Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

"The Secret Goldfish": The Catcher in the Rye The story that Miki tells the Tachikoma is mentioned on the very first page of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The protagonist of the novel, Holden Caufield, tells the reader about his older brother D.B., who is a rich "prostitute" writer in California. While out in California, D.B. had written, "this terrific book of short stories, The Secret Goldfish." One of the short stories is entitled "The Secret Goldfish" which, "was about this little kid that wouldn't let anybody look at his goldfish because he'd bought it with his own money."

Tachikoma's screen: Hamlet The words that flash on the Tachikoma's screen as it takes Miki home are a reference to William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet: "To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?" In Hamlet's soliloquy from Act III, scene i (lines 58–90), he questions committing suicide. "To be or not to be", rather, "To live or not to live." In the beginning of the soliloquy, Hamlet asks what would happen if he chose to live, which would means to suffer through life, just as everyone does. Here, the Tachikoma is pondering what it means to actually have a ghost and be alive.