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Stephenson:Neal:Snow Crash:Juanita Marquez

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

*THERE ARE PLOT SPOILERS BELOW!***

Stephensonia

It stands to Reason* - eh? Juanita is a hero in the shadows ...

“ … This Snow Crash thing — is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?"

Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference? … ”*

Authored entries

Condense fact from the vapor of nuance

Juanita Marquez' role model was her grandmother, who was capable of divining that her granddaughter was pregnant just by watching her face. This scene will spur Juanita to consider how humans are capable of absorbing and processing information--as long as it comes in a format they have been programmed to understand.

Ms. Marquez is a mystical and cranky Catholic who points out that just because a belief system is ninety-nine percent garbage doesn't make it worthless. Seeking to spread Catholicism to "intelligent atheists," Juanita is a believer in the ineffable, the indescribable, that which can only be known by taking intuitive shortcuts, rather than the tried-and-true-and-goddamn-boring road of simple reason.

Juanita was involved with Hiro, then Da5id. After her marriage to the latter dissolved, she embarked on a quest to study the upcoming infocalypse. She becomes a key player in the race to avoid the twin threats of the metavirus of Asherah, which represents dictatorship, and nam-shub countervirus of Enki, which represents anarchy. In the end, exposed to Asherah but disabling the control mechanism, she becomes a ba'al shem, a neurolinguistic brainhacker, and, of course, Hiro's girl.

Observation #1:

Juanita confides in Hiro about her pregnancy, but doesn't mention what happened: adoption, miscarriage or abortion. Immediately afterwards, she refers to the Defense Department as "baby-killers." Whether this is done in anger or amusement isn't clear--a little of both, probably--but it suggests that Juanita had an abortion. A cynic might point to this as a reason for her spirituality: she feels guilt, and needs the Catholic Church to serve as her crutch, assuring her of forgiveness. Others might believe the opposite: her decision to terminate her pregnancy helped her realize that life wasn't nearly as black and white as the Vatican taught her.

Observation #2:

Juanita's new-found powers at the conclusion of the novel are given relatively short shrift, but it's fairly obvious that she is quite probably the most powerful person on the planet--perhaps even the Messiah, the savior of humanity. In the birth narratives of the Bible, the Virgin Mary is depicted as untouchably pure. The Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception states that the Blessed Mother was conceived without sin by the grace of God to be the vessel through which God's Son enters the world. "Snow Crash" inverts all of these assumptions: Juanita's stature is earned, not granted by divine providence; she is sexual, not chaste; and most importantly, she rejects subservience instead of meekly submitting. Women may have once been viewed as good for nothing but catching sperm (or the Holy Spirit) and supplying heirs, but Juanita is capable of saving the world herself, thank you very much. Not all women who are obsessed with gaining the fruit of knowledge are being manipulated by a serpent.

Suitable Metaphors For Eden

Martin Buber and his proteges have always maintained that Eden was a kindergarten; And that it is consistent with the origin myth God wanted Adam and Eve to have knowledge of Good and Evil.

Catholic Guilt?

In the end, we speculate. Neal doesn't address it other than show us her character. A perfect human being would have given up the child for adoption. And her wiser grandmother would know that a child should not have babies of her own so young. It is a dilemma many young women face. Juanita had the luxury of choice.