59 pages • 1 hour read
William GibsonThe Peripheral
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 46-60Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 46 Summary: “The Sights”
Flynne returns to the peripheral. Lev reveals to Flynne how their phones are installed in their skulls. Flynne tells Netherton that she is excited to return. They take Flynne on a tour of the London of the future. Flynne becomes immediately curious as to why there are not that many people about. They visit a place called Cheapside, which Lev describes as a “cosplay zone” (196) and which Netherton claims is not real. None of the figures Flynne sees acting out a scene from 1867 are human. Lev informs Flynne that they are here to visit Lowbeer.
Chapter 47 Summary: “Power Relationships”
Flynne is introduced to Lowbeer and asks her if she is the reason she is there. Lowbeer informs Flynne that she is an eyewitness to a crime and is needed to help try to solve the case. Flynne then requests an additional peripheral, to which Lowbeer agrees and promises another. The additional peripheral is the one that Lev’s brother Anton used to spar with. This peripheral, like the one Flynne is using, is also athletic.
Chapter 48 Summary: “Pavel”
Ossian and Netherton return to Lev’s father’s house and retrieve Pavel from storage. Pavel is the name of Anton’s sparring partner/ peripheral.
Chapter 49 Summary: “The Sounds He Made”
Pavel is unlike the peripheral Flynne uses in that it is occupied by an AI that was programmed to box and take a beating. Ash tells Pavel to have the AI removed. Ash speaks with Macon, who has everything ready to go on his end. Flynne reassures Macon that all is good, and shortly after, Pavel reanimates and is occupied by Connor. Having the use of limbs again, Connor is thrilled and immediately begins running.
Chapter 50 Summary: “While the Getting’s Good”
Netherton and Ossian are perplexed by Connor’s behavior as he is doing exercises he learned in the Marines. Connor sprains the peripheral’s finger and is treated by Ash’s Medici. Connor tells Flynne that Burton is going to try to pay off the governor, which Ash and Ossian immediately begin to make happen.
Chapter 51 Summary: “Tango Hotel Soldier Shit”
Flynne gets Connor up-to-date on the people with whom they are interacting in the future. Edward then calls Ash, and she puts him through with Flynne. Edward tells her that it is time to return because it appears she needs to urinate. As she returns, she hears gunshots in the distance, and she thinks that it has something to do with the statehouse. She then returns to the peripheral.
Chapter 52 Summary: “Boots on the Ground”
Connor and Netherton are alone awaiting Flynne’s return. When she arrives, she immediately asks Netherton if he has the money to buy the governor yet, to which he says it has likely already happened. Lowbeer appears on the scene, and Flynne informs her of the shooting that she heard in her brief sojourn home. Ossian calls Edward to make sure the situation is under control, which it is. Now that Flynne has been reassured, Lowbeer escorts her to a different room where she can discuss the case and what will transpire. Connor is also invited to the meeting as he represents the “boots on the ground'' security support for the plan.
Chapter 53 Summary: “Santa Claus’s Headquarters”
The meeting proceeds with Lowbeer leading the way. Lev, Netherton, Ossian, and Ash are all present. Lowbeer tells Netherton to pursue an invitation to a gathering planned by Daedra West in four days. Once at the party, Netherton is expected to bring Flynne with him so she can see if the man she witnessed in Aelita’s apartment, the suspected guilty person, is at the party. Flynne speaks about how her world is “funny,” which in this context is analogous to fake or artificial. Flynne once again reminds everyone that they need to pay off the governor in her time period. Before departing from the peripheral, Lowbeer informs Flynne that there is a cumulative effect from entering and re-entering the peripheral.
Chapter 54 Summary: “Impostor Syndrome”
Netherton visits an establishment to get drunk. As he reflects on Lowbeer’s request that he contact Daedra and get himself invited to her gathering, Netherton considers how he does not like peripherals. Lowbeer’s sigil appears and suggests that Netherton uses the ruse of bringing the artist Annie Courrèges as a means of getting Daedra to offer him an invite.
Chapter 55 Summary: “Complicated”
When Flynne awakens, Tommy is there. He notifies her that two more young men were killed fairly close to where Flynne lives, and he is suspicious of her and Burton. Tommy makes it clear to Flynne that he is not there on official business but more to help them. Tommy tells Flynne that Corbell Pickett pretty much operates the entire law enforcement system in the county. His concern for Flynne compels her to tell him the truth about all the things that have been going on.
