Term Paper - City of Glass

I must say that out of the seven books we read in class, one of my favorites was Paul Auster’s City of Glass. This text was very interesting to me because it moved from the normal structure of fictional stories. That is, throughout the text, Auster dabbles with reality and fiction. As a reader, I had an uneasy time trying to figure what exactly the Author Paul Auster was trying to get across to me. However, this is precisely what kept me interested in the story.
Auster’s Story “City of Glass” is a very appealing one. It is very different from any story I have ever read. This is because it contains quite a number of twists and turns that are totally unexpected. The novel starts off with a mysterious phone call. That alone I found intriguing me and I wanted to know what was to come. As I read the story, I was introduced to multiple characters, including Peter Stillman, Quinn, Wilson, Stillman Sr., Max Work, Auster, etc., some of whom were one person playing different roles. This clearly represents Metafiction, indicating that nothing is really what it seems.
In addition to that, Quinn, the main character of the story, has a very strong inclination to fit the role of a detective when he embodies the various characters. He starts off by pretending to be a detective, “And who do you want to speak to? Always the same man. Auster. The one who calls himself Paul Auster.’ ‘…Speaking he said. This is Auster Speaking.’”(Auster 10 – 11). As time goes on, Quinn eventually becomes Auster, the detective and starts to live his life as the detective. He then tries to solve the mystery of Stillman Sr. and why he is in town.
Another interesting part of the story is that Paul Auster, who is the author of the book, writes about a Paul Auster in the book who is a detective. It becomes extremely fascinating when the main character of the story, Quinn, in addition to the many roles he plays, also pretends to be Auster, the detective. This also shows metafiction, that is, a detective story about a detective story.
When engaging in his investigative duties, Quinn acts in the manner in which he thinks his detective, Max Work in his novels would behave in certain situations and acts accordingly. For instance when he was at the Stillman house, “he thought about what Max Work might have been thinking had he been there. He decided to light a cigarette” (Auster 14). He transitions easily into the role of a detective. He knows exactly what to ask, how to behave and basically how to present himself.
As the story progressed, Quinn goes out to seek Stillman Sr., however, when he gets to the train station (Grand Central), he encounters a bit of an issue and this is where the plot gets interesting. There are two guys who look exactly alike and resemble Stillman Sr. This bring a bit of confusion to Quinn. “What happened then defied explanation. Directly behind Stillman, heaving into view just inches behind his right shoulder, another man stopped … His face was the exact twin of Stillman’s.” (Auster 55). This brings about the issue of chance and how everything in life happens unexpectedly.
After Quinn loses track of Stillman, Sr., he pretends as though he knows what to do to find him in order to calm Mrs. Stillman’s nerves. Even though he has no clue as to how to find him, playing detective Auster gives him this confidence and assurance that something can be done or so Mrs. Stillman believes.
The story makes you wonder how in life things happen unexpectedly and also the fact that events are hard to predict. A positive facet of the story is how Paul Auster, the author of the book, manages to intrigue the reader and keeps him/her reading till the end.
The New York Trilogy – City of Glass became more and more fascinating as the end drew close. This is because the plot continues to twist and turn which is unlike any classic fictional book. It became difficult to try to make heads or tail about the story.
This story is the epitome of what Postmodernism writing is. This is because, readers are trained to find structure in writing, thus, becomes very challenging to follow the story. Postmodernism writing is basically a deconstruction accepted ideas. That is, straying away from the stereotypical structure of writing. In the story, Auster leaves the reader clueless. He does not explain what happens to some of the characters in the end. For instance, it is very hard to explain what happened to Quinn because it said “Little by little, Quinn was coming to an end. At a certain point, he realized the more he wrote, the sooner time would come when he could no longer write any thing”. (Auster 128).
Also, as mentioned earlier, there is the intriguing facet of how chance plays into everything in the story. I definitely wondered whether Quinn followed the right Stillman Sr. at the train station. What if he followed the other Stillman, then what? It is something that Auster never address and readers try to rationalize that whole incident.
In the end we realize that everything is left to chance and we should not try to rationalize everything because we never know what might happen in the next moment. Everything is indeed left to chance. It is very evident that the story is very untraditional, not what a typical story structure is and therefore, not what most people would go for considering the multitude number of twists and turns and not actually knowing what happens in the end. However, in my view, I believe this is the best form of writing since the author gives the reader creative freedom as how to perceive the story and its characters. You are not forced to like a character just because the author does. They way you may interpret it might be different from another and that’s what make it intriguing.

