When I was a kid I often got yelled at for, "not putting myself in someone else's shoes," and grounding would usually follow. The lucky children who exist during the time of The Neuromancer should not get in trouble for this reason, because for them literally getting inside someone's head is an option. Case switches into Molly's mind, and it seems much more painful for him than is does for his partner. Although Case quickly gets out of Molly's head, We never learn how one of the few female characters in the book reacts to this.
Case hit the Simstim switch. And flipped into the agony of broken bone. Molly was braced against the blank gray wall of a long corridor, her breath coming ragged and uneven. Case was back in the matrix instantly, a white-hot line of pain fading in his left leg. [63]
1. Are we heading in the direction of complete desensitization to the importance of privacy? Are we getting to a point where it will soon be acceptable to jack in to someone else's mind and feel everything he or she feels?
2. Does Molly's acceptance of Case's entering her mind reflect the lack of intimacy and privacy int he near future? Or is it an example of how Molly has toughened herself to a point where she no longer cares about intimacy anymore?
3. Molly often appears as fairly strong and not one to show much emotion, she even has her tears come out of her mouth so she can spit them out instead of crying, and has implanted glasses that conveniently hide her eyes. Is it a contradiction that she even though she hides so much, she lets Case goes into her mind and experiences her pain first hand?
4. Case going into Molly's mind can also be seen as a controlling mechanism. Molly never goes into Case's head. Molly is one of the few females seen throughout the book. Though she is described a physically strong person, she also appears weak at times, and is almost always referred to in a sexual manner. What is Molly's role as a female in Neuromancer?Gibson, William Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books, 1984.
Last modified 17 September 2006