6 Rest, Neo. The Answers Are Coming.


The words "answers" and "questions" are used a lot in the film, particularly in the first half. There is an emphasis on curiosity and the fact that Neo is an inquisitive person, which seems to set him aside from the norm.

Morpheus can sense Neo's need for answers, and admires and sympathizes with him in a way that reaches out to viewers and causes them to consider their own questions.

5 What Is Real?


Neo can't wrap his head around the fact that his perceived reality, up until leaving the matrix, was all digital.

He runs his hands across an old leather chair, insisting that it feels real, leading to a conversation wherein Morpheus calls to question what counts as real if reality merely depends on the brain's perception of taste, smell, and touch.

4 The Mind Makes It Real.


Despite it being a virtual reality, people in the matrix can still die. Neo wakes from his combat training to find that his mouth is bleeding as if his body was actually there during the fight.

Morpheus explains that the mind can die in the matrix, and in this case so can the body. This further asserts the movie's interest in the power of the mind, and how the mind ultimately determines one's reality.

3 After Nine Years, You Know What I Realize? Ignorance Is Bliss.


Cypher's moment of eating dinner with Agent Smith allows the viewer to reflect on the quality of life inside the matrix versus outside. Cypher forsakes humanity for the opportunity to return to the matrix, knowing that the world there is technically not real.

However, as he eats his dinner, he acknowledges how the food tastes real and is much better than the grain meal they eat every day in reality--so what's more worthwhile?

2 It Is Not The Spoon That Bends. It Is Only Yourself.


Neo's visit to the oracle lends in the opportunity to interact with other humans who have been awoken to the fact of the matrix. A child sits bending a spoon with their mind, and Neo joins them, intending to do the same.

The child reminds him of the fact that he isn't actually trying to bend the spoon, but that his mind must acknowledge the quality of his reality, stepping outside of it rather than taking for granted the options he's given being the only ones available.