Chapter 56 Summary: “The Light in her Voice Mail”
Netherton is now drunk, and he has finally worked up the courage to call Daedra. Daedra wonders if the call is about Aelita, and Netherton, following Lowbeer’s orders, pretends that he does not know anything about the incident in which Aelita disappeared. Daedra then tells Netherton that he is rumored to have been involved in Aelita’s disappearance. He denies involvement and sticks to the plan, using the promise of Annie Courrèges offering her opinion about Daedra’s work. Daedra is intrigued but remains noncommittal toward Netherton and withholds an invitation to her party.
Chapter 57 Summary: “Good China”
Flynne leaves Burton’s trailer, and when she arrives home, Pickett is there in her mother’s living room. Burton is also there. Their mother, Ella, evidently does not think highly of Pickett and seems to know that he is a nefarious character.
Chapter 58 Summary: “Wu”
The same peripheral that Rainey used earlier at Maenad’s Crush appears again. This time, Netherton is unsure who is using it. He pulls out a pendant, inside of which is Lowbeer’s face. Lowbeer communicates with Netherton after his call to Daedra, saying he is in danger. She tells him to finish his drink, which he does, and he is escorted out of the bar by a peripheral named Fitz-David Wu.
Chapter 59 Summary: “Adventure Capitalists”
Janice talks with Flynne while she simultaneously cares for Ella. Like Ella, Janice also distrusts Pickett. She knows more about the man and gives Flynne more background on him. Pickett is still there talking with Burton. Flynne only hears snippets of the conversation. Pickett questions Flynne on who the Coldiron people are and how Flynne and Burton came to be working for them. Flynne holds her own with Pickett as he tries to tease out more information from Flynne, which she does not give. The narrator reveals that Pickett does not like Flynne.
Chapter 60 Summary: “Browning In”
The peripheral Wu drives Netherton to Lev’s residence in Notting Hill. It also appears that the peripheral listened in on Netherton’s conversation with Daedra and suggests that Netherton effectively enticed Daedra enough that she will eventually invite him to her party.
Chapters 46-60 Analysis
The beginning of Chapter 46 gives more insight into the world of the future in the novel. First, as is often the case, the narrative purposely creates ambiguity between real experience and virtual experience. Flynne’s experience inside the peripheral blurs the line between Objective versus Artificially Constructed Reality, creating the possibility that these two states are not wholly separate and different. When Ash gives Flynne a virtual sightseeing tour of future London, Flynne has a hard time discerning the reality of the tour. The tour also shows a place called Cheapside, an entirely artificial construct made to look like London of 1867. As Flynne takes in what she sees, she thinks that everything she sees is real, until finally, Netherton tells her that none of it is. Flynne’s response belies her amazement: “The horses aren’t real?” (198). Another surprising aspect of future London is that very few people are around, a significant detail that Flynne notices. The reason for this is explored in a later chapter called “The Jackpot,” but for the moment, Netherton avoids the detail and instead explains that Cheapside is essentially an animated history museum, sometimes visited by tourists and school children learning history.
The lines between subjective and objective reality are further explored in this section. When Flynne meets Lowbeer for the first time, Lowbeer tells her, “Some might think you more real than I am myself” (200). This statement comes after a conversation about what is real and what is not, and Flynne has a difficult time accepting any of it. Lowbeer says that if Flynne were to be killed, there would be no legal consequences because she would not be considered real, an assertion to which Flynne responds by saying, “I’m as real as you are” (199). Flynne also understands that nobody will believe her when she returns home, so she requests another peripheral to show others. When the request is granted, Connor inhabits the new peripheral. Once again, the line between real and virtual is made blurry. Connor, who has one missing leg, a missing foot, a missing arm, and a missing hand is able to use all his appendages when he inhabits the peripheral known as Pavel. For Connor, the experience feels real and he is enthralled by it; however, when he returns from “up the line” he once again inhabits his disabled body. He has a hard time coping with the difference, and he wants to return again to the peripheral so he can instead feel the use of his appendages, even if this experience is technically fake. Despite being an artificially constructed reality, he can feel himself actually running when he inhabits the peripheral, begging the question of whether he is actually running or not. Questions like this one take center stage as Flynne, Connor, and later Burton travel to the future and inhabit peripherals.
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By William Gibson
