{"id":182,"date":"2012-09-09T14:31:25","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T18:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/?p=182"},"modified":"2012-09-09T14:31:25","modified_gmt":"2012-09-09T18:31:25","slug":"window-to-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.briancroxall.net\/lit-tech\/2012\/09\/09\/window-to-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Window to the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"

Humans are very complex creatures: the ways we move, think, act, and interact. In Gibson\u2019s Neuromancer<\/em>, technology has completely thwarted mankind\u2019s ability to think for itself. Although, upon analyzing this novel, most look mainly at the imagery of technology, I found it interesting to investigate the description of the characters\u2019 eyes and what emotions linger inside.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The eyes of humans are said to be the window to their soul. Upon reading the assigned chapters of Neuromancer<\/em>, I began to realize the amount of times Gibson mentions the eyes of the characters in relation to their mental state. Molly falls into a trap set by Ashpool and he carries her into his room. He informs her he was in the middle of committing suicide. After he goes unconscious due to the amount of drugs he has taken, Molly decides to finish him off by stabbing a poison dart into his eye. Ashpool\u2019s life has been ruled by technology, so much that he can no longer live. Molly\u2019s stabbing him in the eye conveys the toxicity of technology. Throughout this novel, we have seen Armitage\u2019s steady mental collapse. Case sees Armitage has an \u201cutterly crazy face\u201d with \u201ceyes black as buttons\u201d. Armitage is basically a whole new person. He has completely escaped his former sick, addicted identity as Colonel Willis Corto by the advances of technology. Molly also talks to Armitage and notices his unstable personality. Molly \u201cpasses the tips of her fingers through Armitage\u2019s television eyes\u201d. Gibson uses Armitage\u2019s eyes to convey to the readers the detrimental effect technology has over mankind. His \u2018television eyes\u2019 show how technology has severely altered Armitage\u2019s life to the point of complete emptiness. This black appearance is seen in Armitage\u2019s death. The vacuum of space kills Armitage. The emptiness of space has consumed Armitage to the point of no return. Lastly, Gibson introduces 3Jane, daughter of Ashpool, toward the end of the reading. Ashpool first talks about his daughter just before he commits suicide. Molly then sees her face on the prostitute in Ashpool\u2019s bed. Molly describes her eyes as being \u201cdark, curiously opaque\u201d. Her eyes reveal a certain mystery and deviousness that, I think, will lead to a more important role as the novel concludes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no question technology is a major theme in the novel. I think, however, looking into the eyes of the characters will give greater insight into what Gibson intended the reader to infer. Personally, while reading the novel, the number of times Gibson describes a character by their eyes was too much for me to disregard as \u2018just a description\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Humans are very complex creatures: the ways we move, think, act, and interact. In Gibson\u2019s Neuromancer, technology has completely thwarted mankind\u2019s ability to think for itself. Although, upon analyzing this novel, most look mainly at the imagery of technology, I found it interesting to investigate the description of the characters\u2019 eyes and what emotions linger<\/p>\n