Gray Matters by William Hjortsberg
"Gray Matters" is a complex narrative that interweaves the lives of three main characters who have undergone a transformative procedure to become cerebromorphs—disembodied brains existing within a sophisticated life-support system. The story begins with Denton "Skeets" Kalbfleischer, a young boy whose survival after a plane crash leads him to be the first cerebromorph. Vera Mitlovic, a once-celebrated actress who committed murder, also opts for this existence to preserve her youth through artificial enhancements. Meanwhile, Obu Itubi, an African sculptor, becomes a cerebromorph as part of a global initiative aimed at controlling population and pollution.
These cerebromorphs are categorized by levels of consciousness, with Skeets, Vera, and Obu starting at the lowest tier. Progression to higher levels is contingent upon obedience and mental discipline, monitored by auditors like Philip Quarrels, who has his own motivations for becoming a cerebromorph. The plot thickens when Skeets and Vera undergo a memory merge, which leads to unforeseen consequences, including a power surge that alters their realities. The narrative explores themes of identity, control, and the human experience, culminating in dramatic twists involving jealousy, love, and the quest for freedom. Ultimately, the fates of the characters intersect in unexpected ways, prompting profound questions about existence and consciousness in a dystopian future.
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Gray Matters
First published: 1971
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—technocratic
Time of work: The late twenty-fourth century
Locale: A cerebromorph depository and various places on Earth
The Plot
There are three main plot lines in Gray Matters. William Hjortsberg shifts among these plot lines, which at times intersect. Each of the main characters in the story begins as a cerebromorph, a disembodied brain hooked up to an elaborate system of life support and memory banks. Denton “Skeets” Kalbfleischer was a twelve-year-old boy severely injured in an airplane crash. He became the first candidate for a cerebrectomy, a process by which the brain is removed from the body to be placed in a depository. Vera Mitlovic was a famous film actress who murdered her rich, abusive husband with a shotgun. She used her wealth to preserve her youth. Eventually, she had so many artificial body parts that she volunteered to become a cerebromorph. Obu Itubi was an African sculptor. He became a cerebromorph during the Awakening, a time when the World Council voted to control world population growth and pollution by making everyone a cerebromorph.
The cerebromorphs are organized on different levels in a depository, according to their level of consciousness. Skeets, Vera, and Obu are all on the lowest level. Cerebromorphs advance from one level to the next through obedience, concentration, and meditation. Those who achieve the highest level are placed in perfected human bodies grown in the “hatchery” and are free to go into the outside world. The conscious and unconscious thoughts of cerebromorphs are monitored by auditors, who also advance according to how well they perform their duties.
Philip Quarrels, a combat pilot and astronaut, is Skeets’s auditor. He became a cerebromorph to participate in long-range space travel. Skeets has been on his level for more than four hundred years, and the Central Control hopes that he will be the first to advance from that level. His adolescent mind, however, prevents him from achieving the necessary focus. Quarrels arranges a memory merge between Skeets and Vera in order to help Skeets advance beyond his adolescent preoccupation with sex.
While Vera and Skeets are merging, Obu tricks a maintenance robot into taking him on board and escapes from the depository, causing all kinds of destruction on his way. This destruction sends a power surge through the system, obliterating Skeets’s brain and isolating Vera from her auditors. Her consciousness spends its time on a beautiful island, free from the demands of the depository system. She is visited frequently by Quarrels consciousness, and they engage in passionate sexual relations. When he threatens to leave her, she shoots him with a shotgun, mysteriously killing his actual brain as well as the image projected by his consciousness.
Obu is discovered on the outside by a group of humans, who place his brain in a body. Obu eventually impregnates Oona, a woman who somehow avoided the Awakening. She becomes the first woman to experience pregnancy in nearly two hundred years. When Obu, in a fit of jealousy, kills the healer who is helping Oona, he is returned to the depository. His brain is taken from his body, his memory is erased, and he is given Skeets consciousness.