The City & the City: Coda: Chapter 29 Summary & Analysis

Borlú never sees the weapon Bowden was carrying again, nor learns if it indeed has any special powers. Following Riot Night, a new wave of state repression sweeps over Ul Qoma. In Besźel, the night is rarely discussed. During it, 22 people died in Ul Qoma and 13 in Besźel, in addition to the refugees who died in the crash. Borlú asks Ashil if anyone from Breach has ever “broken ranks,” and Ashil says they have, but doing that automatically means breaching, and thus falling back under Breach’s control. Borlú’s cell in the Breach quarters is no longer locked, and he spends the days walking around the cities with Ashil.

Borlú asks about Bowden’s fate, but Ashil only gives a vague answer. Borlú points out that despite all the violations Bowden did commit, he didn’t actually breach. Ashil shrugs this off, saying, “If we say he breached, he breached.” Sear and Core remain in Besźel, and have made gestures of accountability. Borlú asks Ashil when he will be allowed to go home, and Ashil smiles, telling Borlú he has done “an excellent job.” Ashil reflects on how the ordinary citizens of Besźel and Ul Qoma enforce Breach themselves by dutifully seeing and unseeing only what they are supposed to. He then explains that no one is born in Breach; every avatar of Breach became one by once breaching themselves.

Borlú realizes it is difficult to imagine himself returning to Besźel and only being able to see that city after having experienced walking between both cities in Breach. He wants to be able to say goodbye to people from the outside world, but Ashil says it’s not possible. Ashil explains that Breach were happy when Borlú breached, because they wanted to make use of his skills as a detective. As a compromise, Ashil allows Borlú to write letters to his lovers. He goes to see both Corwi and Dhatt, but both can tell that he is not entirely in their city and thus greet him wordlessly. Borlú mouths “thanks” and “good-bye” to Corwi even though he knows she can’t see. He says he is no longer Inspector Tyador Borlú but Tye, his Breach avatar name. Now, he lives in-between, “in both the city and the city.”