Neuromancer ending

At the end of Neuromancer, Gibson answers many of our questions, but seems to purposely leave some unanswered. One facet of the story that I felt he closed up was the part about Wintermute. All throughout the story Wintermute tells Case of his "other half" which we do not meet until the very end of the story. His other half is Neuromancer, an AI construct found on the Spindle in Villa Straylight under the control of Tessier Ashpool corporation. At the end of the story Wintermute and Neuromancer are rejoined and they become the most powerful AI "alive" and search through space for another AI in the Alpha Centauri star system.

Another loose end that is tied up in The story is of Corto/ Armitage. WE find that the surreal Armitage mentality is stripped away to reveal the true man beneath all of the augmentations, Corto. It is in a way unfortunate that Corto is killed by Wintermute because he just wants to live, but Wintermute cannot have him running around spilling his secrets.

One part of the story that I do not feel was wrapped up was the part about Flatline Dixie's consciousness. I feel that the story could have done a little better job explaining exactly what happened to him. The story ends with Flatline's consciousness disappearing, thought to be destroyed. But at the very end as the story pans through space, the sound of disembodied laughing is heard. Which is a characteristic of Flatline. Which leads many to believe that Dixie worked out a deal with Neuromancer/Wintermute to exist inside the construct.

Frameworks of Neuromancer

"Fads swept the youth of the Sprawl at the speed of light; entire subcultures could rise overnight, thrive for a dozen weeks, and then vanish utterly." (56-57)

In this passage, everyday life is paired with technology, which is one of our frameworks for this novel. just the way that Gibson expresses the speed of fads is interesting. In today's society, we think things go quickly and are short lived. But what he is trying to say is that in this future world, everything goes super quickly. This is why he chose something like a fad. When this book was written, fads and trends were running rampantly through American society. I feel that he is in a way mocking the society of the seventies. Also, he says that entire sub-cultures could rise overnight. When I hear this, I think of fads again, the most prevalent of which was the "Beanie Babies" deal. It was entire sub culture that hit America in the nineties. But even that took multiple months, even years to catch on.

The second motif that I find obvious in this section is about the genetic mutations and various gene splicings and biological alterations. The part in the section where Case and Molly go talk to the man with the scanner is by far the most prevalent instance of this. They go and speak to the man about all the different genetic alterations that Molly has undergone and the lack of alterations that Case has done. Another part of this is,"You have fifteen toxin sacs bonded to the lining of various main arteries Case." (45-46). This part shows the biological advances of the future society. They are sophisticated enough to make little sacs of toxin which they can place on specific parts of the body.

Chiba City Blues

In this first part of his novel, William Gibson unveils a new reality to us. Society has now become just a mess of big urban cityscapes and underground software and genetics smuggling. This new type of city is very similar to the setting of "Blade Runner". This story is set in Japan so it is a foreign setting as it were, but this new implication of the technology makes it confusing.

Another very interesting part of this setting that is odd to the ordinary reader is the hotel. Case goes to a hotel and instead of renting a room, he rents a coffin. We do not usually think of coffins as acceptable places to sleep. Usually we associate coffins with death. This is fitting for this new age society because there seems to be a lack of morals and normality, with all of its prostitution and smuggling.

Then there are the bars and arcades which Case frequents. These remind me of the bars in the "Star Wars Episode 1". With all of their holograms and drugs. These bars symbolize how society has degenerated into this type of atmosphere with all the promiscuity and bad things happening. Gibson describes these places as dark and a little sketchy. It seems that Gibson himself does not approve of these places, but explains that society has degenerated into this type of surrounding.

Then there is cyberspace to deal with. To me, cyberspace is kind of like the "matrix", yet it is nearly the same as "real" society except that in the matrix, there are more technological advances.

chronology and Point of view

In the first section of the story, it is written in third person omniscient. This part of the story is characterized by the tale of a man being led to hang on the bridge. This part also sets up the location of the incident and gives a little background into the story. I feel that the third person point of view adds to the mystery behind the story. This part of the story is interesting because the reader does not know who the convicted man is or why he is in this position. The third person point of view also adds a sense that something bad is going to happen. This part of the story ends with the captain and sergeant walk away from the creek and it is implied that the main character is hung.

