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Inspector Tyador Borlú
At the beginning of the narrative, Mahalia Geary’s dead body is discovered by the Besźel policzai, and the case of her murder becomes the central plot of the novel. Extraordinarily intelligent, Mahalia was an American PhD student in the archaeology department of Prince of Wales University, a Canadian university that has a campus in Ul Qoma. Professor Nancy was her supervisor, and her thesis was on the artifacts at the Bol Ye’an dig. However, her real interest lay in Orciny, the mythical third city thought to lie between Besźel and Ul Qoma. Dr. David Bowden ended up using Mahalia’s interest in Orciny to get her to smuggle artifacts out of Bol Ye’an, which were then taken by the corporation Sear and Core. When Mahalia discovered that Orciny wasn’t actually real and was just a front to cover up the smuggling operation, David killed her.
Mahalia Geary (a.k.a. Fulana/Marya/Byela Mar) Quotes in The City & the City
The The City & the City quotes below are all either spoken by Mahalia Geary (a.k.a. Fulana/Marya/Byela Mar) or refer to Mahalia Geary (a.k.a. Fulana/Marya/Byela Mar) . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5 Quotes
A political irony. Those most dedicated to the perforation of the boundary between Besźel and Ul Qoma had to observe it most carefully. If I or one of my friends were to have a moment’s failure of unseeing (and who did not do that? Who failed to fail to see, sometimes?), so long as it was not flaunted or indulged in, we should not be in danger. If I were to glance a second or two on some attractive passerby in Ul Qoma, if I were to silently enjoy the skyline of the two cities together, be irritated by the noise of an Ul Qoman train, I would not be taken.
Here, though, at this building not just my colleagues but the powers of Breach were always wrathful and as Old Testament as they had the powers and right to be. That terrible presence might appear and disappear a unificationist for even a somatic breach, a startled jump at a misfiring Ul Qoma car.
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Chapter 8 Quotes
Okay I need to be a little bit careful here, Inspector, because honestly I never really, not really, thought he did believe it—I always thought it was kind of a game—but the book said he believed it […] A secret colony. A city between the cities, its inhabitants living in plain sight […] Unseen, like Ul Qomans to the Besź and vice versa. Walking the streets unseen but overlooking the two. Beyond the Breach. And doing what, who knows? Secret agendas. They’re still debating that, I don’t doubt, on the conspiracy theory websites.
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Chapter 26 Quotes
I could imagine the panic of bystanders and passersby, let alone those innocent motorists of Besźel and Ul Qoma, having swerved desperately out of the path of the careening vehicles, of necessity in and out of the topolganger city, trying hard to regain control and pull their vehicles back to where they dwelt. Faced then with scores of afraid, injured intruders, without intent to transgress but without choice, without language to ask for help, stumbling out of the ruined buses, weeping children in their arms and bleeding across borders. Approaching people they saw, not attuned to the nuances of nationality—clothes, colours, hair, posture—oscillating back and forth between countries.
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Coda: Chapter 29 Quotes
Ul Qoma’s government announced a new campaign, Vigilant Neighbours, neighbourliness referring both to the people next door (what were they doing?) and to the connected city (see how important borders are?).
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"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Mahalia Geary (a.k.a. Fulana/Marya/Byela Mar) Character Timeline in The City & the City
The timeline below shows where the character Mahalia Geary (a.k.a. Fulana/Marya/Byela Mar) appears in The City & the City. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
“Fulana” (the name for an identified female victim) lies between Borlú and Shukman, covered up. Shukman...
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Chapter 3
...he leaves his apartment, he sees one of the posters, which features a photo of Fulana and a request to call the Extreme Crime Squad with any information.
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...Yaszek tells Borlú that a smear was found on the van’s floor, believed to be Fulana’s blood. Corwi arrives, and Borlú postulates that Fulana was already dead or unconscious by the...
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...By this point, many people have called the hotline from the posters with information about Fulana, although most of this information clearly nonsense. The two plausible leads are that Fulana is...
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...report the van as missing because he was “busy.” Borlú shows him a photo of Fulana, asking if he knows her, and Khurusch, distressed, asks if she was killed by the...
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Chapter 4
Neither of the leads about Fulana’s identity turn out to be legitimate; both the legal assistant and “The Pout” are still...
