“It comes in moth like, under radar evolved to detect things with massive airframes: a pieces of ghost, or “black guest” perhaps (as Damien had once explained hackers and their more autonomous creation are known in China).” – Gibson (Pg 54-55) Pattern Recognition

I chose this passage from chapter 6 of Gibson’s Pattern Recognition because it included the themes, black, secrecy, and technology. The most important theme to harp on is the use of the word black throughout the novel. Arguably the most recurring word in the text, the color black takes on a heightened importance throughout the first half of the book. This passage serves as the best example of combining all of the themes surrounding the color black. The use of black in the passage describes the major media outlets, which I would also associate with major brands in terms of both being large and obtuse giants of their industries.

Cayce is this human litmus paper, reacting to fashion reactions but the one color that she seems to love to wear is black but possibly it’s because black is the one color that she can’t read and react to as well, creating almost a blissful ignorance of the color and its associations. She seems to primarily wear the color black, most technology is black one way or another such as the calculators and their bulky buttons. Technology being black could allude to its anonymity, not being able to see who or how the process occurs is a kind of blackness. Her association with technology being an endless black hole type of phenomenon displays her respect and fear of its permanence. I also believe that her overuse of black in her vocabulary, observations, and own fashion could be associated with her depression and loneliness. Coffee is often drank and alluded to by Cayce in regards to keeping her awake, possibly to avoid blackness or darkness, and she also uses it to constantly wake up and it stresses her out sometimes even though she loves the dark beverage. She’s scared of the darkness and black space whether it be a dark room or a shady F:F:F user, but at the same time she is fascinated and aroused by this color sort of like a love/hate situation. In chapter 5, Cayce describes James Bond’s black hair as “gorgeous,” this points to her physical attraction to the color in some form.

I wonder if Cayce is black or is someway involved either familial, sexually, or platonically with someone that is black and has seriously heightened her awareness for all black objects. She seems to connect with black while it continues to stimulate and recur in her life, this was the clearest pattern that I recognized with Cayce in all aspects of her life.

http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-meaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-black-4382#.VPfBMnsrfeI