Gender Reversal in William Gibson's Neuromancer

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Gender Reversal in Neuromancer

In a world where beauty is literally a small price to pay to achieve. When reading the novel Neuromancer it is not a surprise that all the women described are not dubbed social unacceptable. In contrast they all have important roles: Molly is a street samurai, 3Jane is a leader of a world dominating family, Marie-Frances is a silent manipulative mother, and Linda Lee is, well okay she fits the stereotype of the girlfriend in most books. Stereotypical is not the definition used to describe the relationship between Molly and Case.

From the first time they meet Molly is the one chasing. In most relationships the man seems to be the aggressor; Molly takes that role with authority. She is following him around to recruit him for her team under the lead of Armitage. This team is working under the watchful circuits of an artificial intelligence (AIs) named Wintermute. Wintermute and Neuromancer are two AIs made by a powerful family, Tessier-Ashpool (TA). Wintermute needs Molly's muscle and Cases hacking ability to successfully join Wintermute with Neuromancer together. This family is lead by Ashpool and next in line is 3Jane. The person responsible for Wintermute wanting to join together is the mother and visionist Marie-France. 3Jane and Marie-France are different in there approach to power. 3Jane is more silent and patient, whereas; Marie-France is manipulative and has ideas of her own. Marie-France uses her silence to wait for an opportunity to advance her plan to join Wintermute and Neuromancer. 3Jane uses her silence to advance through the ranks undetected, but both have more power on their minds.

Power is not the only reverse gender role that Molly shows. Her relationship with Case is a definite reversal of gender. Molly starts as the aggressor and ends as the user. After her prier meeting with Case, he has an operation to allow him to be able t jack into the matrix with out a computer. Molly stays at his place to take care of him after he awakes from his surgery. Of course with the opposite roles Molly is there for one thing, sex. Even during the brief sex scene Molly proves to be the more dominant figure. She initiates the situation and takes the bull by the horns.

Taking charge of a predicament is not anything new to Molly.

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