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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The City & the City, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Borders and Doubles
Seeing vs. Unseeing
Crime vs. Punishment
Urban Life and Alienation
Paranoia, Conspiracy, and Illicit Knowledge
Summary
Analysis
When Borlú leaves the Breach, accompanied by its avatars, he realizes that he doesn’t know whether he is in Ul Qoma or Besźel. The previous night, he spent hours watching interrogation tapes, footage of Corwi, his lovers, and the nationalists. Breach told him that Yorjavic’s apartment was searched and there was no evidence associating him with Orciny. When Borlú is finally taken out of his room in the Breach, the people he walks past are dressed in clothes that belong neither to Besźel nor Ul Qoma. He hears a mix of Besź and Illitan being spoken, as well as a hybrid language combining the two. They step through doors into the light of the outside world.
For Borlú’s whole life, the distinction between Besźel and Ul Qoma has been foundational to how he perceives the world. Everything belongs to one city or the other, and determining which is which is essential to navigating everyday life. However, his time spent in Breach—which is deliberately neutral—disrupts his native ability to distinguish between the cities, leaving him profoundly disorientated.
Themes
Borlú eventually realizes that they are in Ul Qoma, and that it is morning. The man he is with asks him to call him Ashil, and says he will address Borlú as Tye. Both these names could be either Besź or Ul Qoman, with no strong ties to one or the other. As they walk, Borlú realizes that they are moving back and forth between the cities. Everyone they pass unsees them. Ashil asks Borlú where he is, and after a pause, Borlú replies that he is in neither Besźel nor Ul Qoma, but in Breach. Ashil replies that “No one knows if they’re seeing you or unseeing you.” He adds that they aren’t in neither city—they are in both.
This passage shows how Breach actually works in terms of its presence in the two cities. Ashil explains that to be in Breach is to be in both cities at once. He and Borlú remain largely out of sight because everyone who sees them quickly looks away, unable to determine which city they are in. This means that the whole time, Breach have been moving among the people of both cities without being invisible, yet without being seen, either.
Themes
They travel first by metro in Ul Qoma and then change to a tram in Besźel. They go to the Ul Qoma University library, and when Ashil shows his Breach accreditation, the security guard leaps to his feet, terrified. They walk in and search the stacks for a book without a reference number. Eventually they find it: a heavily-used copy of Between the City and the City. Inside, Mahalia has scribbled all over the margins, things like “REALLY? CF HARRIS ET AL” and “LUNACY!! MAD!!!” Borlú comments that she knew the truth about Orciny, and this is where she kept it hidden.
As has been indicated throughout the novel, Breach has the power to solve crimes far more efficiently than either the policzai or the militsya. As Ashil’s interaction with the security guard shows, this is because they have ultimate power. At the same time, Breach arguably also needs Borlú’s insight—without it, they would be somewhat lost.
Themes
