The End of Neuromancer

The end of Neuromancer answers a few questions, but leaves the reader wondering about many different aspects of the story. Case is able to communicate with Linda Lee again, a girl who is supposed to have passed away. He meets Neuromancer and discovers that this AI complemented Wintermute in that Neuromancer was personality and Wintermute was the decision maker. The author sums up the technology versus human debate in describing how Wintermute was programmed to attempt to achieve freedom and merge with Neuromancer. This demonstrates to the reader that Wintermute never was working upon its own free will, rather was following the innate coding within its programming thereby explaining his analogy of his actions to a that of salmon swimming up stream.

In regard to the relationships in Case's life, we learn which is true and which is simply convenient. Neuromancer, the AI of personality, reveals to Case that his last line of defense was his use of Linda Lee on the beach in an attempt to tempt Case to stay there and live out the rest of his life in a dream. However, Case believed it was not real and therefor walked away from it, despite his strong desire to stay with Linda due to their shared love. Upon completing the task assigned, Molly leaves Case a note with a shurikan and that is the last he ever hears of her. This demonstrates that the relationship between Case and her was due to a need of companionship and lust, nothing more.

Some things are left unknown to the reader throughout the book and after it ends. One such thing is why Wintermute would be programmed to desire to grow, is the combination of Wintermute and Neuromancer desired? Such questions would illuminate the reasoning behind the plot of the novel. Furthermore, it is never explained if Neuromancer's beach scene was real in that Linda Lee was human or a concoction.

Love vs. Lust: Themes in Neuromancer

The most interesting framework to me throughout this novel so far is Case’s relationship with Linda in comparison to Molly, which is love versus lust. Although he has a sexual relationship with Molly, whenever true emotions come into play regarding women, he flashes on Linda. Such is the case on page 114 where he goes into an arcade in Ninsei and finds Linda and gives her a kiss. The fact that he kisses her is significant in that it is a sensual action rather than lustful. The passage ends with him snapping out of the vision: “I had a cigarette, a girl, and a place to sleep” (115). He can have a cigarette, a girl and a place to sleep any night with Molly but when its with Linda, it’s a different story. He seems to appreciate it significantly more. The difference is demonstrated on page 121 where he is laying in bed, this time with Molly, while smoking a cigarette. But rather than appreciating the moment, he lays there wondering if Deane killed Linda and upon deciding to go to sleep he: “stubbed the Yeheyuan out in a bedside ashtray after his third puff, rolled away from Molly, and tried to sleep” (121). If he were with Linda, he would have enjoyed the cigarette and probably curled up next to her upon trying to sleep rather than turning away. Such subtle body movements demonstrate to the reader the significant difference in his relationship with Linda (love) and his relationship with Molly (lust).

Neuromancer setting analysis

Gibson describes the first setting in the story in the first sentence of the novel, immediately giving the reader a picture of what the city is like: “the sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel” (1). This image of a dead channel gives the reader a feeling that the city holds limited possibilities and has a tragic feeling about it. This passage further sets the tone for the sex, drugs, and murders introduced within a few pages.

In describing Case’s sleeping arrangements, Gibson refers to his room as a coffin in Night City. This causes the reader to believe that Night City is a place individuals go when they have lost all hope for success and would not mind if they lost their lives, effectively laying down in a coffin waiting for death to come. This is further proved when the reader learns of Case’s mutilation and his attempts of finding a cure, his last hope being in Chiba. Upon failing to find any cure, even within the black market, Case participates in activities that he admits to knowing will probably lead to his death, something that he seems to have accepted.

The description of Chiba’s Hilton is the first thing that Case comes across that is not characterized by dark imagery or negative connotations. It is only fitting that this is where he meets Armitage, the man who finds the cure for his mutilated body. This seems to be the beginning of a new life for Case, one that includes possibility for a better life.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

The use of third person objective to commence the short story is a useful way to draw the unsuspecting audience to identify with and feel sorrow for the man who is about to be executed. After the reader is drawn in, it is let out that members of the federal army are holding the protagonist and therefore it is assumed that the doomed man is a member of the Southern Army. If the story began with this, the reader would not be able to identify with the man about to be hung but with the story beginning the way it does, the reader hopes for his escape to freedom.

