Labyrinths in Garden of Forking Paths :: World Literature Jorge Luis Borges

In Jorge Luis Borges' "Garden of Forking Paths", we find the protagonist as a Chinese English professor Yu Tsun who is a spy for the German army, obviously chased by his enemy, Richard Madden who is an Irishman at the service of the English army. At first glance, Yu Tsun may seem to be a "loyal" member of the German army but he manifests a characteristic throughout the story as being the oppressed member of the army. It seems that Yu Tsun shows a "desperate desire of the oppressed to be accepted by its oppressors." Yu Tsun doesn't care about Germany which imposed upon him the objection of being a spy. He even refers to the chief as a sick and hateful man and that he only needs to prove to him that a "yellow man" could save his armies. It's ironic because it clearly shows that Yu Tsun is oppressed because of his race (Yellow=Chinese) and yet he still serves the one oppressing him and even seeks its approval. He seems to be struggling in a Labyrinth of oppression, forever lost within i ts walls. This is just one of the Labyrinths that Yu Tsun is engaged/ trapped in. The story speaks about a certain Labyrinth, that which is related to Tsui Pen, a book which is composed of different chapters that seem to be diverging from a single path which also creates its own diverging paths. This particular part in the story challenges/ questions the common notion of time as being a linear process and instead raises a possibility of history branching out in an endless number of diverse directions at each spot in time; every space-time node as the midpoint of a system of branching or forking paths, an ever-recurring moment/place of selection with profound effects on and links to everything else. The book represents a Labyrinth of time "where all possible outcomes occur; each one is the point of departure for other forkings which sometimes converge" ( 22). Also, before going inside Albert's house, Yu Tsun got lost in the garden, which seemed like a maze. This is the result of his pondering over his ancestor's Labyrinth; Getting caught in this maze allowed the reader to reflect over a different perspective about real life. This maze represented the numerous paths that a person can travel and all of the outcomes from these paths. Thus, I can infer that the imagination is one of the representations of the Labyrinth.