Although, there was not a specific literary theorist used to elaborate Paul Auster’s City of Glass, I believe John Barth’s short story Lost in the Funhouse can be used to interpret Auster’s City of Glass.
Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse is a classic example of Metafiction because all throughout the story, he goes in and out of reality. That is, he causes the reader to walk with him in the journey of writing the story. Paul Auster does a similar thing with all the different roles that Quinn plays. Sometimes it becomes difficult for the reader to stay straight as to who is playing what. In addition to that, Quinn conditions himself such that in his mind he is Auster and tries to rid himself of all things Quinn.
Barth also constantly engages the reader by making a conscious effort to remind the reader what is real and what is an imaginary tale. For instance, in the story, he continues to explain how stories were written in the nineteenth century in order to emphasize the falsehood of reality, “Nowadays (that is, in 19___, the year of our story) the journey is made by automobile – more comfortably …” (Barth 73). However, he does this while telling the story of Lost in the Funhouse. This takes the reader out of the story which perhaps can become very confusing in trying to decipher what is real and what is an illusion. In City of Glass, the narrator also become a character in the story, that is, the narrator voices his opinions sometimes which becomes a little confusing in regards to the multitude of characters mentioned in the book; including the fact that the author’s name is also Paul Auster.
In addition to that, Barth also suggests multiple endings of the story, identifies with the main character Ambrose and his struggle to find out who he truly is and also draw the reader in by giving him/her the chance to explore whether what was read was an illusion or reality. In City of Glass, Auster (the author) does a clever job of not really explaining what happened to Stillman Sr. or Quinn. This enables the reader to come up with multiple possibilities of an end to the characters and the story as a whole. This is very fascinating. A poem which lends itself similar to Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse and Auster’s City of Glass is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. In the poem, Frost talks about the fact that having two different ways of doing things is always better and also the fact that we all do not have the same path. He says, “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” (Frost 19 – 20). For Lost in the Funhouse due to the multiple endings it provides readers, it shows how not have one structured end is good. This is because, it allows the reader to adapt to the text in his or her own way. Similar to that is Auster’s City of Glass; literally speaking you could use the fact that Quinn chose to follow one Stillman Sr. and not the other and compare it to the two roads that Frost talks about in his poem. What would have happened if Quinn followed the other Stillman Sr.? I definitely wondered whether Quinn followed the right Stillman Sr. at the train station. Was that the right choice to make? Well we cannot make judgments of the unknown, but what we do know is that it definitely shaped the course of the story. Figuratively speaking, however, the poem lends itself to chance. We cannot determine what the next step in the story will be since it is full of twists and turns. However, we can make an assumption that it is all left to chance. The unexpected can and does happen. When Quinn decided to follow that Stillman Sr., we did not imagine that he would lose track of him and the mere purpose of his existence would become fruitless. However, it was a choice he made and it was left to chance. Frost does an excellent job of distinguishing between to ideals and the fact that it is ok to go the untraditional route. Paul Auster certainly wrote a detective story however, its structure is clearly different from the norm and the fact that there are not clear cut conclusions gives it a different take on what is out there. Similarly, we battle issues today that are based on reality and fiction. For instance with this year’s presidential candidates, one of them particularly stood out because out of nowhere he became the most popular guy on the ballot. Namely, President-elect Barack Obama. However, the question still remains do we as a society truly know who President-elect Barack Obama really is? Or we know who he is through the media. Senator John McCain allegedly claimed that Barack Obama was a celebrity and that he was only interested in fame. He compared Obama to the likes of Paris Hilton, etc. “Camp McCain likes Barack Obama’s global celebrity so much that they have launched a new ad juxtaposing footage of Obama’s massive Berlin rally last week with images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. The ad calls him “the biggest celebrity in the world… but is he ready to lead?” (Karl). Well from what we have been exposed to we can we blame the media for this phenomenon? Is what we see really who he is; reality or fiction? Obama, like any other person, has different roles he plays. He plays the role of a senator, a dad, a friend, a husband and an incredible orator. So do these different roles make him fake or does it mean that he is not who he says he is? Unlike Paul Auster’s numerous characters who claim to be people they are not (Quinn as Auster), Obama simply plays himself. The media does have a knack for sensationalizing politicians in the spot light so if that makes who we see in the media a fictional version of the real Obama, then how we can say we know who anyone truly is. We all have roles that we play in our daily lives but that does not mean that we are different individuals when we transition into these roles. It simply means that we adapt to our surroundings. Just like in Paul Auster’s City of Glass, everything in life is based on chance. Everything is unexpected and life is not a structured entity. Everyone has different paths and the leads to different discoveries and as Robert Frost said taking the road less travelled made all the difference.
All in all, I am convinced that not having structure in text lends itself to creativity. The reader or listener can engage in the creative process with the author. This is what Paul Auster did with the untraditional structure of his story. It is through concepts like metafiction that brings about enlightenment. With enlighten bring creativity and variety and who knows, years from now different genres would have evolved. I truly enjoyed Paul Auster’s City of Glass and would recommend it to readers who want to be taken on a journey unlike they have ever experienced before. Life is full of chance why not take a chance on City of Glass.
Work Cited:
Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy - City of Glass. Sun & Moon Press, 1985.
Barth, John. Lost in the Funhouse. 1968
Frost, Robert. The Road Not Taken. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15717. Visited 12/03/08Karl. http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=13066. Visited 12/04/08

