Virtue Ethics is a moral theory of doing the right thing in the right situation for the right reasons and it looks at morality as an aspect of personal character. In this paper, we discuss the Girl in Wave: Wave in Girl by Kathleen Ann Goonan and how the character, Alia uses her experience of her mentor’s life to form her own character.  Goonan’s story is set around 200 years in the future, as the protagonist, Alia learns about her mentor and grandmother and her past experiences. Her mentor, Melody, had gone from being dyslexic to advanced literacy levels from the use of the OPEN ROAD, which is a new technology called a “learning neurobiologic.” This “learning neurobiologic” is a recently invented technology that “accelerates the process of learning to read for everyone.” Alia was able to view the events that her grandmother had experienced through the usage of a device called a “grok.” This device, from what I understand, is a highly advanced virtual reality simulator that allows users to watch people’s pasts through their eyes.

Side note: This “grok” reminds me of the device that is utilized in the Assassin’s Creed games known as the “Animus” which a highly advanced virtual reality simulator that allowed its users to view people’s pasts from their eyes. Continuous usage of the device also caused an event known as “the bleeding effect” that merged the memories and experiences of the past with the user. The “bleeding effect” was utilized in the second video game to rapidly train the protagonist in their predecessor’s skills and 80 years of experience within a few days. 

Alia was able to use her personal experiences, as well as her experience viewing Melody’s life to guide her choices from her own character and set of moral principles. With the usage of the “grok,” Alia was able to see her grandmother’s life through Melody’s eyes. Alia watched as Melody experienced many different events, including her time as a test subject for the OPEN ROAD technology that helped increase her literacy as well as enhance her memory and other abilities. I believe that I can see a few virtuous habits that Melody obtained throughout the story. Melody was a tenacious child that had the courage to want to go through with the OPEN ROAD project when her father was initially against it. This program had helped Melody gain wisdom through her increased literacy, and I find her commitment to the program and wanting to show the world that the OPEN ROAD project was a good thing, is admirable. At the beginning of Melody’s story, I feel that she already had the virtues of kindness and creativity and that her father had shown her graciousness.

I believe that Alia was able to use Melody’s experiences to develop similar virtues as well as respect and determination. At the beginning of the story, Alia was bugging her grandmother about obtaining “gills” when Melody was helping Alia get ready for her first “grok.” After Alia’s time in the “grok” I believe that she had grown as a person as those experiences had helped her form new perspectives as well as learn about her grandmother’s past.