Neuromancer

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of drug use, exploitation of sex workers, and suicide.

Henry Dorsett Case is the protagonist of Neuromancer. He is an antihero who begins the novel as an average-looking petty criminal with a substance use disorder and who often thinks of suicide. He ends the novel as a slightly more successful criminal with a substance use disorder. Fear seems to rule him on the streets and even later in the narrative, as when he runs from Wintermute’s call on the pay phones.

In the beginning of the novel, Case is at his lowest ebb. His identity revolves around his work as a console cowboy who can hack into computer systems in cyberspace, but he has lost access to that virtual world due to a neurotoxin with which his former employers poisoned him in punishment for stealing from them. He initially joins Wintermute’s team to regain that ability—a somewhat selfish and shortsighted motivation. Later, he cooperates out of fear of being poisoned again by the toxin sacs embedded in his body. However, Case evolves. He grows concerned for Molly as they develop a romantic relationship and risks physically entering Villa Straylight despite his cowboy preference for virtual break-ins.