Daniel Alexander Apatiga
The
Position of the Reader in terms of AIs and Interpersonal Relationships
The reader is in a
distant position away from the novel, mentally, throughout, because of the
narrative's difficulty to be understood until later and sometimes, its tendency
to be incomprehensible, to the reader, according to Booker and Huntington. The novel is difficult to follow at times
because of the medical, futuristic science that seems to be dictated in an
urban dialect. In addition, computer
lingo is used often that only a computer-savvy person would understand, which
has a de-familiarizing aspect to the reader when used in conjunction with
Gibson’s writing style in the realm of sci-fi, such as: sheheyuans, jacking
into the matrix, ROM, ice, and constructs.
But, the reader is brought closer in the end to the raw emotion of
heartache, a subtle theme intertwined into the plot, which positions the reader
in a vulnerable spot. In Neuromancer, the
position of the reader picks up a sense of unrequited love, in a way that
raises goose bumps because Case and Molly were meant for each other. However, they will never see each other
again.
The ending of
Neuromancer puts the reader in a position of reminiscent contemplation of interpersonal
tragedy, in terms of one’s own experiences and memory. He/she begins to emphasize with his/her external,
real-life human relationships, in general, which gives the novel a transcending
aspect to the genre of Sci-Fi, making it something that is out of a Shakespearian
play. Case in Neuromancer shares a
parallelism between other characters in similar works of fiction, which transcend
the genre in terms of tragic effect, such as: Brave New World (the protagonist
hangs himself when his love sleeps with too many men or does not return the
same feeling to him), 1984 (relationships are impossible because of constant
surveillance and strict guidelines by a totalitarian state, and Winston learns
to accept the presence of big brother at the café, whoever big brother might be). This tragic effect displaces the reader’s
position on the interpersonal relationship in his/her reality/fantasy, however
way you look at it, created from reading this book. The Cold War, which is itself symbolic of the
failure of interpersonal relationships, would have been an issue at the time
this book was written, and so Asian diplomatic ties are brought up, and also,
the Chinese ICE-breaker, so to speak, almost saves Case from
Wintermute/Neuromancer, of whom is not interested in creating ties with China
in the novel’s structure. Some say the Cold War is a political theme in 1984 as well. Regarding the goose bumps effect, however,
created by the novel’s powerful ending, this has been created in earlier works
of fiction such as Romeo and Juliet. The deaths of the hero and heroine in Romeo and Juliet due to family lead to a
similar heartache-effect in the position of the reader/audience.
Neuromancer is set apart from other
novels in its genre, hardcore, (arguably), science-fiction (not new world
because of the “lack of romance”), because of this; the distant mind of the
reader is rarely trying to make sense of the relationship between Case and
Molly and Case's earlier love interest.
The reader is more focused on the constant bombardment of terms that are
out of sync with the reader relating to future science than with the portrayal
of interpersonal relationships. The
conflict between Wintermute and Case throughout the novel is met with constant
strength from the relationship between Molly and Case, since Molly always seems
to whip him into shape. In the story,
near the fusion event between Wintermute and Neuromancer which it shall be
called, the motif of unrequited love returns, epically, because it seems as
though Riviera and Molly have a child together.
That child is Neuromancer’s construct in the matrix. Though how this this even makes sense is part
of the nature of fiction—things do not necessarily have to add up.
The
position of the reader is that he/she dislikes being heartbroken, and when the
heartbreak moment comes and passes, it lasts like an illness. This is something everyone can relate to, and
is shared with Case’s experiences with Molly.
The fact that Case never sees Molly again is a tragedy, and also that he
chooses to not be with Linda in the end, which is of less consequence, is sad
too. Throughout the novel, Molly is
central to Case's life; we the readers get to know her strong personality and
characteristics through her interactions with Case. When Case comes to the realization that he won’t
see her again, the position of the reader is left in the dark as to why and
how, as it is throughout most of the novel.
The fact that the
mere existence of Neuromancer as Riviera’s child goes against the grain of the
entire novel, though it’s in the position of the reader, to consider it as a
possibility, given the dystopic world, subconsciously at least. The reader’s arrogant position that AI are
bad when they’re too powerful/intelligent, is turned on its head in the end,
too, because of what or who Neuromancer/Wintermute becomes. But even if it isn’t Riviera and Molly’s
child, who are concealing this fact from Case throughout, Neuromancer chooses a
face, in the matrix, intelligently since it’s stated that he can basically
foresee the future. An alternative
explanation for this phenomena in the book can be that he is foreshadowing Riviera
and Molly getting together, though I’m uncertain of this. Either way, the implications are tremendous,
causing the reader’s arrogant, negative position about AI to be rewritten. And also, either way, questions about the
matrix’s symbolic meanings are raised in terms of the reader’s position, which
I will attempt to answer shortly. The
reader’s position has been that Wintermute is an evil AI that wants to kill off
Case’s team, and has succeeded in doing so.
