Identity Quotes in Neuromancer Page 1
(Chapter.Paragraph)
| Quote #1 The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the Pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. (1.17) |
Case's inability to be console cowboy seems to change how he views himself. He thought of himself as unstoppable as a console cowboy until they, you know, stopped him. Now, he's a hustler, and he holds no value in what he is anymore.
| Quote #2 What did [Case] know about [Molly]? That she was another professional; that she said her being, like his, was the thing she did to make a living. (4.14) |
These two subscribe to the you-are-what-you-do rule of life. Case and Molly find their initial connection in the fact that their identities are entirely wrapped up in what they do for a living. Molly is a razorgirl, Case a console cowboy.
| Quote #3 [The Modern's] face was a simple graft grown on collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides, smooth and hideous. It was one of the nastiest pieces of elective surgery [Case] had ever seen. (4.40) |
This Modern has undergone surgery to promote his identity as a Panther Modern. In a way, it's the extreme, and probably more painful, version of buying clothes from certain stores to advertise who it is you think you are. Or maybe who you'd like to be.
