How does the absence of the first two pages affect our understanding and appreciation of the rest of the story? It enforces the idea that Borges is not making the story up, that it actually happened and that the document is really important since someone tried to steal two pages of it. This part also gives the idea that the story will be about who took those pages and that this event is very important for the story.
An explicit reference is made to the Thousand and One Nights, a recursively narrated work of literature. In what ways is Borges's story "The Garden of Forking Paths" recursive? What other recurring patterns are evident. (Clue: the idea of a labyrinth) The text starts with one story and then diverge into different pats, at some points it makes you realize that everything that happens is uncontrollable (faith) it gives you a feeling that there are different options of how the story would turn out. Of course, the idea of divergency or the labyrinth is illustrated in the text, but also kind of a mirror image where the text that the grandfather of the narrator writes is actually the Borge's story.
What exactly is the solution that Stephen Albert has discovered to the mystery concerning the project of the narrator's ancestor? That the labyrinth was actually within the story he wrote ; and not an actual labyrinth like everyone thought, and that readers had to find the way in the redaction.
What precisely is the analogy that connects a labyrinth in space with a labyrinth in time? What kind of questions does Borges raise in the story about the nature of Time. When the protagonist gets out of the train and wonders how different things would be if he just had gone the other way. Borges with this event reflects on how the time line can diverge from one small decision and that one is where she/he is because of faith and the power that one has over time is fake.
How does the story relate to hypertext? (find a definition of "hypertext") That life by adding a piece of information (action, feeling, thoughts, etc) leads you to certain events or destiny resultant from the series of decisions that one takes, just like the software that takes the links searched and gives you a window of options related to the same topic.
List all the "authors" in the story, their relationship to each other, and how each contributes to the narrative. Describe how Borges blurs the traditional distinction between author, narrator, and characters. Liddell Hart, Ts'ui Pên y Stephen Albert, the first one relates to the two others because he helps to open Borge's story and reach the point where the narrator searches Stephen (the second author) and realizes that he built a labyrinth like his grandfather created (which is the third author) and with this encounter the whole reflection on time and space started and the developing of the main topic of the narrative started. Borges places several authors in the story that are also important pieces for the developing of the story hence they become characters and even the narrator of the story itself.
What other questions does the text of the story prompt you to ask? do we really decide our faith? is this the only reality that exist? is this moment of my life the best option it could be? can we avoid certain situations in our lives? do we have a reason to exist or is it just a casualty?
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