The slides for today bring up theories of post-humanism that emerge in the late-twentieth century and the ways that some cyborg characters in Gibson’s fiction demonstrate the potential for human re-definition and rebellion. How do you see Johnny himself at the end of the story? Is he yearning for pre-cyborg humanity or embracing the fusion of flesh and technology in his own body? Is he a figure who imagines new kinds of selfhood and political resistance, or someone who yearns nostalgically for a purer mode of human life?
7 thoughts on “William Gibson and Cyberpunk–Group 1”
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First off, I wanted to say that this is probably one of my favorite short stories of the semester. I loved Johnny as a narrator and I thought the world that the author built was super interesting. He made everything feel so dirty and primitive despite all the obvious advancements in technology present.
I think that Johnny by the end of the story is definitely much more comfortable with “the fusion of flesh and technology in his own body” (I really like this sentence by the way). Yes, due to some of the more horrific displays of technological power that Johnny experiences through his escapades through the junk-laden city, he realizes “how hollow [he] was.” And this hollowness is obviously due to the way he had been used by those in higher positions of technological authority to exploit him. But, I think his solution to this hollowness is a sort of acceptance of the technology in his life and the world around him. He ends up ultimately staying up with the Lo Tek’s and integrating himself into a lifestyle surrounded by a technological lifestyle he did not realize was possible before. Instead of letting his hollowness consume him, he instead works alongside the bizarreness of it. His integration into a technological lifestyle different from his old one is evident in his visits with Jones in order to “learn[s] a lot about all his former clients” through his memories being displayed on a screen by Jones. He does not turn away from these memories but instead leans into learning about them and accepting that his past can help redefine his future.
I think that Johnny has come to a place of peace. He accepts and reckons with both his cyborgness and his humanity and instead of wishing to weigh one over the other is learning to balance them. he still clearly yearns for control over his brain, but I don’t know if that is so much hid distaste for his cyborgness. He says “one day… I’ll live with my own memories and nobody else’s, the way other people do.” More than he dislikes his cyborgness, i think he just wishes for control over himself and over his brain. He no longer wishes to do other’s bidding. I think his contentedness with his own cyborgness becomes especially clear in the last line too. He says, “I’m getting to be the most technical boy in town.” He almost seems to be prideful and content in his own machine like aspects and has learned to embrace and make use of them rather than reject them.
By the end of “Johnny Mnmonic,” I believe Johnny yearns for a pre-cyborg humanity. Johnny clearly loathes his cyborg nature. If it weren’t for the technology implanted in his brain, he would not be caught up with dangerous people like Ralfi and the Yakuza. Moreover, he seems comfortable living among the Lo-Teks who have forsaken advanced technology for more primitive forms. It may seem that Johnny ultimately embraces the fusion of technology and flesh in the world and within his own body at the end when he monetizes and reclaims the technology in his brain through his blackmail business with Molly. However, the primary reason that Johnny creates this business is that he hopes to clear all the data in his brain to return to a life where all that exists in his head are his own memories. This to me shows that he yearns for a purer and more human mode of life, like the Lo Teks or perhaps even more so, for he yearns for this life for his own personal happiness, whereas they seem to do it as a form of resistance to the system. While at one point Johnny may have been proud to be so high tech, by the end of the story he feels his life has been made into a “game,” something for other people, and he longs to take it back for himself. Though the opportunity seems far off, he one day hopes to have the silicon surgically removed so he can “live with [his] own memories and nobody else’s, the way other people do.” (22)
I believe Johnny is embracing the fusion of flesh and technology in his own body for now, but yearns for the ability of defining his own identity. In this world created by Gibson, it feels impossible to yearn for a pre cyborg humanity because every character we meet has an anatomical modification. Humanity and technology are intertwined so people can’t return to a world without. However, Johnny still hopes for the innate human ability of memory. He wants to control his own brain rather than have it used like a mule. When he first meets Rafi who he originally delivers the message to, Johnny thinks about how “a code phrase could easily turn him into an idiot or savant.” This connects to the final passage of the book where Johnny wants to have a surgeon “dig all the silicon out of his amygdalae” and live like everyone else. Johnny doesn’t seem to care about the small cyborg creations like weapons shooting from people’s fingers, but he does yearn for aspects of humanity that he considers sacred. Superficial modifications are inherent to this world and won’t disappear, but Johnny does want a real “human” memory. Interestingly, Johnny doesn’t rush to get this piece of humanity that he lacks. He acts happy enough with his new business opportunity and wants to ride it out for a while. This lack of hurrying towards his end goal makes me consider his real goal to be freedom. Johnny doesn’t really mind having the ability to store information from others, he just doesn’t want to be controlled. He is “okay” because he doesn’t have to rely on others for survival now. Johnny wants to be human in the sense of having his own memories and personal freedom, but doesn’t necessarily care as much about the superficial changes to the body.
I think that by the end of the story Johnny is finally able to see himself as an individual rather than a mere technological tool that had no control over his own abilities. By the end, the guy with the detachable thumbs is defeated and the Yakuza is seemingly at bay, and Johnny seems to have made friends with Jones and Molly. The fact that he even undergoes modifications to fit in better in the Lo Tec Society shows that he seems to be embracing the fusion with technology, especially because he even found a way to make a profit with his stored information.
However, I don’t think that he is someone who imagines political resistance or yearns for a purer mode of human life. It is clear that all he wants is to be left alone by the Yakuza, rather than to take down the system or lead a resistance. Also, his acceptance in his new home shows that he is coming to accept and find his place, and the ending indicates that he is content with his new life.
At the end of the story, I see Johnny content with his position in life/society despite previous yearnings for something less “cyborg” about himself. Through his adventures in the story, he discovered the “good” within the transformed society and people, and came to terms with existence. In the same regard, he doesn’t feel the need to resist like those around him. To me, it seems like he’s fine with tagging along as others resist any oppressors within the society, and doesn’t necessarily contribute to that other than for his own gain (like when he “fought” Ralphi– that was really just to protect himself and originally attempt to gain a bit more freedom for himself). I think his political resistance is less of resistance and more of selfishness, though that’s not inherently a bad thing. Throughout the story, he saw a bit of the beauty that exists within his society, and doesn’t want to change it. Instead, he’ll let it grow naturally and observe as it does.
By the end of the story, Johnny yearns for a life without all the technological “enhancements” that were made to his body. The most obvious alteration made to Johnny was the injection of silicone into his brain, allowing him to subconsciously retain and deliver massive amounts of secret information for his clients. Although it’s clear that he eventually wants the silicon and data removed, he is fine with it being in him for the time being because it is allowing him to monetize all the information within him. In this way, Johnny seems rather okay with the status quo, and I believe it is doubtful that he will ever have that surgery. His view seems rather romanticized and less realistic. When I read the final two paragraphs of the piece, I could imagine Johnny looking off romantically at the city below him, cigarette in mouth, silicon still inside his skull. Johnny seems like a highly unlikely choice for any political resistance movements as he seems pretty content with his new life. Sure, the old world seems great in Johnny’s mind, but he doesn’t seem like a guy who would ever do anything ever to change the world he is living in.