Cyberpunk and Frye's Theory of Literature
Stage 4: Low Mimetic
We cannot yet throw out the possibility of the name "hero," because Frye's next category also concerns itself with heroes. The "low mimetic" [modern] hero is a normal man, "superior neither to other men nor to his environment" (Frye 34). Within tragedy, Frye uses the term "pathos," describing a type of story which tends to appeal to our sympathies because of our closeness with the character's own humanity. These characters, Frye says, are usually excluded from a "social group to which [they] are trying to belong" (39), and from this comes pity on the part of the reader. These are what critics tend to call the "modern hero," heroes for whom the battleground is not a medieval war, nor a duel between princes, but rather a battle for status in modern society.
While it is true that cyberpunk heroes are excluded from society, being criminals and punks by nature, I do not feel that we sense any sort of pity for them. In Virtual Light, Berry Rydell is fired from his job as a police officer, and is thus rejected by society. He goes about his life for a few chapters of the novel, doing what any unemployed modern hero might do - looking for jobs. When he finds a job, however, it is as an assistant to a bounty hunter named Lucius Warbaby (an ominous name), someone working outside the law.
Rather than pity his loss of job, the reader finds that Rydell discovers success at the end of the novel. Because of his criminal activities, he is offered a job working as an actor on a popular television show, along with a chance for money, success, and prestige:
"Berry," Pursley said, "you're in trouble, son. A cop. And an honest one. In trouble. In deep, spectacular, and please, I have to say this, clearly heroic shit." He clapped Rydell on the shoulder. "Cops in Trouble is here for you, boy, and let me assure you, we are all of us going to make out just fine on this." (345)Rydell's activities through the novel, including murder and theft, manage to land his enemies in jail. These activities are what Pursley, an employee of the tv show, calls "heroic shit." Obviously, there is not a great deal of regard given to Rydell's activities; they are only a means by which to make money. Even for a modern hero, Rydell's criminal actions are hardly to be considered heroic.
An even more substantial reason for discarding the term "low mimetic hero" as applied to cyberpunk is the power of the characters. As stated earlier, cyberpunk characters tend to be greater than normal men in kind (by augmentation of their bodies) and in degree (based on their abilities, not rank). According to Frye, a low mimetic hero is simply a normal man, "John or Jane Doe." Simply by comparing the power differential between a normal human and a cyberpunk, with augmented strength and agility, we can tell that cyberpunks simply do not fit in this category.