The New Nature of Reality in "Borne" by Jeff Vandermeer
One of the core aspects of the Weird genre is that things are larger than you, and that the events of the story are beyond your scope of understanding. To create this sense in Borne, Jeff Vandermeer uses a variety of tactics that are employed to build a world and its creatures that operate on a scale that seems almost cosmic, or at the very least beyond human, in their design.
So much is left unsaid in Borne, and so many questions are left unanswered. The Company, for example, works towards a grander purpose that is far beyond the sum of the parts of its workers. The Company in Borne is seen less as a business that we might associate with the word, and more of its own entity. A collective mass of minds that seem less individual and more one collective, foreign whole.
The Company's most awe-inspiring creation by my opinion, Mord, also operates on this scale. It was a twist in the book to discover that Mord was once human; once acted like we do, felt as we feel, and lived as we lived.
This sentiment has been replaced by an unknowable and inexplicable giant creature who kills without second thought, and yet, hardly seems malevolent in his intent unless threatened. Mord flies without explanation, moves without reason, and has motives beyond what the humans of the world can understand.
"When he found prey, a ways off to the east, under the scowl of rainless clouds, Mord dove from on high and relieved some screaming pieces of meat of their breath. Reduced them to a red mist, a roiling wave of the foulest breath imaginable. Sometimes the blood made him sneeze." (Vandermeer, 7)
In this quote, it is unsaid what, exactly, Mord reduced to a bloody dust. It never crosses his mind; humans, animals, ants, they're all the same inconsequential pieces of meat to him. But mindless is not the word to describe him. What went on behind Mord's yellow eyes was for only him to know.
And yet, is Mord a person? Is Borne?
What makes something a person? What separates animals from people? What differs something of human intelligence and sentience from being a person? It is merely appearance?
These are the questions that Borne requires you to ask yourself. What is the essence of you? What is the nature of your reality compared to this one? Borne is not for a passive audience, but one ready and willing to turn over these questions for themselves. Readers of Borne will find their minds racing to keep up with the face paced, stream of consciousness type of writing that the character Rachel uses to describe her life.
Borne, the amorphous character, sees no reason to identify merely as one thing. Having a loose sense of a comfortable shape, Borne pushes the boundaries of his character, and even, as it is revealed, of being other characters as well. In this reality, what our preconceived ideas of what is possible leave us vulnerable to the new climate of this world. Borne and Mord are similar in their construction: both creatures of the company, built for mysterious purposes, released into the wild, otherworldly reality and too have learned to adapt or die.
In this new world, things adapt in order to survive, as Rachel, Borne, and Mord all have. A new set of morals, or lack thereof, rings out new definitions of society. A scavenger, even a murderer, are fresh terms to define. Reality itself has been redefined, as the "weird" now sits right in front of your eyes. People, who by nature are social creatures, are driven to primal distrust. Water, a symbol for life, is taught never to be trusted for its toxicity. The "weird" of the post apocalypse of Borne goes against all human instincts.
So much is left unsaid in Borne, and so many questions are left unanswered. The Company, for example, works towards a grander purpose that is far beyond the sum of the parts of its workers. The Company in Borne is seen less as a business that we might associate with the word, and more of its own entity. A collective mass of minds that seem less individual and more one collective, foreign whole.
The Company's most awe-inspiring creation by my opinion, Mord, also operates on this scale. It was a twist in the book to discover that Mord was once human; once acted like we do, felt as we feel, and lived as we lived.
This sentiment has been replaced by an unknowable and inexplicable giant creature who kills without second thought, and yet, hardly seems malevolent in his intent unless threatened. Mord flies without explanation, moves without reason, and has motives beyond what the humans of the world can understand.
"When he found prey, a ways off to the east, under the scowl of rainless clouds, Mord dove from on high and relieved some screaming pieces of meat of their breath. Reduced them to a red mist, a roiling wave of the foulest breath imaginable. Sometimes the blood made him sneeze." (Vandermeer, 7)
In this quote, it is unsaid what, exactly, Mord reduced to a bloody dust. It never crosses his mind; humans, animals, ants, they're all the same inconsequential pieces of meat to him. But mindless is not the word to describe him. What went on behind Mord's yellow eyes was for only him to know.
And yet, is Mord a person? Is Borne?
What makes something a person? What separates animals from people? What differs something of human intelligence and sentience from being a person? It is merely appearance?
These are the questions that Borne requires you to ask yourself. What is the essence of you? What is the nature of your reality compared to this one? Borne is not for a passive audience, but one ready and willing to turn over these questions for themselves. Readers of Borne will find their minds racing to keep up with the face paced, stream of consciousness type of writing that the character Rachel uses to describe her life.
Borne, the amorphous character, sees no reason to identify merely as one thing. Having a loose sense of a comfortable shape, Borne pushes the boundaries of his character, and even, as it is revealed, of being other characters as well. In this reality, what our preconceived ideas of what is possible leave us vulnerable to the new climate of this world. Borne and Mord are similar in their construction: both creatures of the company, built for mysterious purposes, released into the wild, otherworldly reality and too have learned to adapt or die.
In this new world, things adapt in order to survive, as Rachel, Borne, and Mord all have. A new set of morals, or lack thereof, rings out new definitions of society. A scavenger, even a murderer, are fresh terms to define. Reality itself has been redefined, as the "weird" now sits right in front of your eyes. People, who by nature are social creatures, are driven to primal distrust. Water, a symbol for life, is taught never to be trusted for its toxicity. The "weird" of the post apocalypse of Borne goes against all human instincts.
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