1990s Context and Values

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the economy and thus marking the overtaking power of large corporations and “Neoliberalism… has succeeded remarkably in restoring the power of an economic elite. “ – David Harvey. As a result of this, ‘Bicycle Repairman,’ reveals the decline in power from the government through the metaphorical use of ‘changing senators the way you’d change a pair of socks,’ which reflects that the changing of senators is so common that society at the time no longer care about the actions that occur within the government. The little influence of the government towards the society can also be shown through the negative connotations of ‘lousy senator,’ with ‘lousy,’ implying ‘terrible,’ which exemplifies the disinterested attitude society has towards the government during that period of time. Thus, ‘Bicycle Repairman,’ demonstrates the little influence the government now has on society and displaying the transition of power towards large corporations.

Sterling’s, ‘Bicycle Repairman,’ also displays the values of the essentiality of technology being present in everybody’s everyday lives after the rapid growth of the Digital Information Age in the 1990s. After the discovery of the World Wide Web and founding of Google, technology began to be a prominent aspect of everyone’s life and is now ‘one of the leading drivers of globalisation.’- Evgeny Morozov. Similarly, ‘Bicycle Repairman,’ set in the future also shows the importance and necessity technology now holds in everyone’s daily lives. The dominating value of technology is shown through the accumulation of ‘telescopic ears, and the tracer dust… and the carbon-fiber rope,’ which accentuates the amount of influence technology now has on everyone and how it can be spoken in everyday language as if it is essential in everyone’s lives. The rapid and constant improvements on technology through its prevalence within the time era is also shown through the contrasting of “a big healthy cluster of traditional big fat microphones,” to “microphones the size of a grain of rice,” which emphasises the dominating advancement of technology and its prominence in society’s everyday lives. Hence, ‘Repairman,’ efficiently conveys the necessity of technology within the daily lives of society.

In Conclusion, Larson’s, ‘Rent,’ and Sterling’s, ‘Bicycle Repairman,’ both reflect emerging and dominant values within the 1990s in relation to the key issues present in this decade. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, Neoliberal Economic Boom and the Digital Information Age all played important roles which affected the transition in the different values throughout the decade.

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