The blog for SUNY Binghamton's Spring'09 COLI 214B 02 Literature and Society Class. Chapter summaries, analyses and discussion of prescribed texts written by students.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Michael Lampasona

I did not quite understand this story at first. I could not understand why the narrator is running from Captain Richard Madden. As the story develops, it appears that the main character is on Germany's side in the war, and Captain Richard Madden is trying to kill him for his war affiliation. Eventually he reaches the home of Dr. Stephen Albert. Along the way, he explains the work of his ancestor Ts'ui Pen, who was creating a garden of forking paths. This is an area with infinite possibilities and outcomes. At the end of the story, the narrator kills Dr. Stephen Albert to reveal that the name of the city he was spying on was Albert.

I found this story to be interesting. At first, I was a little confused by the plot, but I like the idea of infinite possibilities. It reminds me of time travel paradoxes, and the movie The Butterfly Effect. I enjoyed this story because it got my mind working about the infinity of everything in life.

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