However, when Riviera’s intentions to seduce Molly become clearer, this
shifts the position of the reader to take a stance against him although he was
an ally before he backstabbed Case.
From a different
angle of the same issue, the position of the reader before he/she has read the
novel is that science is supposed to provide solutions to common human problems. But science, in this dystopic novel, reduces
the characters' humanity and desire for friendship into a make-believe fantasy
land—the matrix—that Case can withdraw to.
In this future that is anti-Utopian, because, according to Huntington,
“the hacker and the game player, far from disavowing technology, [glorifies] it
and [uses] it to compensate for the overwhelming power of the world symbolized
by multinational corporations” (Huntington, page 140). But not everyone in the novel is shown to visit
the matrix, and not everyone wants to, which is why I disagree with
Huntington’s assessment. The matrix is not necessary for a civilization to
survive, but the novel reminds the reader of what the Matrix movie trilogy later
spelled out when machines controlled the fate of humanity and sucked the energy
out in little womb-like apparatuses. If
you can have everything you want in the matrix, as Neuromancer tried to
persuade Case to stay in his fantasy world, why then, didn’t Case take the
opportunity if it feels real though it's not?
Clearly technology isn’t so damaging to the human psyche that humans
can’t see what is and isn’t good for them.
If you can have everything you want, why not take it if it feels real
though it's not? Indeed, the reader
adopts the position that technology shouldn't be too time consuming.
The reader adopts
the position that technology needs to be life freeing, which it is not in Neuromancer. And according to Booker, “the future of
capitalism would be dominated by Japan,” and thus, our technological ego would
be hurt, which he seems to take grave concern over, would be over. (I disagree with his thesis argument). The anti-Utopian future according to Booker,
in the end, is reduced somewhat, because the matrix will take over the world
and put humans into little womb-like apparatuses, assuming the sequels to
Gibson’s trilogy are anything like the Matrix trilogy films. Then, the concern for Japan becoming a world
power, seems to me unfounded, because Japan is a democracy; although the stigma
of Japan being an Axis power during WWII could still be a concern of the essay
by Booker. To the reader, the position
in terms of contemporary issues seems to be that of a warming towards Asian
cultures, and the friendly overtones between Linda and Case. The ninjas, the ninja weapons, and the
matrix, are all suggesting the story wants the reader to not shy away from
Japanese, Asian cultures. But the matrix
is symbolic of present day issues relating to escapism and distractions that
everyone seems to do and use, aka: tablets, smart phones, fancy electronics,
video games, and even computers. All
this time that is spent on playing video games, or jacking into the matrix for
that matter, could be better spent making human relationships. Politically, the novel seems to take an
anti-technology position, and thus, the reader absorbs its position.
But aside, for
now, from the political morals implied here, which are part of the complex
structure of the novel, Neuromancer, the AI, Wintermute, becomes something too
powerful, and the reader absorbs this position like a sponge. Because there are many AI antagonists like in
Asimov’s I, Robot series (not the sentient robot but the irrational AI that
wants to take over the world at the military complex) or Arthur C. Clarke’s Hal
computer that goes awry from 2001: A Space Odyssey, of which is a seeming
intelligence that is beyond human control.
The reader’s positions himself in acceptance of all the arguments that
Gibson has portrayed: 1) the fact that in the future, there will not be time
for friendship, but there’ll be time for work; 2) the fact that in the future,
there will be cramped living space with populations soaring; 3) in the future,
women will give themselves freely to any attractive man without a second guilty
thought; 4) the matrix will provide an escape into a simpler world that is
better and more understandable; 5) in Gibson’s dystopic world, sex is
meaningless unless one’s married; 5) life will be meaningless, because, in the
world as portrayed in Neuromancer, the only mode of pleasure is sex and
computers. It sounds like heaven
right? The reader is not prepared for
the dose of reality that Case encounters in the catastrophic end, however. The novel doesn’t prepare the reader for the
worst of the worst, much like the stylistic techniques used in Brave New World
and 1984. Indeed, Gibson employs a
stylistic device to shock the transfixed reader.
