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Society and Class
In Where'd You Go, Bernadette, the city of Seattle is a handy lens we can use to understand American society at large. We see corporations like Microsoft, who use their power for both good and ill. We watch cliquey social groups adopt an us-vs-them attitude. We see more five-way intersections than we know what to do with. By parodying these often-humorous aspects of Seattle, author Maria Semple ends up satirizing the rest of American society as well.
Through its depiction of Microsoft, the novel critiques the inherently exploitative structure of modern corporations.
Though it critiques some aspects of corporations, the novel shows their positive aspects through the beneficial implications of their innovations, like Samantha 2.
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