At the end of the novel Neuromancer, Gibson finally reveals the answers to some of the most relevant issues of the story. Throughout the plot, we follow Case and Molly on a mission in which we and the characters themselves don’t even know what the ultimate goal is supposed to be. Toward the end, Gibson tells us that their ultimate goal is to unite Wintemute with its AI sibling, which shares the same name of the novel, Neuromancer. We also find out that Case and Molly do not truly love each other, but only sees each other as a companion and sometimes use each other to satisfy their sexual desires. The only person that Case has strong feelings for is Linda Lee for Neuromancer has been using her to attract Case into staying at the island. In addition, we know that it is Neuromancer who used Linda Lee’s image all these times (such as the one when Case see her image in the stars) to invoke Case’s emotion. Case is also free of the poisonous sacs whereas Riviera is killed by Molly’s poison.
Although it seems as if all issues have been resolved, Gibson also ends the novel with some ambiguity as well. For instance, why does Neuromancer uses Linda Lee’s image to lure Case into staying at the island? Is it because Neuromancer does not want to reunite with Wintemute? Why does Gibson titled the novel Neuromancer, same as the AI? Also , it seems as if Molly is falling for Case when she tell Case about Johnny and how she trusts him. However, toward the end of the novel, she leaves Case, leaving a note that says “its taking the edge off my game...its the way I’m wired I guess” (Gibson, 267). How is Molly’s life turning out? In addition, when Wintermute says to Case “I’m the matrix, Case,” it leaves us wondering what will it turn out to be. Is the image that Case sees of himself, Linda Lee, and Riviera real or just a mere memory?
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Neuromancer Frameworks
In Neuromancer, William Gibson introduces us to a cybernetic world of advanced technology, romance, necromancy, and neurotic characters. The following passages of the novel allow us to get a glimpse of the high tech, necromancy and neurotic frameworks.
“‘It’s Case, man. Remember?
’‘Miami, joeboy, quick study.’
‘Know how a ROM personality matrix works?’
‘Sure, bro, it’s a firmware construct’ (78).
This is a conversation between Case and the Dixie Flatline’s construct. McCoy Pauley, also known as the Dixie Flatline, died from braindeath three times. However, a company called Sense/Net was able to save his construct. Case was then ordered to retrieve this construct. After Case retrieved the construct, he was then able to talk to the Dixie Flatline’s construct. Evidently, in this cybernetic world, death is not the end; advance technology can collect a person’s thought and intelligence for future use. With this advancement in technology, even clones and artificial intelligence like AI Wintermute were made possible.
“Drunk in Singapore, [Corto] beat a Russian engineer to death in a hotel, and set fire to his room. Next he surfaced in Thailand, as overseer of a heroin factory. Then as enforcer for a California gambling cartel, then as a paid killer in the ruins of Bonn. He robbed the bank of Wichita” (84)
In this description, Gibson illustrates the neurotic characteristics of Armitage in his previous past as Colonel Willis Corto. Although it is only a short description, we can see that Corto is a character with no respect for other lives and no senses of a normal human being. It seems as if Corto is not even a human being. Up to this point of the novel, no character is portrayed as having any sort of family members; their closest companions so far have been drugs, gadgets, and prostitutes.
The fact that neurotic characters like Case, Molly, and Armitage/Corto are put together in a cybernetic world of high technology suggests that technology is altering mankind. Nature, family, and friends are no longer crucial. In a cybernetic world, it is all about who has the better gadget or who can hack into the matrix better.
“‘It’s Case, man. Remember?
’‘Miami, joeboy, quick study.’
‘Know how a ROM personality matrix works?’
‘Sure, bro, it’s a firmware construct’ (78).
This is a conversation between Case and the Dixie Flatline’s construct. McCoy Pauley, also known as the Dixie Flatline, died from braindeath three times. However, a company called Sense/Net was able to save his construct. Case was then ordered to retrieve this construct. After Case retrieved the construct, he was then able to talk to the Dixie Flatline’s construct. Evidently, in this cybernetic world, death is not the end; advance technology can collect a person’s thought and intelligence for future use. With this advancement in technology, even clones and artificial intelligence like AI Wintermute were made possible.
“Drunk in Singapore, [Corto] beat a Russian engineer to death in a hotel, and set fire to his room. Next he surfaced in Thailand, as overseer of a heroin factory. Then as enforcer for a California gambling cartel, then as a paid killer in the ruins of Bonn. He robbed the bank of Wichita” (84)
In this description, Gibson illustrates the neurotic characteristics of Armitage in his previous past as Colonel Willis Corto. Although it is only a short description, we can see that Corto is a character with no respect for other lives and no senses of a normal human being. It seems as if Corto is not even a human being. Up to this point of the novel, no character is portrayed as having any sort of family members; their closest companions so far have been drugs, gadgets, and prostitutes.
