urther back in history, when the old Chinese sage Chang-tzu said: "Once I dreamed I was a butterfly, and now I no longer know whether I am Chang-tzu, who dreamed I was a butterfly, or whether I am a butterfly dreaming that I am Chang-tzu."(Gaarder p.229) I have often had dreams that I was unsure were that and only that. It is often a very difficult task to sort out reality from dreams.Of course one of the obvious themes of the story is that of death. Peyton's dream of escpe is just a denial and prolonging of certain death. Peyton experiences several distortions in his fabricated world of reality. Peytons's mind races so fast that even the ticking of his watch becomes "a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil." It clangs slower and slower until the delays become "maddening." His watch certainly did not slow; his mind became so agitated and nervous that the ticking seemed elongated. With the time in his world being so distorted, it is no wonder that in the time it took for his body to fall several feet, his mind escaped and fled home. Also towards the end of the story, everyday things start to seem, as if they have significance, hidden meanings to Peyton. Above him, strange constellations of stars, he is sure, "are arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance." To each side of him, in the forest, "he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue." Aside from the hidden meanings, his surroundings are very simple in structure. He comes to a road that he " knew to be in the right direction." However, it is unlike any other road, because "it is as wide and straight as a city street,... terminating on the horizon at a point... , yet it seemed untraveled." The surroundings also seem to have elements of comfort. The grass has carpeted the road so that it is very soft, so soft that "he could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet!" All these thin...