Secretary by Gaitskill - 11/14/08

I must say that when I first began to read Secretary by Mary Gaitskill, I did not know what to expect. It seemed like a typical story in which a family that is made of four characters, father (who is sort of a bum), mother (nagging wife and parent) and two children, (one (Donna) somewhat successful and the other (Debby) very lazy and who always has to live life being compared to her sister). However, I was pleasantly surprised because I did not see the twist coming in the text.

Mary Gaitskill manages to mix High culture and Pop culture. She accomplishes this by taking a revered place such as a law office and mixes it promiscuity at the workplace. Debby’s relationship with her boss is one that cannot be easily characterized because it is difficult to tell what both parties are feeling.

All in all, one would say that Gaitskill’s style of text is Transgressive Literary. This is due to the fact that she writes about topics such as Sado Masochism in the work place, which she does in the raw form and with such ease. I look forward to developing her sense of writing by reading other books by her such as Veronica.

Neuromancer & Individuality - 11/06/08

Neuromancer is one text that really explores the impact that technology has had and is having on the human race.  It is very interesting to see how we as human beings are being cloned and are gradually becoming zombies with technology improving on a day to day basis. One would think that with this much enlightenment we would be advanced and be open to try new things or at least seek individuality, however, that is sadly not the case.

We are now being controlled by the very things that we thought would set free. In the text of Neuromancer, we find that Case, the main character, has his nervous system damaged with Russian Mycotoxin to damage his nervous system and this makes him unable to jack into Cyberspace. The same can be said for mainstream media, once they go off script, they are blacklisted.

We as consumers of such media do not pay attention to what controlled and little information we are exposed to. We are told what “they” want us to hear and we do not have a clear alternative to defy them. I was exposed to music by a band Sonic Youth, and I found myself surprised at how much different it was to any kind of music that I had heard on the radio. They sounded and looked different, and the type of music they played was mostly instrumentals and had very few lyrics. In addition to that, the duration of their songs were approximately 7 minutes which is definitely longer than the average song that is played mainstream media.

One interesting discovery I made was that if they are different, interesting and exciting ideas out there, why are we being forced to fit into one mould? A question, I believe that should be answered by each of us.

 

William Gibson's Neuromancer - 10/30/08

William Gibson’s Neuromancer is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It is very different what from the books I have been exposed to and its genre is also pretty new to me. Neuromancer is a classic example of science fiction and an introduction to cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre that deals a lot with technology and low life. That is, usually the heroes that are depicted in these stories are not the regular kind that is depicted in stories. They are usually criminals, offenders of some sort, etc. In Neuromancer, Gibson does a good job of depicting this genre.

Case, one of the main characters in the book, uses his intelligence to steal from his bosses. He does all this through technology. He also seems to be tormented by the fact that his life is in danger; Wage, the guy that he stole from is looking to take his life.