The fact that neurotic characters like Case, Molly, and Armitage/Corto are put together in a cybernetic world of high technology suggests that technology is altering mankind. Nature, family, and friends are no longer crucial. In a cybernetic world, it is all about who has the better gadget or who can hack into the matrix better.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Neuromancer settings
William Gibson begins his fiction Neuromancer in a bar called Chatsubo, a place full of professional expatriates. It contains all sorts of complex-night-life characters such as an ugly bartender, call girls, drug dealers, and our main character Case. There seems to be no law at this place for people could carry guns, call prostitutes, and fight as if they were normal. Gibson’s description of the sky as having “the color of television, tuned to a dead channel” portrays the setting of the story as being dark and gray, perhaps referring to the busy night life of the city, famous for its black medicine and black market.
Neuromancer is set in the near future, an “age of affordable beauty’ and full of high tech. The story takes place in Chiba, a town in Japan, known as a magnet for the Sprawl’s techno-criminal culture. It is also where Case’s last hope of finding a cure for his nervous system lies. As the story progresses, we follow Case to different places such as Jarre de The’ and Julius Deanne’s place. Jarre de The’ is designed with mirrors and red neon lights and decorated with last century style. At Julius Deanne’s place, the descriptions are more detailed and specific. It is not simply how the room looks like, but also what style the furniture are and where they are located in the room. The setting is more like a normal office that we could connect to as oppose to the red neon chambers of the Jarre de The’ teashop.
The author also touches on a place called the Matrix, where Case still sees so often in his dream. Unlike the previously described settings, Gibson describes the Matrix as a cyberspace with “bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void.” It is a place where only the mind can take and reality seems to be nonexistence. Here, Case could feel bodiless and free his mind. In the real world, Case “fell in the prison of his own flesh” for he is physically bound by his body. However, one similarity between the cyberspace and the external spaces is that they both offer a way of escape from reality. Similar to how the Matrix allows Case to live in bodiless exultation, the external places offer this escape through means of drugs, drinks and prostitution.
Neuromancer is set in the near future, an “age of affordable beauty’ and full of high tech. The story takes place in Chiba, a town in Japan, known as a magnet for the Sprawl’s techno-criminal culture. It is also where Case’s last hope of finding a cure for his nervous system lies. As the story progresses, we follow Case to different places such as Jarre de The’ and Julius Deanne’s place. Jarre de The’ is designed with mirrors and red neon lights and decorated with last century style. At Julius Deanne’s place, the descriptions are more detailed and specific. It is not simply how the room looks like, but also what style the furniture are and where they are located in the room. The setting is more like a normal office that we could connect to as oppose to the red neon chambers of the Jarre de The’ teashop.
The author also touches on a place called the Matrix, where Case still sees so often in his dream. Unlike the previously described settings, Gibson describes the Matrix as a cyberspace with “bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void.” It is a place where only the mind can take and reality seems to be nonexistence. Here, Case could feel bodiless and free his mind. In the real world, Case “fell in the prison of his own flesh” for he is physically bound by his body. However, one similarity between the cyberspace and the external spaces is that they both offer a way of escape from reality. Similar to how the Matrix allows Case to live in bodiless exultation, the external places offer this escape through means of drugs, drinks and prostitution.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
P.O.V. & Chronology in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"
In his story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce draws the readers’ attention with a description of a man standing on the bridge, about to be executed, but does not state why. Through a third person omniscient point of view, he introduces the readers to a scene on the Owl Creek Bridge, putting the readers in a know-it-all position. Then he switches the mode of narrative to third person limited/subjective as he goes from part I to part II. This change in point of view focuses on a particular character, in this case Peyton Farquhar. Thus, it forces the readers to center their attention to only Farquhar. This transition in point of view from part I to part II also coincides with the change in chronological order of the story. Part II of the story is actually what happened first because it tells the readers why Farquhar got hanged. One of the reasons why Bierce places part II after part I could be because it gives the readers a sense of curiosity in the beginning and to draw their attention.
We could see another change in chronological order, but same point of view, as Bierce transitions from part II to part III of the story. In part III, Bierce goes back to describing the situation at the Owl Creek Bridge with focus on Farquhar only as oppose to the whole scene in part I. Throughout this part, the readers gets to follow along the sequence of events and thoughts that are occurring to Farquhar.
A major switch in chronological order is the last sentence of the story because it tells the readers that Farquhar was already dead at the bridge. Throughout the story, the readers engage in Farquhar’s escape as if it is actually happening to Farquhar. Thus, this change in chronology drastically changes the readers’ relationship to the event because the readers can finally realize that all those events that happened to Farquhar were only his last imagination before he dies on the Owl Creek Bridge. By not putting all the events in chronological order, Bierce forces the readers to follow along the events as if they were real and gives the story a surprise twist in the end.
