Department of English

Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University

 

Anda's Game

(2004)


Cory Doctorow

(July 17, 1971 – )

 

 

"Anda's Game" Notes

This short story was first published in 2004 at Salon.com.


225  Camden Town: a town in London, England

226  ape-poo:



  • x


227  noobs: short for newbies, meaning novices; here it means players who are new to the game and are not very good


231  One two one two and through and through...vorpal blade went snicker-snack: lines from the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves   
   Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
   And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
   The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
   The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
   Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
   And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
   The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
   And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
   The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
   He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
   Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
   He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
   Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
   And the mome raths outgrabe.

232  Mr. Kettle, Miss Pot: play with the expression "the pot calling the kettle black"

233  Zackly: exactly

233  Curly Wurlies:

234  chump change:

240  orca: whale






Anda's Game
This is a riff on the way that property-rights are coming to games, and on the bizarre spectacle of sweat-shops in which children are paid to play the game all day in order to generate eBay-able game-wealth. When I was a kid, there were arcade kings who would play up Gauntlet characters to maximum health and weapons and then sell their games to nearby players for a dollar or two -- netting them about $0.02 an hour -- but this is a very different proposition indeed.
[...]
It's the first in a series of stories I'm writing that riff on the titles of famous SF novels and stories (this one is a play on Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" [...]




 




 

      

Study Questions

  • In an interview with Brian David Johnson, Doctorow mentions his science fiction writing as a sort of parable. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines these types of tales as "example; specifically: a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle." Note that the etymology of parable is from the Greek paraballein "to compare." What comparisons is Doctorow making in "Anda's Game"? What examples does he show? What ethical issues or principles does he illustrate?

 


 

Review Sheet

 

Characters

Anda – twelve years old (223); gamer; attends Ada Lovelace Comprehensive school (223); "a little podgy, like Anda herself" (225)
Liza the Organiza – gamer; "She had an Australian accent" (223); president of Clan Fahrenheit (224); called Lizanator in-game (224); "a little podgy, like Anda herself, but she wore it with confidence. She was solid, like a brick wall, her hair bobbed bluntly at her shoulders" (225)
Miss Cruickshanks – "the principal" (223)
Mrs. Danzig – "the useless counselor" (223)
Lucy, the Sarge – gamer (225)
Lilian – Anda's mother (240)
Raymond – a gamer Anda and Lucy meet in gamespace; "I live in Tijuana. I am a labor organizer in the factories here"


Setting

Camden Town, England – (225)
Gamespace – (225)



Vocabulary


allusion
irony
parable

Charater, Characterization 
foil
personality
direct presentation of character
indirect presentation of character
show v. tell
consistency in character behavior
motivation
plausibility of character: is the character credible? convincing?
flat character
round character, multidimensional character
static character
developing character
direct methods of revealing character:
Plot
beginning, middle, end
scene
chance, coincidence
double plot
subplot, underplot
deus ex machina
disclosure, discovery
story
conflict, internal conflict, external conflict, clash of actions, clash of ideas, clash of desires, clash of wills
protagonist
antagonist
suspense
mystery
dilemma
surprise
ending
artistic unity
time sequence
exposition
complication
rising action, falling action
crisis
climax
anti-climax
conclusion
resolution
denouement
flashback, retrospect
foreshadowing

Point of View
first person
second person
third person

 

 

 

Sample Student Responses to Cory Doctorow's "Anda's Game" 


 

Study Question: 

 

Response 1:

 

 

 

 

 

Student Name

2202234 Introduction to the Study of English Literature

Acharn Puckpan Tipayamontri

June 21, 2010

Reading Response 1

  

Title

 

Text.

 

 

 

 

 

            

 

 

 


Links

  • Cory Doctorow, "Anda's Game," Craphound (2004; commentary)

  • Alice Taylor, "Anda's Game" (mp3 of Taylor reading the story)
    • Part 1 (24:23 min.; after Doctorow's introduction, Taylor begins reading at 2:06 min. and ends at "and a few thousand golds' worth of badly crafted shirts." p. 232)
    • Part 2 (16:49 min.; reading begins at 0:43 min. from "That was the first of Anda and Lucy's missions" to "She reached down and shut off her PC" p. 239)
    • Part 3 (28:11 min.; reading begins at 1:31 min. from "Anda's da and mum" to end)

 


Media




 


Cory Doctorow

 



 

Reference

Doctorow, Cory. "Anda's Game." The Best American Short Stories 2005. Eds. Michael Chabon and Katrina Kenison. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2005. 223–50. Print.



Further Reading






 

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Last updated August 19, 2013