Neuromancer Comes To An End

Throughout this whole book I have been extremely confused. Although my mind is still having some trouble wrapping itself around the context each time I turn the page I have begun to understand a little better after finishing the whole book. I understand now that Molly and Case are trying to break into the base of a family corporation in order to help two Artificial Intelligences combine into a greater whole. The Turning police was something that I understood from the time they were introduced playing the role of trying to stop Molly and Case in the event that AI, if joined together, could become too powerful.

Something that I do wonder though is if the two AI’s were destroying anything in order to come together wouldn’t it be better to finally have them complete instead of losing lives over it? I am rather confused by the final ending and during the whole book because we are never told whether or not these two AI’s being together would do anything interesting or good. The ending did no clarifying for me about the need for Wintermute and Neuromancer to become a greater whole.

The ending opens up more questions when Gibson suddenly throws in the only curve ball of the conclusion; there is another equally powerful intelligence. Is this supposed to be an after thought or a reason to read another book that might come out? I am rather confused by the importance in this idea.

Femininity's Framework

In Neuromancer, Gibson slyly introduces the strength of femininity. His strongest character for this framework is Molly. Our first evidence in the second section of Gibson’s novel is, when Chase meets Molly and tells her of Lupus’ message. He simply shows her a word written on a napkin. Quickly Molly quiets Chase as they head off to visit Finn in order to talk with electronics jamming eavesdropping; “ ‘Lupus Yonder boy. He had a message.’ He passed her a paper napkin with W I N T E R M U T E printed in red felt pen in his neat, laborious capitals. ‘He said –‘ but then her hand came up in the jive for silence (p.69).” I think this is an important part of the book when looking at femininity because Chase found important information and knew he had to go to the women, Molly, to figure it out. She is the one who understood they could not discuss things where they were and she is the one who understood that wintermute is a computer that can think for itself.

Another passage in Neuromancer that I found important in thinking about femininity was during the attack of Riviera. “She spat into the pond. ‘God knows. I’d as soon kill him as look at him. I saw his profile. He’s a kind of compulsive Judas. Can’t get off sexually unless he knows he’s betraying the object of desire. That what the file says…He’s done eighteen in three years. All women age twenty to twenty five (p. 92).” Here Molly discusses not only understand more than her male colleagues but also having equally great discussed in the man they are catching. It is fascinating because it is nauseating and completely undignified for women to be attacked in such a manner by a man. This is ironic because Molly, strength in the eyes of feminitity, is discussing a man who brings worthlessness to women. Ironically Molly is the only one who is able to see through Rivera’s illusions and is able to knock him out.

Consequently, I think these passages would make a feminist proud while reading Gibson’s Neuromancer.