Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The City & the City, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Borders and Doubles
Seeing vs. Unseeing
Crime vs. Punishment
Urban Life and Alienation
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
Borlú looks through Between the City and the City. Bowden’s readings of unsolved historical mysteries are compelling and even “ingenious,” but his conclusions are bizarre. That night, while he is asleep, Borlú’s cell phone rings; it is one of the unificationists from the house where Borlú went with Dhatt, called Jaris. Jaris thanks Borlú for not exposing him as the person who made the anonymous call. He explains that he met “Marya” when she came to the unificationist house. He initially thought she was a unificationist herself, but then realized she was actually interested in Orciny.
This passage is a great example of why Dhatt’s aggressive, overzealous policing tactics often backfire. Jaris only feels safe confiding further in Borlú because Borlú did not expose him while Dhatt was interrogating the unificationists about who made the phone call. Now, because Jaris trusts him, Borlú will be able to make use of his information.
Themes
Mahalia was kicked out of the unificationist meetings for being “dangerous,” but she told Jaris privately that she’d found Orciny. She’d “made contact” with the people there, and explained to Jaris that there are places people in Besźel think are in Ul Qoma, and vice versa, but really, they are Orciny. She wanted to “help” Orciny. The last time Jaris and Mahalia spoke, she got angry when he mentioned Orciny, telling him he didn’t get it. She claimed that “everyone who knew the truth about Orciny was in danger.” In the time leading up to her death, she’d taken to carrying a knife around for protection. Jaris declares that Orciny killed her, and that he’s sure he’s next. He hangs up, and when Borlú tries to call back, the number is blocked.
This passage makes it more explicitly clear that Mahalia’s interest in Orciny had some role to play in her death. In one sense, it would be possible to read her behavior leading up to her death as paranoid and delusional. Because she believed that the authorities were keeping the reality of Orciny secret, she didn’t seek help from the police or other institutions when she thought her life was in danger, but rather relied on a crude attempt at self-protection.
Themes
It is the middle of the night in Ul Qoma but still normal hours in the US, and Borlú calls Mrs. Geary and asks how Mr. Geary is doing. He apologizes again for what happened during their visit. He then asks if Mahalia ever mentioned dating anyone, or told her about Yolanda. Mrs. Geary breaks down in tears, saying that Mahalia “confided in” Yolanda. She then says that Mahalia wasn’t dating anyone. There was a man she hung out with, but she wasn’t interested in him romantically, and claimed the situation was “complicated.”
It is actually strange that the question of Mahalia’s dating life has not come up until now, considering that the majority of women who die by homicide are killed by their intimate partners.
Themes
Mrs. Geary promises that she and her husband are going to track down all the unificationists and nationalists, because they are sure one of them murdered Mahalia. After hanging up, Borlú sleeps for a few hours, only to be awakened by Dhatt calling and saying, “Someone sent a bomb.”
The stakes of the case are certainly escalating, so fast that they threaten to outpace Borlú and Dhatt’s detective work.
Themes
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