Amidst the tight twists and turns of the plot and the striking array of technological vocabulary, Neuromancer taken a very curious stance on gender roles and the distortion of the female – and sometimes human – identity. Molly, Case's de facto partner throughout the beginning of the book, represents this identity distortion most effectively and drastically, delivering proof of technology's stranglehold on the human and female experience in Neuromancer.
The author himself plays a broad role in the differentiation of females from society's accepted norm. Molly is decidedly dominant – a simple but powerful character trait that responds to and contradicts the traditional gender roles, especially at the time of the writing of this novel. She drives much of the action, and is far more informed than Case is about anything that is happening in the novel after their initial acquaintance. Her informed demeanor and dominant personality contrast with Case's forced participation and often detached action; Case seems to be numbly drifting through the novel so far. Reflecting this inverted power structure extremely well is the scene in which Case is fitted for and subsequently linked into Molly's senses works. The details Gibson delivers in this scene position Molly as once again the dominant character, as Case is literally forced into passivity while Molly leads the way. He is forced to see through her eyes and feel what she feels; upon command, Case retreats from Molly's senses.
Molly's role in Neuromancer is importantly influenced by the digital fingerprints technology has left on her existence; she is defined and recognized by little more than the changes that have taken place in her life. Most of her senses are explicitly modified – her fingers sport razor blades and her eyes sport an active monitoring display. The eye modification is especially interesting; the mirrors largely obstruct the view of her real eyes, so eye contact can never be made with Molly. Extensive modification has also seemingly created a largely emotionless personality within Molly, which also digresses from conventional gender identities. Technology's role in Molly's involvement in prostitution also serves as an identity deconstruction, as both people involved in a transaction are experiencing something completely removed from a real interaction. Throughout the book, she is characterized by her upgrades and surgeries – this is even true for our protagonist Case. He has had nearly no work done on his body, except for the toxin sacs that Armitage surgically inserted into his bloodstream, and even then, this surgery essentially defines and drives Case as he progresses through the novel. We are explicitly told about the modifications received by nearly every single character introduced in Neuromancer – Gibson wants us to see people as not the summation of their life experiences, but as the summation of technological experiences, as these technological experiences literally shape who they are at a given moment, and often why they are doing what they are doing.
The technological experiences described by Gibson seem to be heeding a warning; if you judge your life by your technological experiences then your life is almost negligible (or at least that's how I am reading it). Case, our protagonist, is pretty much the only person in Chiba without these upgrades making him the most human person there. Gibson wants us to remember that what makes each of us unique is our own personalized experiences, not ones we have through other people. Maybe we can translate that over to being a human characteristic-having individualized personal experiences instead of "accessing" them through a memory bank or through other people. Also, I'm not sure what the roles were like in the 80's, I have a feeling through Molly's attitude or stereotype might have been more prominent when Gibson was writing this then we think. It is pretty weird though how non-chalaunt Case seems about things. Maybe a loss of will is also one of Gibson's themes.
ReplyDeleteGood observation. I agree... it does seem that Gibson wants us "to see" his characters "not as the summation of their life experiences," but as the summation of their experiences with technology. This makes sense when you consider how difficult it is even now to define a thing like gender... with a computer and an internet connection, Joe Sixpack can be whoever he wants to whomever he wants. As our online, virtual environments get ever closer to approximating "the real thing," we can probably expect that gender bending will become more vivid, more gratifying, and ultimately, more achievable... and this is to say nothing of what advances in surgical technology will one day allow. Given these developments, it could be that defining people according to the technology they use will ultimately prove more useful in our society than defining them according to discrete, unstable categories of gender, class, ethnicity, etc..
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