We could see another change in chronological order, but same point of view, as Bierce transitions from part II to part III of the story. In part III, Bierce goes back to describing the situation at the Owl Creek Bridge with focus on Farquhar only as oppose to the whole scene in part I. Throughout this part, the readers gets to follow along the sequence of events and thoughts that are occurring to Farquhar.
A major switch in chronological order is the last sentence of the story because it tells the readers that Farquhar was already dead at the bridge. Throughout the story, the readers engage in Farquhar’s escape as if it is actually happening to Farquhar. Thus, this change in chronology drastically changes the readers’ relationship to the event because the readers can finally realize that all those events that happened to Farquhar were only his last imagination before he dies on the Owl Creek Bridge. By not putting all the events in chronological order, Bierce forces the readers to follow along the events as if they were real and gives the story a surprise twist in the end.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Poetry-in-pop culture
In the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), John Hannah, playing Matthew, recites WH Auden's poem "Funeral Blues” at a funeral.
Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues” mourns for a person, who was and will always be of an important figure in another person’s life. The poem suggests that this person when alive is everything and when dead, took away everything because “nothing now can ever come to any good.” This poem greatly enhances the scene it appears in because it emphasizes how important this dead person is. Our attention to and knowledge of this poem makes us see how deeply Mathew, play by John Hannah, about the person who just passed away. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_a-eXIoyYA
Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” appears in the movie The Outsider (1983) in a scene where Ponyboy and Johnny were watching the beautiful sky.
Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” talks about nature’s beauty through imagery of flowers, sunset, and Eden’s garden. He describes all these magnificent scenery as gold, a valuable element. However, similar to Ponyboy and Johnny’s happy moment, gold cannot stay for long. By listening to and understanding the poem, the audience can greater appreciate the beauty of that scene and setting. Overall, the poem greatly enhances the context it is in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJ-ppxCGPk
Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues” mourns for a person, who was and will always be of an important figure in another person’s life. The poem suggests that this person when alive is everything and when dead, took away everything because “nothing now can ever come to any good.” This poem greatly enhances the scene it appears in because it emphasizes how important this dead person is. Our attention to and knowledge of this poem makes us see how deeply Mathew, play by John Hannah, about the person who just passed away. .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_a-eXIoyYA
Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay,” appears in the movie The Outsider (1983) in a scene where Ponyboy and Johnny were watching the beautiful sky.
Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” talks about nature’s beauty through imagery of flowers, sunset, and Eden’s garden. He describes all these magnificent scenery as gold, a valuable element. However, similar to Ponyboy and Johnny’s happy moment, gold cannot stay for long. By listening to and understanding the poem, the audience can greater appreciate the beauty of that scene and setting. Overall, the poem greatly enhances the context it is in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJ-ppxCGPk
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Nature & Technology
In his poem, “All Watched Over By the Machines of Loving Grace,” Brautigan provides curiosity by giving us this image of nature and technology.
Phrases such as “programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky” and “computers as if they were flowers” give the image that technology is invading our beautiful nature; our happiness and peacefulness will no longer be an expression of how we feel, but rather programmed by machines to feel such way. The way Brautigan changes how he likes to think from “the sooner the better” to “it has to be now” and then to “it has to be it” as the poem progresses offers a vision of how we are today. We always want everything to be as fast as possible and so we turn to technology. For instance, first we have mails, then we have emails, and now we have text messaging through our phones. The more we concentrate on thinking and wanting for technology, the less we notice nature. Flowers represent nature’s beauty. However, even nature’s beauty is turning into computers with spinning petals.
Despite these anti-technology images, if we were to look at Brautigan’s “All Watched Over by the Machines of Loving Grace” at another angle, we could also see a utopia where technology is advancing our environment. Through the title, the poet introduces to us technology as machines of loving grace. By putting these words together, they give us a warmth and secure feeling as if someone is watching out for us. Then as the poem progresses, Brautigan bring about larger parts of the world starting with a meadow, then forest, and lastly ecology, in coincide with the changes in how he likes to think. These transformations suggest that as technology is advancing, it will help expand the environment and better our lives. Soon, we will not have to perform hard labor and just enjoy lives as these machines of loving grace will serve as angels to watch over us.
Regardless, I am more likely to agree that Brautigan’s poem is an expression of his rage toward technology because nature and technology are two contrasting ideals. Putting nature with technology is like putting light in darkness because only through light that we realize that we are in darkness. The fact that Brautigan was living in the time period of the Cold War also suggests to me that he would not be in favor of technology because everyone were drowning in love with a technology race that they forgot to stop, and look at a flower.
