Could Gibson be making a point with his detailed description and emphasis on the fact that case lives in a coffin? First off the author chooses the setting of Japan because of its perception as an extremely technologically advanced society. This plays perfectly into the futuristic, or so it seems, theme of the book. “He never slept in the Cheap Hotel, he slept in cheaper places(Gibson 19).” Thus he slept in coffins. It is almost as if the idea of a coffin resembles the society Case is living in. A society with so much technology that it seems as if human nature, rather than continually moving forward just like the technology, is instead shifting backwards towards its animalistic origins. “Night City was like a deranged experiment in Social darwinism” move too slowly or too quickly and you “were gone without a trace,” definitely highlights the animalistic side of the world they live in(7). “Scalpel blades slid from beneath the… nails,” further emphasizes such cruel nature. In addition, death is portrayed as something extremely commonplace, and is barely even acknowledged as bad (25). “Night city wasn’t there for its inhabitants but as a deliberately unsupervised playground for technology” makes the technology in Neuromancer seem similar to a monster, consuming the past, along with emotions and many human principles (11).
The phrase “Lifeless neon” used to describe a sign provides a perfect illustration as to what technology has done to the society they live in (47). Humans now seem to be dull and dehumanized. Despite all the technology and medical advancements that surround him, there is no doubt that Case is living a very rough life. Sure people can live 135 years with ridiculous genetic alterations, but the technology is taking away the human inside them. The people living in this time seem to be becoming increasingly robotic as well. “Ratz held the gun in his claw (22).” The fact that they are taking an enormous amount of drugs only contributes to their robotic yet at the same time animalistic nature.
I completely agree with you here. The animalistic setting really stands out. The Ratz character especially emphasizes the connection to technology and savage behavior. Gibson also uses the word ‘meat’ when referring to human flesh. Ratz has steel teeth embedded in meat. This juxtaposition of technological teeth and human flesh evidently portrays the theme of the novel. Gibson also compares human wrinkles to “microcircuits” running along the face. This just more strongly confirms the opinion that technology is taking over and consuming human thoughts, actions, and features. You bring up some very valid points! -Leo R.
I really appreciate the care you took in using quotations from the novel to back up the points you’re making in your post. That’s an important move to make in writing about literature–although you might want to use a few less at a time.
Moreover, I like your thinking through the phrase “lifeless neon” and taking that as a thematic badge for what you’re seeing so far in the novel. I don’t follow your point, however, for how the “coffins” that Case sleeps in are a metaphor for the society he’s living in. Spell that out a bit for me.
Yea sorry about that. After I published the post I realized that I hadn’t explained the coffin metaphor very well. When describing this metaphor I was not necessarily going for the coffins relation to death. Instead I wanted to place emphasis on the physical restriction placed on a human sleeping in a coffin. In the first five chapters, I saw technology as the coffin inhibiting our social interactions (how people treat and respect each other as fellow humans), almost pushing such social interactions down into the past similar to the way a coffin is lowered into the ground. I am not necessarily referring to cave man level interactions, but more like ancient Asia where a law like an eye for an eye governed the people. Such a law would never be acceptable today, yet here is a society existing in the future, where killing somebody is almost nothing. Case refers to several people he has killed recently without any emotion. However, after following up on your comment, I came to the conclusion that such an argument is not completely logical.