Term Paper Part 1

Sub-topic: The different opinions regarding technology

                Technology is one of the central topics throughout the whole of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Its presence in everyday life evokes different opinions and perceptions by the main characters, the most notably being the variation in outlook by the narrator in comparison to John and Sylvia. The narrator accepts and embraces technology wholeheartedly, while his friends are unable to see the positive attributes.

                The narrator’s perception of technology is extremely positive, as he receives a large amount of enjoyment from using and interacting with it. One thing that demonstrates his love for technology is his constant need to take care of his motorcycle. This seemingly obsessive desire further supports his appreciation of technology as a whole; he values it enough to spend such a large portion of his time dedicated to ensuring that his motorcycle is getting the proper care. Maintaining his motorcycle has become an activity that he now finds enjoyable; at one point, he claims that “it seems natural and normal to me to make use of the small tool kits and instruction booklets supplied with each machine, and keep it tuned and adjusted myself (9-10). The narrator is acutely aware that technology’s place in society is only growing, so his decision to embrace it and make use of it is beneficial for himself.

Opposite from the narrator’s point of view, both of the narrator’s traveling partners, John and Sylvia, have a far less accepting perception of technology. They are unable to see the benefits, so they focus purely on the negatives, never taking the time to use it themselves or appreciate it, much unlike their fellow traveler. While it seems that the large majority of individuals have a positive outlook with regard to technology, John and Sylvia refuse to conform to society’s values. Their defiance of the norm can be viewed as a good thing, as they are following what they themselves believe in, rather than what others value. However, in the long run, their division from technology will prove to be detrimental. John and Sylvia may want to detach themselves, but they have to acknowledge the progress that technology has made. If they refuse to recognize the positive attributes, then their isolation from a great amount of progress in society will ultimately be a bad thing. Unlike the narrator, John would prefer someone else to deal with his attachments to technology. “He [John] prefers to let a competent mechanic take care of these things so that they are done right” (10). Both John and his wife have at least some understanding as to how technology affects them, due to the fact that they possess technological items, most apparently their motorcycle, yet they have an undying need to be isolated from it. “Sylvia is completely with him on this one. In fact she is even more emphatic. ‘It’s just a whole other thing,’ she says, when in a thoughtful mood. ‘I like garbage,’ she says, when not. They want not to understand it. Not to hear about it. And the more I try to fathom what makes me enjoy mechanical work and them hate it so, the more elusive it becomes. The ultimate cause of this originally minor difference of opinion appears to run way, way deep” (11). John and Sylvia’s disapproval of technology is one of the central topics that separate them from the narrator.

Technology’s presence in society is controversial among individuals, based on the difference in beliefs as to whether or not it should play such a large role in the world. The central characters of the novel, the narrator; John; and Sylvia, all have varying opinions on the subject. While the narrator chooses to embrace it for all of its positive attributes, the others have a completely different outlook, always searching for someone else to deal with it. A difference in opinion regarding technology is of the main differences that exist between the narrator and John and Sylvia.