In the second part of the story, the point of view is also in third person. The chronology is interesting in this section because it goes back about a week to our main character Mr. Farquhar is on his plantation in the south talking to a confederate soldier. This is where we learn the consequences of going to the Owl Creek Bridge is being hung. We also learn that Mr. Farquhar is a federal spy from the north.

The third part of this story is by far the most interesting and disturbing part of this story. The story changes into an odd mix of third person and first person. This is symbolic because Mr. Farquhar is all mixed up because thinks that he is alive through this whole part even though he is actually hanging from the bridge dead. The chronology of this part is correct however, because this is at the end of the story, and at the end of his life.

Poetry in pop culture

This is a video of a video game doing a poem using Machinima http://www.machinima.com/film/view&id=36796

this is interesting because like the example in class, it is a voice over of a video game. It is also interesting because it is an example of how poetry has had to step up its game to be able to attract a new audience in the age of technology and this is one way in which it is doing this.

And then on this link below, there is examples of the implementation of different famous pieces of poetry put into movies. This is cool because there are some pretty famous movies in this list that snuck in a few lines of poetry.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19358

Machines of "Loving" Grace

The first piece of evidence that made me think that this was an anti- technological poem was when he was talking about machines and animals living together in perfect harmony. I found this to be rather sarcastic seeing that this would be impossible. Also I find it sarcastic because it is seen through history that with the implementation of newer and newer technology, nature seems to be taking the brunt of the negative outcome via pollution or neglect.

The second main part of the poem which led me to believe that this poem was anti-technology was the last stanza. At this point in the poem, Brautigan had gone through and explained how he would love for nature and technology to be intertwined. But in his last stanza he changes his perspectives. near the end of the stanza he says that he wishes for a labor-free world where we can be with our brothers and sisters where we can all be watched over by machines “of loving grace.” To me, this sounds like he is wary of a “Big Brother” society where everything we do is watched over by cameras and computers.

On the other hand however, some aspects of this poem can be taken in another light. For instance that last line about being “watched over”. I feel it can mean that now that we do in fact have all of these new technologies we can leave all of the mundane tasks to them and we can now go outside and enjoy nature. Also he explains that he wishes for a society where technology and nature can co-exist in harmony. With the implementation of cleaner and “greener” technology coming out, I think Brautigan saw the pattern of technology and its environmental footprint when he wrote this and hoped for a day that technology won’t have to harm the environment. In this aspect I think that he is pro- technology and really truly wanted to see “clean technology,”

Personally I found this poem to be on the anti-technology side. The piece of the poem that made me think this were the first two stanzas which spoke of technology and nature living in harmony seemed very sarcastic. Seeing the past history of technological application and how it effects nature.

Casabianca symbolism

deck, him, flame, wreck, dead, storm, blood, creature, form, flames, word, father, death, voice, task, chieftain, son, shots, breath, hair, fires, ship, flag, child, banners, thunder, sound, winds, sea, mast, helm, pennon, thing, heart

The piece of imagery that I find most symbolic in this poem is the fire. All throughout the poem fire is mentioned. At first, the fire is menacing, but not a very big threat. By the end of the poem however, the fire becomes the main antagonist of the story, eventually burning away the ship, the boy and his father. I believe that the fire may represent all of the burdens that we all must undertake in life. I see this because in the poem, Hemans says,

“And shouted but once more aloud,

My father! must I stay?

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,

The wreathing fires made way.”

I take this as meaning that even though he he wants no more than to leave, he stays because he knows that he has to stay through what his father says. Through this the fire is making everything that he does harder, burdening him and costing precious time and putting his life at danger.

Another important symbol that is in this poem is the boat. This poem could have been set in any place. I feel that this setting is put in place to stress the helplessness of the boy in the story. Let’s face it, there is basically no way to get away from a fire on a boat. This setting is also put into place to show the significance of the fire because it brings it to the forefront of the reader’s mind.

As a whole, I interpreted this poem to be an allegory of adolescence. The boy is constantly waiting for his father’s approval just like all adolescent boys do. It is always a criteria for young men to have the approval of their father, this is seen in many lines throughout the poem. Also the flames in this poem help represent the transition in his life because at the end, it says a line about the noblest thing that perished was “that young, faithful heart.