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
When Borlú gets back to the office, he finds an email from Gadlem saying that as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Geary are taken care of, the case should be considered “done.” Borlú rolls his eyes at this message and continues to investigae. He calls Bol Ye’an, asking to speak to Professor Nancy. When she comes to the phone, she apologizes for not calling the ECS back, saying she’s been busy. She asks if the case is being handed over to Breach, and Borlú confirms that it is, but explains that he wants to do some final research because he is “curious” about Mahalia’s research.
This passage contains another important trope from crime fiction: the detective who cannot drop the case even when he is told to do so. This puts Borlú at odds with his own department as well as with Breach, who are supposed to be taking over the case—a potentially dangerous position to be in.
Themes
When Borlú mentions Mahalia’s research on Orciny, Professor Nancy balks, exclaiming, “This is an archaeology department!” She says that if Mahalia was interested in Orciny, she would have been in a Folklore or Anthropology department. Professor Nancy then explains that Bol Ye’an is an ancient site, with artefacts that predate the origin of Besźel and Ul Qoma. Very little is known about the culture in which they were produced. Mahalia was studying these artefacts, although Professor Nancy wasn’t sure what her ultimate argument about them would be.
This is another moment at which knowledge is shown to be especially charged in the world of the novel. Professor Nancy’s strong reaction to the prospect that Mahalia would be studying Orciny within an archeology department suggests that doing so would undermine the legitimacy of her program.
Themes
Nancy explains that Mahalia was previously interested in Orciny and calls her “a little Bowdenite.” However, once Nancy took her on as a PhD student, she made it clear that Orciny could not be the main subject of her scholarly research if she wanted to be taken seriously. Mahalia was very intelligent, but Nancy admits she was somewhat disappointed with the writing Mahalia ultimately produced, which was mediocre, particularly considering how much work she had been putting in. Borlú asks what “Bowdenite” means, and Nancy explains that it refers to people who are interested in the early work of David Bowden, particularly a book he wrote about Orciny called Between the City and the City.
Like Borlú himself, Mahalia was an intelligent, dedicated, and hard worker, yet someone who also had a rebellious streak. Her arguments with Professor Nancy and the ultimately disappointing nature of her writing suggest that Mahalia did not prioritize pleasing authority or succeeding according to conventional metrics. Rather, she was dedicated to pursuing knowledge for its own sake and charting her own path.
Themes
Nancy explains that Between the City and the City is banned in both Besźel and Ul Qoma. Although she thinks the book has moments of impressive analysis, she dismisses it as largely “crackpot ramblings.” She admits she previously didn’t really think that Bowden himself believed in Orciny. When she met Mahalia, she similarly assumed her interest in Orciny might have been a joke. When they started working together, Nancy warned Mahalia that she would have to leave the Orciny stuff behind if she wanted to be taken seriously as a scholar, and Mahalia laughed and assured her that she had.
Considering what the reader already knows about Mahalia, it seems that she pretended that she was leaving behind her interest in Orciny to placate Professor Nancy, but in reality she remained committed to researching it. Indeed, as is common among conspiracy theorists, Mahalia perhaps thought she had to pretend to drop her interest in Orciny in the presence of others who didn’t understand.
Themes
Get the entire The City & the City LitChart as a printable PDF.
Professor Nancy then mentions the artefacts at Bol Ye’an, which are rumored to have magic powers. She says she wishes this were true, although the objects are unique and remarkably technologically advanced. She mentions that Bowden is still alive, although he’s “repudiated” his previous work on Orciny. He also works in the archeology department at Prince of Wales University and lives in Ul Qoma. Like several other academics (including Nancy herself), he splits his time between Canada and Ul Qoma, although he now spends the majority of his time in the latter. Borlú looks Bowden up online and finds that most of his scholarly work was published in the mid-1970s.
Bowden is both an important and unimportant figure in the world of the novel. He wrote a key text on the myth of Orciny, one that once triggered a lot of excitement, but he is now somewhat washed-up and irrelevant. Crucially, he now rejects his own research from the earlier part of his career. Whether this is because he actually believes it’s wrong or because he needs to do so to be taken seriously is unclear.
Themes
Borlú then looks up the conspiracy websites, including fracturedcity.org where “dopplurbanology” obsessives congregate. There, he finds a few excerpts from Between the City and the City. Borlú then gets a call from one of the officers at the hotel where the Gearys are staying saying that Mr. Geary “went AWOL” and has breached. Breach have taken Mr. Geary and will now keep them until they can put them on a flight out of Besźel Airport. They will be banned from ever returning. Borlú finds the Gearys in a cell; Mr. Geary is unconscious, having been tranquilized by Breach. Mrs. Geary is furious, claiming that her husband has been “poisoned.”
For the first time, the reader witnesses what Breach actually does to those who violate the strict separation between the cities. At the same time, it is also clear that this isn’t the usual punishment—Mr. and Mrs. Geary are being treated with lenience because they are foreigners (and because they are grieving, which is also what afforded them their compassionate entry visa).
Themes
Borlú tries to ask Mrs. Geary why Mr. Geary ignored their instructions and breached, but Mrs. Geary is insulted. She says that they knew Mahalia was afraid in the time leading up to her death, and Mr. Geary was going to find out why. Borlú apologizes to Mrs. Geary and promises that he is on her side. However, when Mrs. Geary asks that they be released and swears that they will find a way back in after being deported, Borlú says he can’t help, reminding her that they are being watched by Breach. He asks that she trust him to find Mahalia’s murderer. After helping her onto the plane, he looks at a piece of paper he took from the side pocket of her bag, where there is scribbled an address in Ul Qoma.
Borlú now has an added incentive to keep pursuing his investigation even as the case is supposed to be handed over to Breach. He has made a personal promise to Mrs. Geary that he will find the murderer. This is especially important because when Breach take over the case, they will provide no information about their actions. Borlú, on the other hand, knows that an important part of delivering justice is transparency and accountability.
Themes
