Super Sad True Love Story

The äppärät symbolizes the data economy that has fully taken over Lenny Abramov’s world. Upon return to America, Lenny realizes that one cannot be seen without an äppärät; one cannot make oneself untraceable or unknowable. Beginning with the “innocent fat man dragged off” (53) his plane, the militant need to be known becomes a distinct part of the American authoritarian political world that Lenny enters. What is not part of the äppärät world, like books, are easily rejected for their tangible, smelly, unattractive, and aging qualities.

Although Lenny seems less savvy with his äppärät and must have his replaced with a newer model upon arrival home, he also uses it to his advantage. Upon return to America, he uses it to look “for clues on Eunice Park” (35). He sees into her past, her history: this is how he knows of her family abuse, which he assumes that he understands. Lenny is prey to the illusion that data is sufficient, while relationships continually show how much mystery still remains behind it.

The numerous betrayals, and potential betrayals, across the text underlie the apparent openness that the äppärät provides. Just like Onionskin jeans, which leave nothing to the imagination, the äppärät tries to give people a clear read of who stands where in society. Physical violence, betrayal, and hidden political maneuvers quickly destabilize this idea of security. 

The motif of youth motivates the “creative economy” (179) that Joshie ardently sees in the future. The “technological elite” (179) will gain access to youth forever, which is the premise of Post-Human Services. Even before the Rupture, Joshie’s obsession, which Lenny joins onto, is with avoiding the death that he feared so early in life. This fear, it turns out, is common, and capitalizing on it seems to be a good business model.

Lenny recognizes that he fears “the old people” in his life because he fears “their mortality” (271). Children are “lovely and fresh” and “blind to mortality” (1), admirable because they do not need to think of how they are gradually dying. As one grows older, people become obsessed with death and dying. Lenny fears the fall because it signals decay.

Eunice is one of the youthful people who does not think about her own age but about others’ statuses. Unlike the workers at Post-Human Services, who obsessively track their bodily metrics, Eunice is more aware of whether or not she is fat and thinks often of how old other people are. Her disconnect from that mortal fear is part of the reason Lenny says, at the end of the text, that she does not believe in her own personal importance. Interest in unending youth, and fear of age, stem from a sense of personal importance: as it fades in Lenny, too, he lets go of his desire to be young. In the process, he remains healthy, while Joshie’s body malfunctions in its fight for youth.