most of the characters live with the feeling that their lives could be turned upside down in an instant because of someone breaking into the data held on the network. They also believe that the network knows more about them than they do about themselves. This is an extension of the sense of paranoia felt by many people in the 1970s, believing themselves to be powerless in the face of political and economic forces over which they had no control.

Perception is a recurrent theme in the novel. In particular, Brunner is concerned with perceptual patterns and how they can both help and mislead. Nick projects patterns of behavior to assume his personas, but Kate has "natural wisdom" which means that she ignores surface patterns to perceive the truth beneath. When they arrive in Precipice, the couple have to abandon their normal "urban pattern" to see the ways in which the town's unique design merges public and private space, along with natural and artificial structures.

The theme of patterns in perception runs through the entire novel. Future shock arises when reality and change disrupt patterns. People respond by falling into strong patterns within human nature, particularly tribalism.

Others try to convince themselves that all change is good, adopting the "plug in" lifestyle where they feel able to relocate to another city and insert themselves into a new social niche with a minimum of inconvenience. Their mobility is, however, a reflection of the failure of the lifestyle to satisfy them, resulting in more moves.

In this world of confusion, there are also companies specializing in psychological intervention. One such is "Anti-Trauma Inc." who are hired to "normalize" children, although what they do is more akin to "deprogramming", as performed on children retrieved from cults. They do significant harm to their charges, although as so often happens in Brunner's interconnected society, they also spend much money and time covering up their failures.