In the Garden of Forking Paths, Jorge Luis Borges starts off his short story with Yu Tsun as a fighter with the German Reich during World War II. In this first person narrative, the audience is able to feel the fear and hesitation of Tsun’s mentality as he is trying to escape Captain Richard Madden. Tsun is desperately trying to think of a way to communicate the secret city that was about to be attacked and to prove that “a yellow man could save his armies.” In his escape from Captain Madden, he stumbles into Sinologist Dr. Stephen Albert’s house. In this environment, the two discuss labyrinths and Tsui Pen, the ancient governor who gave up material goods, locked himself away in solitude to compose a book and a maze. He constructed an invisible labyrinth of time and that the garden of forking paths had the idea of assessing all of the alternatives as opposed to choosing just one. With that being said, Tsun is able to lead his men to attack the city of Albert after Tsun murders Dr. Albert and gets caught by Captain Madden.
What I believe Borges is trying to communicate with this piece is to show that there is not only one alternative but several and to embrace them all, at least in the case of Tsun. While there may be one alternative, another “forking path” will arise and other solutions will arise. The story was especially interesting to me because it started out with a frenzied and war-worn soldier who felt helpless and running away from a captain. On the brink of hopelessness, Tsun figures out his solution and aids the Germans to a win because of his operation.
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