Finding Patterns in 'Pattern Recognition'

Marketing and Commodification-

The author explores the advent of ' advertising' for products becoming the driving force of innovation. The ability to create a media campaign that can be consumed and marketed perfectly to the reviving audience, is the golden grail.

“Far more creativity today, goes into the marketing of products than into the products themselves, athletic shoes or feature films. That is why I founded Blue Ant: that one simple recognition.”
Bigend, Pg 67.

In essence, the product itself is no longer important. The 'how' of captivating interest and grabbing on to a 'hot trend' is more important than the product itself.

The author also explores the desire for marketing companies to be up to date with the current trends of the day. However, that time consuming endeavor has spiraled into the creation of the newest marketing ploy, the creation of trends by the marketing firms themselves.

'”Exactly,” Cayce says, “but that's why it works. They don't buy the product: they recycle the information. They use it to try to impress the next person they meet.”'
- Magda, Pg 85

I believe the author at this point, is trying to illustrate that products are no longer the driving force of capitalism. The ability to make a product 'cool' surpasses the desire to make a product superior. The character's quest to find out the creator of the 'footage' is an overt statement of this fact. Bigend has appealed to Cayce's desires to find the creator, in order to reproduce 'excellence' that can be controlled on the world stage. Therefore, 'marketing' is the new product that is being coveted in the 21st century.


Post-9/11 Social Commentary.

9/11 is a constant backdrop to the novel's plot, characters and theme. The constant paranoia exhibited by Cayce, can be an allusion to the general feelings of the US public in the wake of 9/11. The 'James Bond' like procedures Cayce undertakes to 'secure the perimeter' of Daimen's apartment can be an allusion to the threat of the post 9/11 Patriot Act.
More so, 9/11 is a constant motif that has effects the language and emotions of the characters. For example, Dorotea's query about the winter in New York.

“How was the winter then in New York?”
“Cold,” Cayce says.
“And Sad? It is still sad?”
-Dorotea, Pg 13

The post 9/11 world colors the mood of the story. The characters seemed to live in a bleak setting with no hope for a renaissance like existence.

The post 9/11 motif makes the idea of hoping for the future an exercise in futility.

“For us, of course things can change so abruptly, so violently, so profoundly, that futures like our grandparents' have insufficient 'now' to stand on. We have no future because our present is too volatile.”
-Bigend, Pg 57

The author in a sense, states that the idea of hope died with the events of 9/11. The sudden fall of the towers illustrates the character's belief that the present is chaotic that cannot be predicted.
This also might piggyback onto Bigend's desire to find the creator of the 'footage.' By extension, finding the creator would mean the discovery of the 'marketing' technique that allows the user to create trends. In essence, Bigend would be able to manage the chaos of the post 9/11 world by discovering the creator of the 'footage.'

From the View of Tobe

There would be notice changes in a 'Rose for Emily' if the story was entirely narrated by Tobe. I believe the original intent, theme, and suspense of the story would shift dramatically from William Faulkner's original piece. Since the story is narrated in the first-person plural perspective from the viewpoint of the town, ('we') the reader is allowed to be intrigued by the mysterious life of Emily Rose. The description of the Emily's house in disrepair shows that the people of the town have made specific judgments about Emily's character, mindset and class status within the town. The fact that they describe Emily Roses' house as 'an eyesore among eyesores' not only means that they disapprove of Emily's home, but also her as a person. This allows the reader to be intrigued by the Emily's eccentric behavior as described by the gossiping townspeople.
Tobe, her servant, would obviously have all the details about her Emily's personality, and the underlying motive to why she murdered Homer. If the viewpoint changed, the story would of gone from a creepy mystery short to a sympathetic portray of a lonely murderer. Tobe was Emily's tool, and it seemed he even carried out her wishes after she was deceased. This can be illustrated by Tobe's quick exit from Emily's house after he had let the townspeople in to bury her. Tobe had to be an accomplice of the plot to poison Homer with arsenic.
Therefore, the story narrated from Tobe's perspective would quickly become a horror story told from the colloquial view of not only Tobe's eyes, but Emily's as well. This conclusion is based on the fact that Tobe has carried out his master's desires wants. From buying arsenic on her behalf to refusing to offer a peep about Homer's murder, paint Tobe as Emily's accomplice.

#2

The poem makes allusions to environmental utopia. 'Clear skys' and 'pure water' are two things that the perfect environmental setting would require. The author also goes on and calls for the 'return' to the 'mammal' state of old. Basically the idea that the humans should return to the in-harmony state of humanity that could co-exist with nature in olden times. The phrase 'joined back to nature' exemplifies the authors belief that humanity should return to a state that should in-sync with nature. Therefore, there is a spurious belief that humanity a parasite that feeds on nature. Perhaps, the description of technology in an inert phase as if they were 'spinning blossoms,' is an allusion to the end of technology as we know it.
On the flip side, it is possible that the author wants to be universally pleasing. He recognizes that humanity has its needs like any other 'mammal' and it needs to reorganize its addiction in the context of nature. Therefore the author is calling for the use of technology to be more forgiving to the environmental utopia the author envisions. Humanity can frolic in technological bliss that adds to the beauty of nature. The state of 'mutually programming harmony' is needed to give way to the 'cybernetic meadow.' The author can only mean that technology can only add to the value of nature when coupled properly.
I believe the the first explanation is more accurate. The author sees technology as detrimental to the 'pure water' and 'clear skys' of nature. He therefore wishes that technology decays to the point where it is like 'spinning blossoms' that 'deer' can trample through. In essence, I believe the author hopes that 'nature' will exist unmolested in the ruins of technological society.