The Deconstruction of Opposites

In a novel that is essentially plotless, it is difficult to isolate themes in a conventional sense; however, one of the fundamental principles that forms the novel is the deconstruction of opposites, or, the collapse of binary distinctions that normally structure thought and reality. The narrator establishes this from the outset: “…what should I do, in my situation, how proceed? By aporia pure and simple? Or by affirmations and negations invalidated as uttered, or sooner or later?” (285). An “aporia” may refer to a logical contradiction, or as an adjective it can connote an expression of doubt or perplexity toward a situation. An aporia, then, can refer to an impasse in which otherwise consistent premises may collapse – if any affirmation or negation cannot stand, then it becomes impossible to make any sort of proposition that makes claims to objective truth. The narrator reaches many...