Neuromancer: Major Themes & Conclusions

The question I am going to address today is:

What might be some major themes of the novel?

• The novel has a prelapsarian pessimistic view of technology. Thus, technology traps the individual, and in this case, the trapped individual was Case. Technology created a society which involved drug use and organized crime. This dystopian-like society was full of urban decay.

• The novel involves the use of technological modifications to the characters. These technological modifications fused with human qualities creates what we call a cyborg. Molly is a main character who is considered as the street samurai. She has surgical insets, she is very strong, she has very fast reflexes, she has a microsoft which allows her to read time and date, and she has these burgandy nails on her hand which she can retract. She is seen as the muscle in community that Gibson has created; she can be viewed as the superhero cyborg. This is not necesarrily the case with Case. Case has technological modifcations, but not for the good. For example, he has something inside him that releases mycotoxin that can only be controlled by Armitage (front man of a large corporation). Thus, for Case, these technological modifications make him the anti-hero cyborg. So, we have the anti-hero cyborg vs. the super-hero cyborg presented throughout the novel.
  

• Armitage, who is a sarariman, must be the leader of some large corporation; he is a business man that Molly and Case work for. Armitage is not presented in a positivistic manner throughout the novel, in fact, he is seen as the forefront of a large corporation and he has Case hacking into other systems for material gain. Thus, these powerful corporations are in control of technology. Furthermore, the novel portrays Case has letting technology control him, so if he let's technology control him and the large corporations are the one's who control technology, then in a sense, these large corporations control Case.
  

• Case continously wants to plug in to Cyberspace. This need to plug in explains Case's will to virtuality. This will to virtuality inevitably destroyed Case's physical. This will to virtuality (this will to be in the virtual world) took control over Case. Thus, technology controls Case once again.
  

• Gibson incorporates artifical intelligences. Wintermute is an AI and Neuromancer is an AI. Wintermute has a desire to coincide with Neuromancer. They are siblings and they both have individual characteristics that if combined, they would be considered an artificial intelligence that has never been constrcuted before. Thus, as Case kept plugging into Cyberspace, only Wintermute benefited.

• The most evident theme presented throughout the novel was that technology uses us and we use technology, however, if we become so caught up with what technology can allow us to do through modifications, then we pass the power to technology. As much as we think we have power by becoming half human-half robot, it is the technology that holds the power . Thus, technology is not always used in a way that allows us to escape reality, rather, we become trapped.
  

signed,

g.i.a.c.w.