The Matrix: Neo, a Struggle of Identity

Neo: A Struggle of Identity

“The Matrix...the war between man and machine, and the possibility that reality is a hoax.”(Clover 10) The Matrix in a sense is a constant struggle of identity and the real. The struggle of identity and the real in the Matrix is based around the character of Neo. Neo throughout the film is engulfed in a constant struggle of finding himself, his purpose, and also what reality actually is. In our world today humans are faced with the same identity and reality struggles. These struggles may not be as exaggerated and far fetched as Neo’s, but in essence they are just as difficult. The identity and reality struggle of Neo all begins with this now famous choice given to him by Morpheus, the red pill or the blue pill? This question poses a very difficult decision, do you take the blue pill and live without knowing the truth and who you actually are, or do you take the red pill and discover the truth and figure out what your life really is.

“The flexible self is not unitary, nor are its parts stable entities. A person cycles thought its aspects and these are themselves ever-changing and in constant communication with each other.”(Turkle 129) Society today is so closely tied into technology and computers. So much so that humans are now discovering themselves and exploring new personas within the realm of the internet. The idea of this flexible self is that it includes two selves, a split and contradictory self and a knowing self. The ability of combining these two selves through lines of communication gives one the ability to find all the different personas within oneself. Neo in the Matrix struggles with the idea that he doesn’t know what he is and if he or what he is living in is real.

The character of Morpheus in