The City and the City

Bowden’s murder weapon, a relic from the Bol Ye’an dig site, is an ancient, corroded, and apparently non-functional object. When he tries to fire at Borlú, its patchworked mechanism only clicks, and he only managed to murder Geary with it by using it to bludgeon her. The weapon, supposedly an Orciny artifact, is reputed to have mysterious powers, but like all of Orciny mythology, it’s a lie. It’s nothing more than a blunt object, a relic that has no power except as a tool of death. The object even breaks when Bowden uses it, evidence of its frailty and very un-magical nature. It’s meant for study and archival purposes, but when Bowden uses it for something else, he seals his own fate.

From the outset, China Miéville clarifies the importance of borders to his world-building. They not only separate Besźel and Ul Qoma, but they dictate people’s perception and behavior. They result in divergent languages and cultures. They become in effect metaphysical walls, dividing neighbors, isolating the cities from each other’s diversity, and fomenting distrust. It’s not a stretch to see real-world parallels. Countries guard arbitrary lines with substantial military resources, keeping outsiders out and prosecuting those who cross. As in Miéville’s fictional cities, border crossers are deemed criminals, “breachers” who violate the sanctity of sovereign territory, even if that breach is necessary to escape persecution and death. Miéville suggests that borders serve only to divide us, encouraging us to see each other not as fellow human beings but as foreign bodies on the wrong side of an imaginary line.