The Mind as a Form of Entrapment

Throughout Machines Like Me, the author explores the ways in which the expansiveness and despair of the human mind is capable of entrapping itself and inhibiting growth. Through each his characters, the author proves the marvels of cognition, invention, and emotion, and then swiftly proves how each of these interior realms may ensnare the individual. Told from Charlie's first person point of view, the linguistic patterns of the narrative as a whole, enact this notion. Though the reader believes herself intimate with Charlie's reality, interior, and modes of processing, Charlie is reluctant to self-reflect. His narrative tone therefore inhibits the reader's access to his truest feelings and fears. Much of the novel then, lives inside Charlie's contemplations of others’ actions and beliefs rather than his own. The author uses this treading pace to illustrate how Charlie's mind, his inability to...