Neuromancer Conclusion

The ending of Neuromancer was somewhat of a disappointment for me. Not only is Case sent back to the Sprawl with no repercussions, but Molly, who had been the strong female figure in the novel, disappears without any reasonable explanation beyond “IT’S THE WAY I’M WIRED I GUESS” (267). The people of the Sprawl seem nonchalant about Case’s return. Ratz, one of the few people Case expected to recognize him, simply shrugs and says “Night City is not a place one returns to, artiste” (268).
In the last chapter, Case confronts the Matrix and proclaims that he does not need it (270). He uses the shuriken, a gift from Molly he had never used, on his wall screen. The shuriken, originally intended to use against humans, becomes a weapon against technology, a statement that Case had reformed. But despite the fact that this is Case’s revelation and point of growth, I can’t help but miss his cyberaddiction. His incessant link to cyberspace was one of the most prominent characteristics that made Case who he was. The destruction of this quality makes Case less interesting of a person (although, I note that in a world where everything is run by technology, an individual who says no to the Matrix is a rarity).
The relationship between Molly and Case was also something I had always expected and desired to see. After all, when two protagonists of the opposite sex spend an entire 300 pages working together, one expects some sort of growth in relationship. This seemed to happen gradually, as Molly opens up during the mission that Case was one good thing about her situation. However, at the very end of the novel, Gibson makes it clear that it was a failed romance with the line “[Case] never saw Molly again” (271). She, along with the technology that Case abandons, disappears.