In William Gibson's Pattern Recognition, social network, more specifically the blog site “F:F:F” becomes big part of Cayce Pollard's life. “F:F:F” brings new interest (hobby) to Cayce and aside from her real job as “coolhunter,” she pursues adventure to find out the creator of “F:F:F,” traveling all over the world looking for clues that lead to the creator of F:F:F. Through her journey, she meets new friends: Parkaboy, Ivy, etc. from F:F:F and indirectly interact with them, deepening their friendship. Her passionate interaction in F:F:F becomes her virtual reality, having surreal journey to find the creator with help of friends whom she meets through F:F:F and associates of friends. Although she face multiple hardships throughout her journey, Cayce truly feels content with her virtual reality as her real life.
Cayce expresses her happiness and gratitude towards the creator through e-mail when she gets the creator's e-mail address. Cayce starts off with her introdution: name, age, current place, and even her personal life. Her introduction seems very odd knowing that Cayce is very intellectual figure. Especially with recent unpleasant events during the course of her journey, it is very odd for her to give her personal information and her life story about some stranger she has never met. Her inconsiderate about her personal information shows that she is comfortable talking about herself to the creator and this could also indicate her gratitude towards the creator.
The creator's F:F:F is the middle piece to connect Cayce and other friends whom she met in F:F:F. Being an intellectual person, Cayce expresses her gratitude by saying, quoting Parkaboy, “He says it's like Coleridge” and “He says it's shamanic.” (p.255) Coleridge is English philosopher, poet, and a founder of the Romantic Movement in 18th century (Wiki). Cayce is referring F:F:F as act of Romantic Movement because she felt that her involvement in F:F:F was a form of revolt against her real life of being “coolhunter” under Bigend, who is the power figure in Cayce's life and in this novel. When F:F:F is referred to as “shamanic,” Cayce believes that it pieced together her and her friends, like a shaman who connects with the spiritual world, allowing people from the the real world to communicate through shaman.
Cayce sees Parkaboy and Ivy as friends from “spirited world” or virtual reality and she enjoys her relationship among them. While she is messaging the creator, “She stops, and looks over at Peter Pan, noticing how the bronze ears of the rabbits at his base are kept polished by the hang of children.” (p.255) In here, Gibson gives children who are affectionate to Peter Pan, as supporting evidence of Cayce's happiness in virtual reality as her real life. Peter Pan is fictional character yet children are affectionate and show the sign of love by polishing the rabbits that is under Peter Pan.
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