The Garden of Forking Paths

Tsun identifies himself as “a timorous man” (213) with a “feeble voice” (220). An English teacher and Chinese national, Tsun makes an unlikely German spy. He claims he knew his fate from the beginning of his actions, accepting “a future as irrevocable as the past” (214). He uses his mild, nondescript identity to his advantage: “From my weakness I drew strength that never left me” (214). But Tsun relates this first-person narrative after events have transpired; no matter how certainly Tsun articulates his resolve, the author reminds us through layers of narration and interpretation that neither the past nor the future can be irrevocable.

Tsun selects Dr. Stephen Albert as his victim because he shares the name of the city the Germans must attack to slow the British advance. This act demonstrates Tsun’s strategic mind, his linear focus on his immediate goal: surviving long enough to deliver this crucial intelligence. But when Dr. Albert turns out to have not only a connection to Tsun’s ancestor, the statesman and artist Ts’ui Pên, Tsun’s world opens up to uncertain pasts, expansive presents, and infinite futures. As a timorous man, Tsun completes the task to which he has committed: he murders Albert, knowing his German contact will interpret the news story.