Neuromancer by William Gibson.

The theme of identity is present throughout the novel. What makes a person a person? What gives a person an identity? Many of the characters transform in different ways throughout the novel. The Dixie Flatline construct is a computer simulation of a cyberspace cowboy's mind. Is this a different identity? Linda Lee changes first into a drug addicted criminal and then into a computer construct on Neuromancer. What is her identity? Is she one person? Two people? Three people?

Neuromancer and Wintermute join identities at the end of the novel. They exemplify different aspects of personality when they are separate. Neuromancer is affective, while Wintermute is cognitive, reflecting what we consider left-brain and right-brain characteristics. When they join together, they become something else. Does one identity absorb the other? Do they join equally? Are both original entities destroyed to create a third, new identity? Was either a complete identity before they joined?

Armitage is an identity constructed by Wintermute out of an army officer whose mind has been destroyed. Who is Armitage? Is he a real person? What is his identity? How does identity change over time? 3Jane is a clone. Is she a unique person? How is she different from the other Janes? Does she have a single identity? The author points out gray areas in defining identity and points out the important role of memory in defining who we are.