Genre
Fiction, Science Fiction
Setting and Context
Military research laboratory/business called Better Future
Narrator and Point of View
The point of view seems to be as the onlooker, watching Neumann's state of mind.
Tone and Mood
Terrifying, philosophically challenging
Protagonist and Antagonist
Neumann is the protagonist. There is no real antagonist in the novel.
Major Conflict
There is a small amount of conflict between Neumann and his medical doctor, Dr Angelica Austin.
Climax
Neumann's brain is uploaded to a computer, making him a truly robotized human.
Foreshadowing
The accident that Neumann suffers foreshadows his growing obsession with cybernetics because now it is not just a third-person area of study for him; he is his own client.
Understatement
Neumann believes it is unusual to remove his limbs and to prefer the use of a prosthetic. This is an enormous understatement because not only is this unusual, it is completely counter intuitive to a person's survival instinct.
Allusions
No specific examples
Imagery
The imagery is entirely anatomical in its nature and describes almost too graphically the process of removing his limbs and rebuilding himself as a robot.
Paradox
Most people would try to avoid amputation but Neumann is amputating his limbs deliberately.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between the removal of Neumann's limbs and the removal of the part of his human logic that tells him to protect his physical body.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The Manager - the man who owns the Better Futures organization is never named in person but goes by his job title.
Personification
No specific examples
