The City & the City

by

China Miéville

The City & the City Symbols

Breach

Breach symbolizes the fundamentally illogical nature of crime and punishment in the novel, highlighting that there are some laws that don’t exist for any reason other than to exert control over citizens. Breach is the…

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Copula Hall

Copula Hall is a very large, ornate building that symbolizes the arbitrary and irrational nature of borders and the comic yet sinister nature of government bureaucracy. One of the few places in both Besźel and…

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Between the City and the City

Dr. David Bowden’s book Between the City and the City—which argues the existence of a mythical third city, Orciny, between Besźel and Ul Qoma—symbolizes both the power and pitfalls of illicit, dissident knowledge…

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