Phrases such as “programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky” and “computers as if they were flowers” give the image that technology is invading our beautiful nature; our happiness and peacefulness will no longer be an expression of how we feel, but rather programmed by machines to feel such way. The way Brautigan changes how he likes to think from “the sooner the better” to “it has to be now” and then to “it has to be it” as the poem progresses offers a vision of how we are today. We always want everything to be as fast as possible and so we turn to technology. For instance, first we have mails, then we have emails, and now we have text messaging through our phones. The more we concentrate on thinking and wanting for technology, the less we notice nature. Flowers represent nature’s beauty. However, even nature’s beauty is turning into computers with spinning petals.
Despite these anti-technology images, if we were to look at Brautigan’s “All Watched Over by the Machines of Loving Grace” at another angle, we could also see a utopia where technology is advancing our environment. Through the title, the poet introduces to us technology as machines of loving grace. By putting these words together, they give us a warmth and secure feeling as if someone is watching out for us. Then as the poem progresses, Brautigan bring about larger parts of the world starting with a meadow, then forest, and lastly ecology, in coincide with the changes in how he likes to think. These transformations suggest that as technology is advancing, it will help expand the environment and better our lives. Soon, we will not have to perform hard labor and just enjoy lives as these machines of loving grace will serve as angels to watch over us.
Regardless, I am more likely to agree that Brautigan’s poem is an expression of his rage toward technology because nature and technology are two contrasting ideals. Putting nature with technology is like putting light in darkness because only through light that we realize that we are in darkness. The fact that Brautigan was living in the time period of the Cold War also suggests to me that he would not be in favor of technology because everyone were drowning in love with a technology race that they forgot to stop, and look at a flower.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Interpretation of Imagery in Poetry
Image: fire, burning ship, Jesus, war, bravery, loyalty
In her poem “Casabianca,” Felicia Hermans exploits the imagery of Jesus Christ to praise the bravery and loyalty of a young boy on a battleship. According to the Bible, several days before his death, Jesus called out to his Father, asking for strength because he was afraid of death itself. Regardless, Jesus took on his Father’s command and sacrificed himself to save mankind from sins. Similarly, starting with the fourth stanza, we can see the fear and doubt in the young boy as he kept on asking his father whether or not he should run away from the fire. However, due to the fact that his father was the captain of the ship and died, the boy must take on the responsibility to stay with the ship until the end. Similar to Jesus, who was born and crucified to save mankind from sins, which represents by the raging fire, the young boy was born with the heroic blood and the fate to rule the storming flames. .
In another context, fire symbolizes death and rebirth, like a phoenix sprang forth from its pyre after consumed by the flames. Likewise, Jesus sacrificed himself to take away sins of the world and to give mankind a new beginning. With the imagery of raging flames and storming shots, Hermans gives us the end of a young boy’s life and the birth of a feared, yet courageous and loyal young boy in our heart. From the 8th line of the poem, “a proud, though childlike form,” Hermans tells us that this young boy is still growing in a protective family where he has never experienced fear. However, he now has to face the most difficult duty as a young boy, to choose between life and death.
Toward the end of the poem, Hermans further embraces the young boy’s courage with the image of a burning flag, which represents the united strength of a country. After the flag was burnt, the imagery of the boy fades away, leaving behind a remembrance of his bravery.
In her poem “Casabianca,” Felicia Hermans exploits the imagery of Jesus Christ to praise the bravery and loyalty of a young boy on a battleship. According to the Bible, several days before his death, Jesus called out to his Father, asking for strength because he was afraid of death itself. Regardless, Jesus took on his Father’s command and sacrificed himself to save mankind from sins. Similarly, starting with the fourth stanza, we can see the fear and doubt in the young boy as he kept on asking his father whether or not he should run away from the fire. However, due to the fact that his father was the captain of the ship and died, the boy must take on the responsibility to stay with the ship until the end. Similar to Jesus, who was born and crucified to save mankind from sins, which represents by the raging fire, the young boy was born with the heroic blood and the fate to rule the storming flames. .
In another context, fire symbolizes death and rebirth, like a phoenix sprang forth from its pyre after consumed by the flames. Likewise, Jesus sacrificed himself to take away sins of the world and to give mankind a new beginning. With the imagery of raging flames and storming shots, Hermans gives us the end of a young boy’s life and the birth of a feared, yet courageous and loyal young boy in our heart. From the 8th line of the poem, “a proud, though childlike form,” Hermans tells us that this young boy is still growing in a protective family where he has never experienced fear. However, he now has to face the most difficult duty as a young boy, to choose between life and death.
Toward the end of the poem, Hermans further embraces the young boy’s courage with the image of a burning flag, which represents the united strength of a country. After the flag was burnt, the imagery of the boy fades away, leaving behind a remembrance of his bravery.
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