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...possible. The man says that he knows the woman who was killed, whose name was Marya. He is calling because if Marya is dead, it means that he and other people...
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Borlú asks how the man learned about Marya’s death, and the man angrily replies, “I saw your fucking poster,” before hanging up. Next...
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...likely won’t come in the next day. He says that it’s clear by now that Fulana was not a sex worker, and claims that he’s been talking to a friend in...
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Pausing for a moment of reflection, Borlú concludes that Marya and the informant must both be unificationists. He looks out the window at a passerby...
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Chapter 5
...points out that they could easily be deemed illegal. She gets out the photo of Fulana, and Drodin explains that he knew her as Byela Mar, although this was evidently a...
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“Byela” would talk to Drodin about the history of the cities, the unification efforts, and the...
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...be confined to children’s stories, and Borlú thus now asks Drodin if he means that Byela was researching “folklore.” Drodin simply replies that they have information about Orciny, which Borlú doesn’t...
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Drodin repeats that Byela was dangerous, because, as unificationists, he and his comrades are subject to disproportionate scrutiny by...
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...in Besźel. The next day, Corwi shows Borlú a file faxed over from Ul Qoma: Fulana’s real identity.
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Chapter 6
The dead woman was a 24-year-old American named Mahalia Geary. Borlú presents this information to the 42 members of the Oversight Committee sitting around...
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...just killed his wife breached in a moment of sheer panic. Now, Borlú explains that Geary was a resident of Ul Qoma and was a PhD student in archaeology. She was...
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Geary’s presentation at the conference, which was on Orciny, caused major controversy; however, once the scandal...
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Chapter 7
...to Ul Qoma from Canada. Borlú and Corwi have gone to Besźel Airport to meet Mahalia Geary’s parents. While they wait, they talk about places they’ve traveled. They watch drivers waiting...
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...event that placed Besźel and Ul Qoma under the label “split city.” Mr. and Mrs. Geary arrive, and Borlú greets them, expressing his sincere condolences. He asks if they want to...
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Mr. and Mrs. Geary are among a very small group of visitors admitted to Besźel without tourist training through...
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Mr. Geary says he wants to go to Ul Qoma. Borlú and Corwi are having lunch with...
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Frustrated, Mr. Geary brings up Mahalia’s obsession with Orciny. Thacker seems not to know what Orciny is, and...
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After the Gearys leave, Borlú and Corwi discuss two particularly nasty nationalist groups: Qoma First, and their Besź...
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Chapter 8
...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...
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When Borlú mentions Mahalia’s research on Orciny, Professor Nancy balks, exclaiming, “This is an archaeology department!” She says that...
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Nancy explains that Mahalia was previously interested in Orciny and calls her “a little Bowdenite.” However, once Nancy took...
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...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...
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...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....
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Borlú tries to ask Mrs. Geary why Mr. Geary ignored their instructions and breached, but Mrs. Geary is insulted. She says...
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Chapter 9
Borlú and Corwi are at the address that was on Mr. Geary’s piece of paper, which is headquarters of the True Citizens. The members of the group...
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Another man suggests that Mahalia was a unificationist or a spy. A black car arrives and a middle-aged man gets...
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Chapter 10
...Smuggling does not inherently involve breach, although “most breach is committed in order to smuggle.” Mahalia’s murder, the smuggling of her body, and the theft of Khurusch’s van are all crimes...
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Chapter 11
...to aggressively interrogate him, although they assure him that they do not think he murdered Mahalia or dumped her body. Distressed, Khurusch admits that he usually always takes his pass out...
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...and asks her to look up all the vans stolen in Besźel on the night Mahalia’s body was dumped.
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...reminds him that they now don’t know who they can trust. It is obvious that Mahalia “found something out.” By this point, both Borlú and Corwi are whispering, aware that someone...
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Chapter 12
...would probably be better if he didn’t travel all. Borlú asks about Bol Ye’an and Mahalia’s fellow students, and Dhatt explains that no one from the dig or university has much...
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The militsya recently got a call regarding Mahalia’s best friend, another PhD student called Yolanda Rodriguez. Yolanda seemed distraught, although her boyfriend, an...
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Chapter 13
Borlú calls Corwi from his hotel room and describes the search of Mahalia’s room and computer, which didn’t turn up anything interesting. Yolanda’s room was filled with intriguing...