The characters in this book have similarities with the characters in the movie “The Matrix”. They both wear dark clothes that are tight fitting and in addition to that, the settings of both stories are quite grim. All in all, Neuromancer is shaping up to be an interesting read.

 

Kindred Part 2 - 10/23/2008

As one continues to read Kindred, he or she becomes enlightened to the fact that when the reason why Dana gets transported back to the twentieth century is because her own death may be imminent. This is very similar to why she gets transported to 1815, to save Rufus, her ancestor from dying an untimely death.

Another interesting aspect of the story is the fact that she has to take up a role of a slave even though in present time she is treated equally. One would think that with the knowledge and education she has acquired in the twentieth century, it would help her survive when she called back in time.

However, she is pretty much helpless.  So the question is, even though women have been enlightened, has this changed the mentality that we are equal to men or do we face a different kind of battle than our predecessors? An interesting aspect to the story is that is helps us to think and examine how far we as a people have come and how knowledge brings power.

 

Octavia Butler's Kindred - 10/17/08

Octavia Butler’s Kindred is a classic example of science fiction and/or fantasy text. It contains quite a number of attributes that pertains to this category. The story includes a hero figure (Dana), time travel (between the eighteenth century and the nineteenth century), spiritual connections between characters (Dana and Rufus) and several other attributes.

Another group that Kindred fits in is the Slave Narrative. This is because throughout the text, the reader is exposed to several themes that are prevalent in slave narratives. These in include Christianity, using ignorance as a tool to prevent slaves from advancing, sexual exploitation of women and several others.

In the text, Master Tom Weylin did not want the slaves to learn how to read or write. This is because he feared that if the slaves became literate they would seek a better life for themselves and this would collapse the whole master-slave relationship. He therefore encouraged ignorance to prevent the slaves from advancing. In addition to that, Margaret had a problem with Dana sleeping in Kevin’s room because she considered her house a Christian one. She did not want to condone such behavior.

As the reader gets engrossed in the text, he/she realizes that Kindred fits into the Feminism theory. Dana is portrayed as hero. She always manages to save Rufus from being killed. She is also not the typical “slave” because she is educated and can stand on her own. This is a classic example of multiculturalism in Feminism.

Challenging Gender Roles - 10/10/08

It is very interesting how each and every one of us seem to fit in a particular role depending on what our gender is. However, when we are exposed to situations and individuals that do not fit into the roles we are used to, a sense of discomfort falls on us.

 A commonality when growing is that girls need to play with dolls and boys with trucks. But there is a bit of discrimination there. This is due to the fact that it is acceptable for girls to play with trucks or wear male clothes; however, the same cannot be said for guys.  If boys play with dolls or wear female clothes it is considered unacceptable in society.

Brokeback Mountain is a film that came along to challenge these notions. Most films do not glorify homosexual relations on the silver screen, but Brokeback Mountain did so. It showed the relationship between Ennis and Jack and how they had to keep their relationship a secret because it would be dangerous to expose it.

Judith Butler encourages such materials to be brought mainstream and Brokeback Mountain does just that. This is because she advocates Queer Theory and seeks to have individuals and society question gender roles. It becomes difficult for individuals to show their identity since it is tied to our passions (sexuality). However, if we move from the way of thinking, we would realize that everybody is different.

Midterm Blog Paper - 10/09/08

Prior to taking this Contemporary Literature class, I had no clue as to what exactly will be taught or what would be expected of me. However, after attending the first few classes, I realized that this class was totally different from any English class I had ever taken. The material is not what you would find in a classic English class, however, it requires critical thinking and helps one go beyond basic analysis.

First and foremost, my reading development, I would say, has come a long a way. I believe that before taking this class, I fell in the Text-Self stage. In high school, one of the numerous literature books I was exposed to was “Animal Farm”. It was a very interesting story, however, most of the assignments that were given on it were that of us finding symbols and also giving our views about the story and the characters. I believe that my analysis of the story was very “I” based since I had to relate it to an experience I had had and find commonalities between them. In other words, to indicate, whether, I liked the story or not.

