Essay Questions

Why does Cypher betray his crew?

The Agents have met with Cypher and have offered him fame, money, and comfort in the Matrix if he gives them access codes to Zion's mainframe. He agrees to their terms as long as he doesn't remember that he did it. Cypher chooses to side with the Agents, essentially retaking the blue pill, in order to stop having to live life in a way that is challenging at every step. He doesn't want to fight anymore. He wants to be able to have mindless enjoyment and self-indulgent importance. He's lost his will to do the right thing simply because he doesn't want to be exhausted by the reality that this war will last potentially his entire lifetime so, he betrays his closest friends.

If Neo is The One how is it possible that he dies when Smith shoots him?

Morpheus believes that Neo is The One, a chosen person who has the ability to stop the machines and free humanity. The One is said to be able to be stronger than Agents, and can't die. But Neo does die when he is shot, and he also knows that the Oracle told him he isn't The One. It isn't until Trinity tells him she loves him that he becomes the savior Morpheus believed him to be as the Oracle told Trinity that the one she loves will be The One, and up until this point she hasn't confessed her love to Neo. Once she does he comes back to life and destroys Smith.

What are the red and blue pills?

Neo has been recruited by Morpheus and his crew because Morpheus believes that Neo is the key to freeing all humanity from being slaves to the machines. Morpheus offers Neo the option to take a red pill which will allow him to wake up in the reality of the world as it actually exists, or to take the blue pill which will cause him to fall asleep and awake as if nothing ever happened. Neo chooses the red pill and he awakens to learn that artificial intelligence has grown so powerful that machines have taken over the world and are harvesting human beings for energy to continue to run.