Although
“The Garden of Forking Paths” undoubtedly spends time elaborating on the
“labyrinth” of all the possibilities of the universe, and this aspect of the
story is what Chatman focuses on in the beginning of the chapter as he relates
it to postmodernism, I believe that, albeit its interesting nature, this is not
the most pertinent idea that Borges wants the reader to focus on. Instead, I believe that “the point” of the
story has more to do with the irony of Yu Tsun’s justification of preserving
his heritage by killing Dr. Stephen Albert, a man who literally and
metaphorically preserved Yu Tsun’s heritage.
Throughout
the entire story it is obvious that Yu Tsun is aggravated by his current
circumstance; he hates working as a spy for the German army, and even refers to
his boss, The Chief, as a “sick and hateful man,” yet he feel he must perform
his duties to the best of his ability “to prove to [The Chief] that a yellow
man could save his armies.” This wish extends beyond the opinion of just the
chief about Yu Tsun; it symbolizes Yu Tsun’s wish to make all Germans, perhaps
all Europeans, respect people of Asian heritage. He is so desperate to prove
himself and in turn the rest of his race that he kills an innocent man, reveals
his cover, and sacrifices his own life by doing so.
The man Yu
Tsun kills happens to be Dr. Stephen Albert, a British man and an accomplished
and passionate Sinologist who seemed to have dedicated the majority of his life
to deciphering the story that Yu Tsun’s ancestor, Ts’ui Pên, left behind after
his death. Borges dedicates a great deal
of the conversation between Albert and Tsun to just how much time Albert has
devoted to restoring The Garden of
Forking Paths, as he mentioned he went over “hundreds of manuscripts” and
even “translated the whole work.” Albert’s explanation of the meaning of the
book is complex, intricate, and seemingly entirely accurate, a huge
accomplishment since the point of the novel was mentioned to have been a
mystery for centuries, even to Yu Tsun’s family. Even after hearing all of
this, however, Yu Tsun still chooses to pull the trigger and kill Albert. Although he insists that it was an act solely
committed to preserve his heritage, it is obvious that Yu Tsun murdered the
exact kind of preservation of heritage and respect from other races that he was
seeking, but is unable to realize it in the blind stubborn desperation of his
mission. Perhaps through this tragic irony Borges is trying to illustrate how
sometimes a difficult goal (in this story, the preservation of Yu Tsun’s
heritage) does not necessarily have to be achieved in a difficult manner, with
challenges and obstacles and adversity and in this case, death. Maybe in an
alternate time in the universe, Yu Tsun chose to let Albert live and continue to
promote and respect this Asian heritage.
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