Thursday, March 27, 2008
Prompt 9
The most intriguing characters in Gibson's Neuromancer are the Zionites, for example, Aerol. The reason the Zionites are the most provocative and intriguing is because in this novel they are so different from everyone else. The fact that they are normal in today's society, but completely different in Gibson's society makes them stand out to me. Firstly, the fact that the Zionites lack body modifications is extremely interesting, because up to this point in the novel Case has been the only "virgin." Aerol is described as a Rastafarian who smokes ganja, something that Rastafarian's are known for. Physically, Aerol has a "grin bracketed with gold scissors" which does not connotate body modification through technology to me. Instead, I think of his smile as if he were wearing a 'grill', something common in our society, so definitely viewed as backward and strange in Gibson's society. Aerol's hair is depicted as "dreadlocks like a matted tree with branches the color of steel wood," again something we all have seen before. The Zionite body is like other bodies we have encountered because it reminds me of the Native bodies we have seen in the Travel Writings and Victoria Pitts' novel. In the beginning chapters, Pitts described her body modifiers as mimicking the Natives of other cultures. These are the bodies that remind me of the Zionites, they are Natives who are close to nature and like the Natives we have encountered before, they are portrayed as a backward group of people. The Zionites relationship with body and technology is not apparent. Firstly, none of the Zionites seem to have body modifications. Secondly, the Zionites possess a strong relationship with the body and they have no desire to escape their body. This can be seen through Case's description of them "always touching you when they [are] talking", this bodily contact made Case uncomfortable, but it was something the Zionites always did. Though the Zionites did not partake in connecting their bodies to technology, they are obviously aware of it all. Aerol helps Case unload his dock, jacked into the matrix and heard dub from Wintermute. All of this proves that they reject the rejection of the body. The familiarity of the Zionites and thier stark difference in Gibson's world is what makes this particular group of people appeal to me.
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2 comments:
I think you make a ton of good points in here, I haven't thought about the Zion's relationship to their bodies while reading the book so far, because of the exact reason you have stated- they are "normal" by our standards. This is interesting, that they are normal to us, yet abnormal in a way in Gibson's world. It makes me wonder why Gibson has them as the natural characters in the book, when it seems like every other character has been technologically altered in some way. I also wonder if other characters in their world see them as abnormal, or behind the times in some way.
I really liked your point about the Zionites. I didn’t really think about them because that point of the book confused me, I guess. It is interesting though that these people are thought of as strange in the book, but are normal in our society. It shows the idea that definitions are made from the belief systems of the normative group. I am so baffled about all of the modifications and technology advancements in the book and cannot understand fully why they have these modifications. I think it is completely strange. It is not normal in our society today, but it is completely normal in the society in the book. I really liked your points about them because I hadn’t really thought of them as anything special before I read your post. It definitely makes me think in a different way about these people.
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