The City We Became Themes

The City We Became, a science-fiction novel, uses an extradimensional alien invasion of New York City to show how gentrification makes cities depressingly homogenous and destroys the idiosyncratic lifestyles they can offer residents. In the novel, great cities that “develop a unique enough culture” eventually come to life and choose a human avatar from among their residents to embody them. New York City is in the process of being born when extradimensional aliens, bent on…

The City We Became suggests that communities gain strength from diversity—so long as they do not ask, due to prejudice, for community members to give up their diverse individual identities. In the novel, cities with idiosyncratic histories and cultures eventually come to life and select a human avatar to embody them. Sometimes, if a city has distinctive neighborhoods or other sub-areas, those sub-areas will also select “sub-avatars” to embody them during the city’s birthing process…

The City We Became suggests that people’s beliefs and concepts determine how they perceive reality—by making beliefs and concepts literally capable of transforming material reality in its science-fictional universe. Beliefs and concepts, including stereotypes, can be positive, neutral, or destructive, which means that what one believes really matters. In the novel, all life exists in a “multiverse” of parallel dimensions. Choices, beliefs, ideas, stories, and so on can cause new dimensions to split off…

The City We Became implicitly argues that to be great, a city must foster good art. In the science-fictional world of the novel, great cities—that is, cities with sufficiently distinctive histories and cultures—come alive and choose one of their human residents as their avatar. Internally diverse New York City actually chooses six avatars: a primary avatar representing the whole city, and five avatars representing each of its boroughs (the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten…

The City We Became suggests that abuse can make victims stronger—if they direct the anger at the abuse they’ve suffered toward the right people: their abusers. One major character, Bronca, suffered abusive sexual harassment from adult men in her neighborhood when she was 11. One man, rumored to be a former police officer fired for his conduct toward an “underaged witness,” ambushed her while she was wearing steel-toed boots—at which point she kicked his…