Conspiracy Theory? Maybe...

I thought the story was a very interesting progression of thought process. To be honest, it reminds me a lot of how someone who is a conspiracy theorist or someone suffering from schizophrenia might think. The beginning is so fact oriented, but it’s when those pieces of facts come together that the mind runs wild for the narrator. Although sifting through all the facts, at times, seems a bit boring and tedious, I definitely see the purpose in it. I think the story isn’t supposed to be entirely engaging from first read, or at least as a progressive read. I think it’s really a comprehensive thought process on paper. You have to read the story, then go back and actually see what all has happened – look at it from the outside in.

One thing I have struggled figuring out, though, is the purpose or meaning behind Tlon. It seems to serve so many potential metaphors in the story. At first I really did think it was a representation of conspiracy theories, but I questioned that toward the end. Certainly my favorite line in the story is “Spellbound by Tlon’s rigor, humanity has forgotten, and continues to forget, that is the rigor of chess masters, not of angels” (81). This line was so powerful by itself, and it really has that conspiracy theory quality to it. You have the manipulators, the chess masters, and the mention of angels, the religious sect that the chess masters are trying to conquer.

I really enjoy the end of the story, as well. It’s the perfect peak to the out of control mind of the narrator. It’s as if the narrator becomes Tlon – embodies it. Then, you have this notion that this world will expand and continue on – that this process will continue to go on through time and continue to spiral until perhaps it is the only reality accepted.