How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph.Page)
Quote #7
[…] the Chinese glass maker was using a PPG patent. PPG had developed the glass, applied for and gotten a patent, and shortly before bidding began, they licensed the patent to firms around the world. And one of those firms was Sanxin Façade, based on the South China Sea. And Sanxin Façade, it turned out, would be the firm building the glass in Freedom Tower. (XVII.74.135)
Alan's friend Terry has a good, hard cry about losing a major (and emotionally significant) contract to provide the glass for the new Freedom Tower in New York City. But while PPG is boo-hooing over the Chinese taking away American jobs, Eggers adds this tidbit: it's a catastrophe of PPG's doing.
Perhaps they felt that the U.S. government would never choose a Chinese firm over an American one for such a significant project, so they felt safe licensing out their patent on the glass. Or perhaps greed got the better of them? Either way, Terry and his company become another example of how the globalization of the economy isn't a blessing to everyone.
Quote #8
They'd never heard of anything like it. Some of the bank people were so young they'd never seen a business proposal suggesting manufacturing things in the state of Massachusetts. They thought they'd unearthed some ancient shaman, full of clues to a forgotten world. (XVIII.15.142-143)
By the time Alan tries to get a loan for his bike start-up, the tide of time has washed away the memory of manufacturing culture. Long story short? Those kiddos at the bank practically laugh him and his ideas out the door. Alan finds himself in that space of time between enthusiasm for mass manufacturing and a grassroots movement to restore American craftsmanship to its rightful place. It means that there's nothing Alan can do to realize his goals.
Quote #9
The age of machines holding dominion over man had come. This was the downfall of a nation and the triumph of systems designed to thwart all human contact, human reason, personal discretion and decision making. Most people did not want to make decisions. And too many of the people who could make decisions had decided to cede them to machines. (XVIII.49.146)
If this sounds like something right out of Blade Runner or Brave New World, it means you've been paying attention in Dystopian Lit 101.
Except this is Alan's reality. He feels like he's awakened to a world in which human beings—human contact, human skill and ingenuity—are now totally obsolete. Our love affair with technology, Eggers seems to say, is taking away all the things that make us uniquely human.