The first transition from third person objective to third person subjective occurs in the fourth paragraph where the reader is allowed to see what is going through the protagonist’s mind and further identify with him. However, as a result of viewing the world from his point of view, the reader loses subjectivity and full understanding of the real circumstances, which is utilized later in the story as it once again transitions, this time into first person.

The use of first person towards the end of the first section allows the author to toy with the reader and present the possibility of escape, which is imagined later on in the story. The reader feels ultimate sorrow for Farquhar as a result of being presented with his viewpoint of the immanent death and his small hope of escape.

Poetry in Society

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th8Y2V0qumE

T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" enhances this scene as it demonstrates to the viewer the emotions of a man stuck inside a cell. From understanding poetry on a deeper level, I am able to appreciate the symbolism of the dark and light contrast demonstrated in the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8UL_9R_W-Y

In this clip from Dead Poet's Society, Walt Whitman's poem: "O Captain, My Captain" is used to say farewell to a disgraced teacher (Robin Williams). Through the words "O Captain, My Captain" the students are able to convey to this teacher that he did not fail in his teachings, rather he taught them more than anyone ever had.

Technology and/vs. Nature, which one?

“All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace” could be discussing the benefits of technology in today’s society. Within the poem are numerous references to the interconnectedness of things of nature and machines. This is demonstrated in the first stanza through the use of the word harmony in regard to the relationship between mammals and computers. In the second stanza, the link between deer and computers is portrayed with a simile comparing computers to flowers thereby causing the audience to believe the two are naturally compatible. In the final stanza, the poem offers to the audience that for a utopia to exist, machines need to be able to regulate human emissions by “watching over by machines of loving grace”. Although at the time the poem was written, global warming may not have been the main issue combated, however when read today, it seems that the poem is wishing for inventions to take place so that human’s carbon footprint be regulated by machinery so that we are able to rejoin nature.

On the other hand, there is a strong likelihood that the poem is written in a sardonic manner. It seems to me that this point is especially present in the words written in parenthesis in each stanza. These words convey a sense of urgency that has accompanied the cybernetic world. Furthermore, the author paints such impossible images where computers seem to come alive. The poem ends with the machines taking almost a god-like role in the earth’s natural being and humans rejoining the ranks of other mammals.

For me, the likelihood that the poem is written as anti-technology seems much more fitting than if it were written as pro-technology. What tips the scale for me is my inability to explain why the author would put the words in parenthesis with exclamation marks and also why machines take a divine role in the last stanza. It seems much more fitting for the words in parenthesis to be a statement about the immediate gratification needed by individuals in today’s society as a result of technology. Also, it would appear to me that having machine’s watch over us is almost politically motivated, big brother-esque.

John Keats : This Living Hand

John Keats : This Living Hand

This living hand, now warm and capable

Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold

And in the icy silence of the tomb,

So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood

So in my veins red life might stream again,

And thou be conscience-calm'd—see here it is—

I hold it towards you.

· Living hand

· Warm

· Capable

· Grasping at something

· Icy, cold tomb

· Her Heart drying of blood

o Guilt

· Give blood back to veins

o Overcome by guilt, comes back to author

“This Living Hand” by John Keats reflects a man’s desire to reach out and hold the hand of the woman he loves or fancies. The initial symbolism of the poem demonstrates to the audience that at the moment of the writing of this poem, the author has yet to go outside his comfort zone but soon he grasps out, seemingly towards a lover, and immediately begins to fret over the “cold” or rejection. He continues by discussing the icy silence of a tomb, which could represent the awkward silence following a rejection while giving the reader the impression that he would die should this occur.

The poem continues directed at the woman the author loves who seemingly rejected him stating that she will feel so terrible that she caused such great pain that she would be willing to breathe life back into him. Such is demonstrated to the reader through the symbolism of the drying blood of her heart and the life in his veins returning. In the end of the poem, the author offers his love her conscience back, after she accepts him as her lover.

It seems to me that the entirety of this poem occurs within the mind of the man trying to acquire the love of a woman. It depicts the struggles that men go through in asking a member of the opposite sex out. The author discusses the worry and fear that goes through the mind of an individual in love and said individual’s plans for overcoming rejection, in this case through guilt.

The images of the poem convey the deeper meaning of a lover’s inner battle through simply the warmth, or coldness, of a hand. Without such imagery the poem would offer no deeper meaning and would not be thought provoking in the mildest sense. However, symbolism offers many different interpretations, no one being better than another, leading to arguments amongst many scholars. Such is the nature of poetry.