The City & the City: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

The dead woman was a 24-year-old American named Mahalia Geary. Borlú presents this information to the 42 members of the Oversight Committee sitting around the table. There are 21 Besź politicans there; the rest are from Ul Qoma. The committee meets in one of the only places that is the same in both cities: Copula Hall, an ornate building that lies in both Besźel and Ul Qoma’s Old Towns. The building is crosshatched inside, with one room in Besźel, the next in Ul Qoma. The Oversight Committee meets consistently, even during times of conflict between Besźel and Ul Qoma. The only exceptions have been the two times when the cities have been in direct war against each other.

Borlú has presented to the Oversight Committee twice before; once was regarding a drug case involving breach, the other a case where a man who had just killed his wife breached in a moment of sheer panic. Now, Borlú explains that Geary was a resident of Ul Qoma and was a PhD student in archaeology. She was working at a major dig in western Ul Qoma called Bol Ye’an. The site is run by archaeologists from Prince of Wales University in Canada, which was Geary’s home institution. A few years back there was a conference in Besźel about the discovery of a major “cache” of mysterious artefacts at Bol Ye’an.

Geary’s presentation at the conference, which was on Orciny, caused major controversy; however, once the scandal blew over, she was able to gain a visa to Ul Qoma for her PhD research. One of the members of the Oversight Committee suggests that there is not yet any evidence that Mahalia’s death involved breach; there might be another explanation. He argues that Breach is “an alien power,” adding, “we hand over our sovereignty to it at our peril.” Several committee members object to this statement, and Borlú is taken aback. He is not used to Breach being treated as something up for discussion. 

The first time Borlú saw Breach, he was 14 and witnessed a traffic accident that involved both Besź and Ul Qoman cars on a crosshatched street. Just as he glanced at the accident, the vague “shapes” and “figures” of Breach arrived, moving so quickly and with such power that it was impossible to properly make them out. Now, back in the meeting, it is concluded that, although in general the Committee shouldn’t be too quick to hand cases over to Breach, this one couldn’t be more “clear-cut.” 

Walking away from the meeting, Borlú reflects on Breach’s power, which is “almost limitless” and “frightening.” He meets Corwi and explains that the case will be handed to Breach, but that this won’t happen immediately. They discuss the mixed feelings nationalists harbor toward Breach. Borlú thinks about citizens who want to travel between Besźel and Ul Qoma must go through the official border at Copula Hall even if the place they want to go is right next to their own house. Borlú recalls how, when he was a child, he would throw stones through thin strips of Ul Qoma and watch them land back in Besźel, then walk around the strip in order to pick up the stone again.