I though that college would be different since it was a new and higher stage and plus, it was in a different country. However, I was somewhat wrong about that assumption. I remember one of my first major analysis papers I wrote for my Written Communications I class as a freshman, was on rhetorical analysis of the Cardinal Stritch Chapel. The paper was based on my analysis of the chapel and how its existence affected society per se. That is, whether it raised arguments or not and how it flowed in society. I strongly believe that the paper was very subjective because it dealt with my opinions of the place and whether I liked it or not.

The same can be said for the first film analysis I did which was on “Hostage”. My analysis was a bit skewed since I had to convince individuals on why it would be a good movie to watch. I did this by citing specific examples to support my claim in hopes of drawing views in. Even though, I was not asked to find symbols, I still had to analyze texts subjectively.

My next phase in English courses was Written Communications II. In that class, I read a bunch of short stories and analyze them. The difference between this class and the ones that I had had previously was that in this class, I was expected to use other texts that were similar to write creative analysis and also to find out how the texts were structured. It was not the cookie cut analysis that I was exposed to during high school and my freshman year in college. It allowed me to relate different stories to each other in order to understand the lifestyle of a particular time period. This, I believe, was an introduction to the text-other text stage in my reading development.

Currently, I consider myself to be in the Text-Other Textstage. This is because with my exposure to blogging and having to analyze texts that I have read using key terms such as Metafiction, Intertextuality, Pop culture & High culture and Emplotment, have broadened my scope of text analysis.

For instance in Art Spiegelman’s Maus I was exposed to Emplotment. This is because throughout the story he takes you on an emotional journey. That is, tragedy (e.g. Tosha killing herself and the three children, Bibi, Richiev, and Liona, in order to prevent them from going to the gas chamber.), comic (e.g. at the end of the story he calls his dad a murderer because he burnt the diaries – totally unexpected after an intense look at the Holocaust), irony (e.g. when he had the honor of burying the “mole” that turned his family over to Gestapo after he had been left for dead) and romantic (e.g. Vladek’s love for his first wife Anja). Hayden White wrote about Emplotment and how that is prevalent in History and Literature. That is to say that both History and Literature fall into those four categories. I was able to find those structures in Maus and to analyze the text accordingly.

Another example of my text-other text stage is my analysis of Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy – A City of Glass. The story deals with Metafiction and how everything in life is left to chance. It also explores the notion of us playing different roles in our lives. The way in which the story is written is different from most, in that it does not have a fixed structure. This causes a bit of a disturbance between when we read we attempt to find structure and since this is different from the norm, it becomes uncomfortable to read. We tend to rationalize everything; however, in this book it is difficult to do so because everything is left to chance.

As I continue in my reading development, I hope to reach the Text-World stage. I believe that I have been exposed to it a little bit with the film Brokeback Mountain. This is because the film addresses social issues such as gender roles and what is expected of each person. Judith Butler who writes about Queer Theory exposes us to a different mode of thinking for which the film Brokeback Mountain is a classic example of. I believe that as I continue to read and watch similar films I would be able to move from the Text-Other text stage to the Text-World Stage.

All in all, I am convince that the whole process of blogging and having my writing public for all to critique has helped me in my reading development and analysis of texts. As continue with this venture, I hope to improve in both areas and who knows, I might become an avid blogger even when the class is over.

 

Art Spiegelman's Maus - 10/02/2008

Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a very interesting book. Prior to reading it, I figured that it would be another boring history book. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it up and realized that it was a comic book. That in itself sparked my interest and encouraged me to dive in.

History, according to Hayden White, is based on the form of Emplotment. He says that “It is a process through which facts contained in ‘chronicles’ are encoded as components of plots”. There are four categories which make up Emplotment, they are: tragic, comic, romantic, and ironic. Remarkably enough Maus falls into all four categories.

For instance, Tosha killed herself and the three children, Bibi, Richiev,and Liona, in order to prevent them from going to the gas chamber. She would rather take control of her destiny than to let the Germans dictate it. This is a classic example of tragedy. In addition to that, there were several examples in the book that exhibited irony. One instance of that is when Vladek had the last laugh because the “mole” that turned his family over to Gestapo was left for dead and he had the honor of burying him.

All in all, I must admit that this book was very fascinating since it used an unusual method to depict a serious event such as the Holocaust. I truly enjoyed reading and I made a mental note to myself, never judge a book by its cover.

