71 pages • 2 hours read
Ernest ClineReady Player One
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 36-39 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary: “0036”
Wade watches his avatar die, along with every other avatar in the area, as a nuclear-like explosion decimates their surroundings. The only thing that remains is the Third Gate, “a crystal doorway floating in the air above the crater where the castle had stood a moment before” (343). Wade deduces that the Sixers have detonated the Cataclyst, a powerful bomb artifact, in an effort to prevent anyone from clearing the Third Gate. Wade receives a message that he has an extra life, then rematerializes without any items or gear but with his previous level and ability scores. The only item in his inventory is the quarter he won by beating Pac-Man.
Aech contacts Wade, telling him that Og has “patched all of us into your audio and video feeds” (345). Aech reveals that over half the population of the OASIS was killed in the explosion. While Wade and Aech talk via Og’s patch, Art3mis reveals that twenty Sixers survived, each holding copies of the Crystal Key. Wade picks up his Ultraman artifact, hoping to use it to reach the gate, but he remembers it can only be used once per day. Art3mis tells Wade to find her Chucks, which will allow him to fly. Before entering the gate, Wade tells Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto that if he wins, he will split the prize money with them. They agree to help him complete the Third Gate.
Chapter 37 Summary: “0037”
Wade’s final challenge inside the Third Gate is to beat the high score in a game of Tempest. Art3mis taunts him for not realizing Tempest would figure into the contest somehow. Wade fears that he only gets one chance to beat the game, but Art3mis points out that the version of the game he has to play contains a glitch that gives free credits if the player dies with a certain score. Wade succeeds in acquiring the extra credits, then starts his attempts to win in earnest. Art3mis tells Wade that while he has been playing, eighteen Sixer avatars opened the Third Gate and are now playing Tempest as well, revealing: “The moment someone enters the Third Gate, a live vidfeed of their avatar appears at the top of the Scoreboard” (354). Wade finds his groove, beating Halliday’s high score and clearing the game, which initiates a second phase of the Third Gate.
Wade plays through an immersive version of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Rather than playing as one character, Wade is shifted among whomever has the most dialogue in a scene. Aech, Art3mis, and Shoto give Wade dialogue when he needs it and keep him updated on the Sixers, particularly Sorrento, who is only nine minutes behind Wade inside the film. Wade finishes and finds himself transported to Halliday’s office.
Chapter 38 Summary: “0038”
Wade loses contact with his friends, presumably because “Halliday had coded this final stage of the gate so that no outside communication was possible” (361). Only one computer in the room will power on; it prompts Wade for a password. Wade is able to log in using Kira’s D&D character’s name: Leucosia. Wade loads the cartridge for Adventure—the first ever game with an Easter egg—and plays until he finds the game’s secret room and Halliday’s egg. Leaving the room, Wade sees that Castle Anorak and Cthonia have been restored. Anorak appears, shakes Wade’s hand, and transfers his powers, stats, abilities, and fortune to Wade.
Halliday’s avatar now appears as himself, not Anorak, and shows Wade the castle, as well as a button that will shut down the OASIS completely if pressed. Halliday gives Wade advice and then disappears. Wade learns that the video feed cut before his conversation with Halliday, so no one saw their exchange. He also realizes that when he cleared the Third Gate, “the eighteen Sixer avatars who were still inside had been ejected from the gate and deposited in front of the castle” (365). Wade uses his new powers to kill the Sixer avatars and resurrect his friends. Art3mis doesn’t log back in, choosing instead “to go outside and get some fresh air” (367). Aech shows Wade footage of Sorrento being arrested for murder and newsfeeds playing the clip of Sorrento threatening to kill Wade and his family.
Chapter 39 Summary: “0039”
Wade logs out and Og hugs him, telling him GSS chief executives and Halliday’s lawyers are there to meet with him. Wade goes outside to find Art3mis. He walks through Og’s hedge maze, whose “layout was identical to the labyrinth in Adventure” (370). Finding Art3mis, Wade tells her that she is beautiful. They exchange formal introductions, using their real names. Wade tells Art3mis that he loves her; Art3mis tells Wade: “You’re my best friend…I’ve really missed you, you know that?” (372). Wade and Art3mis sit together, touching.
Chapters 36-39 Analysis
Wade’s status as the chosen one is cemented when the Sixers kill everyone on Cthonia and only he survives, through his fortuitous extra life. Wade, being so much like Halliday, is destined to become his successor. However, as much as Wade resembles Halliday and has worked to be like him in every way possible, Halliday’s final advice is for Wade not to be like him, as the choices he made in life left him lonely and unhappy. Fittingly, when Wade finally steps outside to meet Art3mis and start his new life, he does so in a place of bright blue skies, sunshine, and greenery, signaling a bright new phase of his life in contrast to the dismal, crowded, dirty world in which he was raised. The future holds possibility, and Wade has the choice to strive for a better life not just for himself, but for everyone in the world.
Cline’s ending is not without its dark notes, however. Sorrento is arrested, but seems unconcerned, suggesting that he has ideas of how to circumvent his being brought to justice. IOI does not vanish overnight, and the suggestion is that the company and its practice may continue to exist for some time. While Wade and Art3mis make the first steps towards a real-life relationship, but as Art3mis points out, they have only just met face-to-face.
