social networks

The novel, Pattern Recognition, was heavily influenced by the ease of communication and retrieving information through the internet and social networks. From the start of the novel, Cayce established that “the forum has become one of the most consistent places in her life…” (4). The forum, F:F:F: was the center of Cayce’s life. On that site, she was able to see all of the uploaded video segments and posts by other users. Cayce herself frequently posted her thoughts onto that forum and through there was where she befriended Parkaboy. Without the internet, it would have been impossible to find the makers of the videos.

It seemed like Parkaboy was already one of Cayce’s good friends even though they have only talked through the web. They constantly emailed each other about the videos but have never met face to face. How much could she have known about Parkaboy without having met him? But nonetheless, Cayce trusted Parkaboy enough to fly him to Moscow. When Parkaboy tells Cayce that his name is Peter Gilbert, his “name feels strange on her tongue” (279). After knowing Peter as Parkaboy for so long, it was weird calling him some other name. Cayce most likely tried to give Parkaboy a face to go with his name, but when his name changed, the image of him also changed in her head. Cayce finally met Peter in reality when he found her wandering around somewhere in Russia. Being a true friend that he was, he found her and saved her from death.

While Peter was only Cayce’s online friend, Boone was her partner in trying to uncover the makers of the footage. It would be logical that Cayce should have been able to have complete trust in Boone because they were working side by side but that was not the case. Boone ended up as “the guy who’s been hacking [Cayce’s] hotmail for Bigend” (328). Bigend knew that Cayce was good at doing her job so he used Boone to steal information from Cayce. It is not difficult to understand why it seemed like Cayce had no other friends. There was so much going on in her life that it was hard for her to trust many people.

Although the relationship Cayce formed with Peter was through emails, their friendship lasted longer than Boone and Cayce’s did. It is possible that meeting someone online is not as scary as many people conclude it to be. There is nothing to hide when talking to a random stranger because the chance of meeting is minute.