Neuromancer Geography and Setting Analysis

Neuromancer by William Gibson sets place in Chiba, Japan which is somewhere near Tokyo. As the story unfolds, Case (the main character) describes the the area he lives in as an underground city called Ninsei or Night City. It is a very dark and gloomy area where a lot of illegal activities occur. Night City lives in its own world of drug dealers and prostitutes. There are a lot of different ethnic groups living in the area ranging from native people of Japan, hispanics and a group called the Sprawl. Night City is a place for people that have lost their way and hope to find a place to hide from the real world. It is a place of death and possible a place where people look for dying. This is proven by the fact that Case has accepted the fact he might die living in this area.

Throughout part 1, Case mentions “The Matrix” frequently throughout the story. It is a place where a person can escape from the real world and let their mind wonder in another fantasy. Case states that it is a weightless experience where the mind has left the body. To me, it seems like this is like the movie The Matrix with Keanu Reaves. In the movie, Neo (Keanu Reeves) plugs into the Matrix which takes him into a digital world. This is the same instance with Case. Case enters the Matrix frequently and is always looking for its familiarity.

When you compare the two different areas, they seem to have their similarities and differences. When looking at their similarities, they both seem to be places where people can escape from the real world. Night City is a place full of drugs and murders where Case has accepted the fact he could possible die there. The Matrix is a place where Case lets his mind become with weightless entity and leave everything tied to the Earth. When looking at their differences, Night City seems a place for lower level of citizens to travel to when the higher level world throws them out. The Matrix seems to be a place for people that live in a higher class. However, why does Case live in this baron area if he is able to go into the Matrix?