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Borlú asks Nancy about Mahalia. Nancy recalls how Mahalia “embarrassed” the university by talking about Orciny years ago at the...
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The students don’t have many ideas about what could have happened to Mahalia. One rejects the idea of “conspiracies,” but says that Mahalia’s ability to provoke people could...
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...of the security guards from the site runs after them, asking if they are investigating Mahalia’s murder. He introduces himself as Aikam Tsueh and asks if they’ve found anything out. Borlú...
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Chapter 15
...possibly have held a grudge. He notes that the same could not be said of Mahalia, although he didn’t know her well. He is Yolanda’s supervisor, and he says that although...
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...City and the City “still holds up and is still used.” When he first met Mahalia at the conference in Besźel, she said she wanted to work with him. He balked,...
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Chapter 16
...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,...
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Mahalia was kicked out of the unificationist meetings for being “dangerous,” but she told Jaris privately...
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...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...
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Mrs. Geary promises that she and her husband are going to track down all the unificationists and...
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Chapter 17
Speaking to Dhatt, Borlú points out that Mahalia angered the nationalists back in Besźel, and that although the equivalent groups are technically banned...
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...Buidze describes as “dumb” and friends with some of the students, including Yolanda but not Mahalia.
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Chapter 18
...suspects that he’s already fled the country. Dhatt suggests that Jaris could be guilty of Mahalia’s murder, but Borlú points out that if this were true, it wouldn’t have made sense...
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Chapter 19
...she is because she knows “they” will find her and kill her like they did Mahalia. When Borlú asks who, she says “The third place. Between the city and the city....
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...Aikam found the apartment for her and set her up there. She insists that now Mahalia and Bowden have been targeted, she will certainly be next. Yolanda explains that Mahalia’s PhD...
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Yolanda explains that after the controversy she caused at the conference, Mahalia received a letter written in the ancient script that preceded the founding of Besźel and...
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Shortly before her death, Mahalia appeared increasingly distressed. She told Yolanda that they “could be thieves without even knowing.” Yolanda...
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...would be safe from the powers of Orciny, as Breach would deport her. Yolanda says Mahalia used to say that Orciny and Breach were enemies at war, but she’s not so...
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Chapter 23
...then allow them to make a decision. They ask that he tell them about Yolanda, Mahalia, and Orciny, which they refer to as a “fool’s conspiracy” that has returned after a...
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...if they give him something in return. They ask again if Borlú thinks Orciny killed Mahalia and Yolanda, and Borlú points out that Yolanda believed that Mahalia had discovered some kind...
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Chapter 25
Back in the Breach headquarters, Ashil brings Borlú photocopies of every page of Mahalia’s copy of Between the City and the City. That evening, they walk together in the...
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...explains that different people take turns to lock up the site at night, and that Mahalia locked up the day she was killed.
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...in response. Borlú examines some artefacts, then asks Buidze to walk him through exactly what Mahalia would have done when she locked up. Borlú hypothesizes that before locking up, Mahalia took...
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...meeting and Ashil escorts him back to his room, locking the door. Borlú looks over Mahalia’s notes again, paying special attention to the surnames she’s listed in the margins, some of...
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...to get online. Ashil takes him to the computer room where he enters the names Mahalia wrote in the margins into a search engine. The connection is painfully slow, but eventually...
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Chapter 26
...on Yorjavic and figure out if he has an alibi for all the evenings when Mahalia locked up at Bol Ye’an. Borlú again asks to speak to Corwi and Dhatt, but...
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...it’s a strange coincidence that these trade events would be happening on the exact nights Mahalia locked up the site. Borlú becomes increasingly frustrated with having to tell Ashil how to...
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...the artefacts at Bol Ye’an have “special properties.” Sear and Core wanted them, and persuaded Mahalia to hand them over by pretending to be Orciny. Confused, Ashil asks why anyone would...
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Chapter 27
...footage of the van in order to stop Breach from taking over the case of Mahalia’s murder. The nationalists still have their guns raised, but Borlú doesn’t think they’ll shoot. He...
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Chapter 28
Bowden points a weapon at Borlú. Borlú says he knows Bowden tried to cut Mahalia’s face off, then covered it with makeup when that didn’t work. The strange metal object...
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...financial incentive, but rather as a way of rescuing his own ego. He asks if Mahalia ever found out what Bowden’s role was, and he says he thinks she didn’t. Rather,...
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