Self and Body in the Posthuman World : A Critical Analysis of William Gibson's Neuromancer

This paper offers a critical exploration of the constructions of self and body in the posthuman world of William Gibson's Neuromancer. Situating the novel within the broader context of cyberpunk literature and posthumanist discourse, the study intends to show how Gibson's novel destabilizes conventional notions of human identity, agency, embodiment, and subjectivity. Neuromancer foregrounds a fragmented self that is mutually constructed through technology, cyberspace, and networked systems of power, rendering traditional boundaries between human and machine questionable. The analysis demonstrates how cyborg embodiment, artificial intelligence, and data flows in Gibson's narrative not only reflect the existential transformations of personhood in late capitalism but also disrupt dominant assumptions about the human body and individual autonomy. Gibson exposes the late-capitalist cyber culture structures that construct subjectivity through data, corporate power, and artificial intelligence. By engaging with posthuman theories from Donna Haraway, Katherine Hayles, and others, the paper attempts to examine how Neuromancer performs a critique of essentialist humanism and reimagines the body as a hybrid interface modulated by technology. Ultimately, the study argues that Gibson's text is reflective of a posthuman condition that problematizes human-machine hybridity and reconfigures subjectivity in the digital age.