How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the Pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. (1.17)
Case's inability to be console cowboy seems to change how he views himself. He thought of himself as unstoppable as a console cowboy until they, you know, stopped him. Now, he's a hustler, and he holds no value in what he is anymore.
Quote #2
What did [Case] know about [Molly]? That she was another professional; that she said her being, like his, was the thing she did to make a living. (4.14)
These two subscribe to the you-are-what-you-do rule of life. Case and Molly find their initial connection in the fact that their identities are entirely wrapped up in what they do for a living. Molly is a razorgirl, Case a console cowboy.
Quote #3
[The Modern's] face was a simple graft grown on collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides, smooth and hideous. It was one of the nastiest pieces of elective surgery [Case] had ever seen. (4.40)
This Modern has undergone surgery to promote his identity as a Panther Modern. In a way, it's the extreme, and probably more painful, version of buying clothes from certain stores to advertise who it is you think you are. Or maybe who you'd like to be.