"The Yellow Chair" Screenplay - 09/26/2008

Having to adapt Jonathan Lethem’s “You Don’t Love Me Yet” into a screenplay was quite challenging. This is because it was the first experience I had had writing screenplays. Another interesting aspect of it was the portion of the text my group and I decided to work with.

We chose the “Yellow Chair” scene. This is when the chair was first introduced. The complainer had just called in and was recounting his affair to Lucinda. The entire conversation took place over the phone and this made it difficult to adapt because with screenplays, you have to keep it exciting and intriguing. However, the dialogue helped out a bit since the content of it was of sensual nature and most people find that interesting.

All in all, I believe that even though it is very unlikely that our screenplay would be turned into a feature film, it turned out great. For a first timer, I think we did good.

Jonathan Lethem's "You Don't Love me Yet" - 09/18/08

Jonathan Lethem’s “You don’t love me yet” is one interesting book. When you see the title you might think this it is a romance novel. However, that is a little misleading. Even though, Lethem describes the dynamics between the “Complainer” and Lucinda’s relationship, the main focus of the story is the band.

It is very fascinating that this band has been together for an extremely long time still does not have a name. The intriguing thing about it is that they seem to have given up on finding one. Though it is not often talked about, one can tell it is at the back of their mind.

Another interesting concept is that of intertextuality. Throughout the story, Lethem continues to make references to other texts to explain the meaning of his text. However, he gets into the issue of plagiarism vs. intertextuality when Lucinda uses the Complainer’s words to form lyrics for songs that the band made.

 

Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy - Pt 2 09/12/08

The New York Trilogy – City of Glass becomes more and more fascinating as one draws near the end of it. This is because the plot continues to twist and turn which is unlike any classic fictional book. It becomes difficult to try to make heads or tail about the story.

Due to the fact that readers are trained to find structure in writing, it becomes very challenging to follow the story. This is because, Auster leaves the reader clueless. He does not explain what happens to some of the characters in the end. For instance, it is very hard to explain what happened to Quinn because it said “Little by little, Quinn was coming to an end. At a certain point, he realized the more he wrote, the sooner time would come when he could no longer write any thing”. (Auster 128).

Another interesting aspect of the story is how chance plays into everything. One definitely wonders whether Quinn followed the right Stillman Sr. at the train station. What if he followed the other Stillman, then what? It is something that Auster never address and readers try to rationalize that whole incident.

In the end we realize that everything is left to chance and we should not try to rationalize everything because we never know what might happen in the next moment. Everything is indeed left to chance.

Paul Auster's "The New York Trilogy" 09/05/08

Auster’s Story “City of Glass” is a very interesting one. It is unlike any story I have ever read because it contains quite a number of twists and turns that are totally unexpected. Auster dabbles with what reality and fiction throughout the story.

As one reads the story, he/she is introduced to multiple characters, some of whom are one person playing different roles. This clearly represents Metafiction. A very interesting aspect of the story is that Paul Auster, who is the author of the book, writes about a Paul Auster in the book who is a detective. What makes it fascinating is the fact that the main character of the story, in addition to the many roles he plays, also pretends to be Auster, the detective.

Another amazing aspect of the story is how as one reads, he/she is left wanting more. This is because, the story makes you wonder how in life things happen unexpectedly and also the fact that events are hard to predict. A positive facet of the story is how Paul Auster, the author of the book, manages to intrigue the reader and keeps him/her reading till the end.

Lost in The Funhouse 08/29/08

Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse is a classic example of Metafiction because all throughout the story, he goes in and out of reality. That is, he causes the reader to walk with him in the journey of writing the story.

The author constantly engages the reader by making a conscious effort to remind the reader what is real and what is an imaginary tale. For instance, in the story, Barth keeps explaining how stories were written in the nineteenth century in order to emphasize the falsehood of reality. However, he does this while telling the story of Lost in the Funhouse. This takes the reader out of the story which perhaps can become very confusing in trying to decipher what is real and what is an illusion.

In addition to that, Barth also suggests multiple endings of the story, identifies with the main character Ambrose and his struggle to find out who he truly is and also draw the reader in by giving him/her the chance to explore whether what was read was an illusion or reality.