There were many topics within Neuromancer that I found interesting. By interesting I mean confusing of course. The one I found most interesting was probably death. Death is viewed in Neuromancer much differently than it is in anything I've ever seen, read, or heard.
Dixie Flatline is the most obvious example of death in the novel. Dixie is a ROM is some kind of disc with a recording on it. Once someone jacks into this recording, Dixie is present as a dead person or some sort of ghost. Dixie was a human at one time who was recorded onto this ROM and now is stuck in there. When the ROM is not being used Dixie does not exist. Dixie has characteristics like his laugh that are disturbing to humans. This adds an extra scary factor to death itself. Dixie is dead but has desires which I find strange. Dixie longs for nothing more than to be erased so he doesn't have to exist in this state anymore. I'm confused by this because if he is erased I wonder if he goes into a different state of death or just doesn't exist as a dead person anymore. If he's dead but wants to be erased to a different state of dead does the next or other stage of dead present better circumstances?
I find the story of when Case dies to be much more interesting however. Case dies and goes to a sight on the beach that involves Linda Lee and Neuromancer. Linda Lee seems to be content and happy in this weird state of death. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it like Case is. In all the relations to death the state of cold is present. This seems to bother Case the most. The ever present cold bothers him. Linda Lee is content in the place but Case wishes to leave it. This makes me wonder if the state of death creates a different mindset for everyone. The other things about death that bother Case are that he is on a beach with wind and dirt. I find this interesting because these are things that a lot of people enjoy. In this futuristic world of technology these are cast as bad things. I would be in a happy state if I were on a secluded beach with my lady friend and no school or work to worry about. I'm just saying.
1 comment:
I agree that death is an interesting concept throughout the novel because, unlike the world we are used to, there seem to be various stages and forms of death. Dixie is dead yet the recording is still able to interact and respond to others. This defies the idea of death itself. I think the novel is playing on the idea of death of the mind and death of the body as two separate ideas. Once the recording of Dixie's mind is erased, since his body is already dead, then he will completely be gone.
I also think the Tessier-Ashpool family is an interesting concept of death as well. They seem to prolong death by continually freezing themselves or replicating themselves. But if the original body dies but there is still a replicated form, then are they not really dead? Do the replicated bodies act like a recording as Dixie does, or are they able to function just as a normal person would? In this world full of technology, the idea of death and its many different stages are always in question. Even when Case dies and is at the beach, he is not exactly sure at first what this place is. It is a new form of death to him, and yet while he can return from it, Linda Lee cannot. So although they have died and gone to the same place, Case's form of death is not as permanent as Linda's.
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