Borne at First
The narrator’s initial encounter with the title character is rich with similes and metaphorical imagery. This description is the work of a mind encountering something new, however. This is, of course, the ideal situation for introducing such figurative language of comparison that helps to make the unfamiliar seem more familiar:
“The closer I approached, the more Borne rose up through Mord’s fur, became more like a hybrid of sea anemone and squid: a sleek vase with rippling colors that strayed from purple toward deep blues and sea greens.”
Borne the Myth
It won’t take long, however, for simple metaphorical comparisons of what Borne looks like to be enough. In fact, Borne evolves from thing to idea pretty rapidly. Fortunately, the simile still comes useful:
“He was telling me that belief in Borne was like a religion.”
Borne in Bed
Now imagine that thing that started out as something utterly unfamiliar is sentient. And even more than that, it is now asking you to describe what it is to itself. This is a point where weird jumps over into the freaky:
“You are a person. But like a person, you can be a weapon, too.”
Umm…Well, Just More Borne
To suggest that there may be an entirely metaphorical dimension to the above delineation of Borne as a person is to dip one’s toes deeply into the philosophy of being and existence. Borne exists as a person might and thus, perhaps, one can say there is a sense of personhood there. But does one have to be human to be a person? Ah, there’s the rub:
“Pieces of Borne had been torn from him by the Mord proxy in its suspicion. These pieces had bounced like rock, settled on the rooftop like rock, but now quivered and flexed like hands opening and closing, reformed as Borne flesh.”
Mord
The reference to Mord in the above quote is in regard to another strange creature populating this weird wild world. Mord is…well, let’s just put it this way: Borne’s portrayal of Mord to which the narrator is describing it not actually entirely off the mark:
“Whoever heard of a floating bear?” I told Borne. “That’d be like finding a plant that was actually a talking octopus.”
