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Chapter 15
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Careless People, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Carelessness, Wealth, and Greed
Idealism and the Failed Promises of Technology
Sexism in the Workplace
Bureaucracy and Obstacles to Change
Summary
Analysis
Zuckerberg decides to travel with Indonesia’s president elect Widodo on blusukan, an Indonesian term for spontaneous visits to see regular people in poor neighborhoods. Debbie predicts to Wynn-Williams that this will go poorly. Elliot tries to persuade Zuckerberg against it, but Zuckerberg and Widodo are determined to go on the blusukan together.
When he is alone, Zuckerberg often seems to fail in making connections with other people, and so traveling with Widodo is a way for him to vicariously experience what it’s like for people to like him. This is something he can’t buy with money, which is why he is so eager to go with Widodo in spite of the security concerns.
Active
Themes
The crowd at the blusukan goes crazy for Widodo and Zuckerberg, bowing, applauding, and crying, although Wynn-Williams thinks they seem more focused on Widodo than Zuckerberg. The whole time, Todd, head of security, is furious with Wynn-Williams whom he blames for putting Zuckerberg in such an exposed position. Afterward, Zuckerberg finds the whole experience amazing, especially how passionate people were for the president-elect. As they’re driving, they realize they left a member of their communications team behind, but Elliot instructs the van’s driver to just keep going.
