47 pages • 1 hour read
Invitation To The Game
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Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “May 2155. Second Level”
Lisse and her group wake up in a plastic hull later revealed to be a spaceship pod in Chapter 9. They feel ill and fatigued. When they exit the pod, they find the same landscape where they played The Game, except it feels different. They do not realize they have traveled to another planet and that The Game was a computer simulation preparing them to live here. They tire more quickly, due to the change in gravity, but they do not understand why.
They set up camp for the evening, expecting to return to the Barton Oaks station once they fall asleep. When they wake, they are still on the same planet. Lisse develops a theory that The Game is like a video game and that they have beaten its first level. In this next level, the environment is less welcoming, and they don’t wake up in the real world after a day in The Game. She shares her theory with the others.
The group uses their survival skills to cope with the rainy, wet conditions as best as they can, but they miss their comfortable life in the city. Lisse catches a cold. In her feverish state, she worries that an uprising in the city has prevented The Game’s Manager from calling them back to the real world and that they will be stuck in The Game forever.
The group grows concerned about Lisse’s health. They realize that they will no longer return home when their teammates are in danger. They wonder whether they have won The Game, and if their reward is The Game becoming their reality. Karen asks, “Where are we? And for how long? Is the prize for winning The Game a vacation in glorious wherever-this-is? Or are we here for life?” (136).
Chapter 8 Summary: “June 2165. Galaxy Game”
Lisse recovers from her illness. Rich proposes that their current experience in The Game is “aversion therapy” (138). He believes The Government is forcing them to experience miserable conditions so that they will be grateful for the food and shelter provided from them in the city; he thinks the purpose of The Game is to make unemployed people more compliant. Benta points out that this theory does not explain why she and Rich, two employed people, were plucked from their happy lives to join The Game. Others in the group speculate that the Government may have transported them to another continent to reduce overpopulation.
Arguments erupt between the teens who think they should try to build a life in The Game and the teens who think it’s not worth the time since they believe they will be returned to the real world at any moment. The group survives by hunting for food, killing, and eating strange creatures they have never seen before, including an unknown species of lizard and blue rabbits. They make clay pots so they can cook more easily. After three weeks in this new stage of The Game, they continue to wonder where they actually are and whether they are stuck in this new place permanently.
Paul suggests they try stargazing to determine their geographic coordinates. On the first clear night since they arrived on the new planet, they observe the stars, but they can’t find any constellations that they recognize. The Milky Way also looks much brighter and different than it does on Earth. Paul, who is an expert in astronomy, realizes that they must be on another planet in a different part of the galaxy.
Chapters 7-8 Analysis
When Lisse and her group of friends arrive on the new planet, they experience a symbolic rebirth. Lisse describes the pod that drops them on the new planet as a “cramped white egg” (116), which suggests that when they emerge from it, they are entering a new life. While Lisse and the others don’t realize that the significance of the landing pod until Chapter 9, the narrative of their arrival on the new planet nevertheless resembles the stages of birth. The dream-like state Lisse experiences when they are transported to a new planet is like being in a womb. Then, after the teens leave the egg, they don’t remember it, just as children do not remember being born.
Lisse and her companions view their new experiences through the lens of a video game, returning to recurring motif of games to analyze their experiences. Lisse believe that they have unlocked a new level of The Game, which is more challenging, requiring them to cope with discomfort and use survival skills to feed themselves and build shelter. This perspective allows Lisse to reframe their difficulties as just another obstacle they can overcome, stating, “It’s a good sign, really, isn’t it? We’ve passed the first level. Now we’re on to the second” (124). Viewing their struggles as a continuation of The Game temporarily shields the teens from realizing the truth and gives them a goal to work toward when there is no clear objective other than their own survival. However, the undesirable conditions are a clue that the teens are living on a new planet and that they are not in a simulation.
The teens’ uncertainty over what is real creates conflict. If their experience is just a game, there seems to be no point in trying to set up permanent shelter and routines. If they are constantly anticipating being called back to Barton Oaks, however, they will never be able to plan for long-term survival. This schism harkens back to the teens’ debate in earlier chapters about The Game’s realness. Scylla argues that they will be better off if they assume their surroundings are real: “Let’s act on the assumption that we have been transplanted to another country to make a new beginning. What’s the harm in it? Even if we’re proved wrong we will have spent our days constructively” (140). Her words echo the philosophy of existentialism, which asserts it is better to make meaning out of one’s life even if everything seems meaningless.
The novel ultimately reveals Scylla’s course of action is wise while it debunks Rich’s theory that their new situation is a form of “aversion therapy” for the unemployed (137). The Government is manipulating the teens, just not in the way that Rich believes. Thus, Rich’s cynical take that The Government is devoted solely to social control is not accurate. The Government is authoritarian and duplicitous, but the novel does not depict it as villainous.
In fact, when Lisse discusses the possibility of an uprising against The Government, she does not view it in a positive light. Since she is a participant in The Game, she views herself as dependent on The Government’s survival. If there is a threat to the Government, she believes that she and the other teens will be affected as well because she thinks they are hypnotized in a government building in Barton Oaks station. Lisse believes that she and her group are literally under The Government’s protection and that without the Government, she and her friends “would lie there till they rotted” (133). This belief also reflects the teens’ adherence to The Government regime. By participating in The Game, not in the rebellion, they have aligned themselves with The Government, and therefore view threats to the Government as threats to their own physical safety. Lisse questions her loyalty to The Government, however, in the next chapter when she and the others realize The Government has abandoned them on a new planet.
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