Neuromancer is widely known as the defining novel of the “cyberpunk” subgenre (of which I am particularly a fan) – so, regardless of what has happened in science fiction since then, the term “cyberpunk” was specifically applied to this novel as a defining mark. Therefore, disassembling that word should provide some insight into the defining features of the novel.

As a composite of two terms - “cyber” and “punk”, the sources are obvious. The “cyber” doubtlessly refers to “cyberspace”, the term coined by Neuromancer for describing the world in which people enter when they plug into the “consensual hallucination” of the matrix. Much of the novel is set in this realm: if we count time spent on simstim, Case is in cyberspace probably more often than everywhere else combined. So that much is obvious – the “cyber” means that the characters live in a universe where a digital communication network is as important – if not more important – than the physical world, otherwise known as “meatspace”.

But the other part, the “punk” half, is perhaps more interesting. The characters of Neuromancer, Case especially, aren't good guys. Case doesn't work for charity, he doesn't fight for what's right, and his only motivations appear to be self-preservation, the pursuit of the next high, and simple hatred. But that's simplifying things. For a moment, Case is something different, when he spouts at 3Jane: “What'll ever fucking change for you? You'll wind up like the old man. You'll tear it all down and start building again! You'll build the walls back, tighter and tighter....I got no idea at all what'll happen if Wintermute wins, but it'll change something!” (260). For this moment, it seems like Case is hoping for a better future, not just for himself, but for 3Jane and everyone else. But that's not what happens. In the end, “Things aren't different. Things are things,” and that's all that Post-Wintermute has to say about it. And after that final revelation, Case gives up and reverts to his previous self, blowing his reward cash on a new pancreas and liver that will allow him to receive normal effects from the amphetamines to which he is addicted. Case undergoes a transformation from criminal, to idealistic hero, back to disillusioned criminal. In this way, the cynical message of the book can be seen to represent the “punk” aspect – and this is the attitude which defines not only Neuromancer, but the cyberpunk genre in general.