The Gostak and the Doshes story
A man travel to a parallel universe by the simple expedient of consciously changing his perspective on reality - or was it merely his own universe from a different point of view?
16 total · 8 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| academic occupation | major | The protagonist conversed with the mathematical physics professors Dr. Woleshensky (in his home universe) and Dr. Vibens (in the parallel universe) in campus settings, and later got a post doing some sort of scientific research at Dr. Vibens' university. |
| alternate points of view | major | The reader is presented the parallel reality people getting whipped up into a frenzy to go to war over some nonsense from the level-headed, outsider perspective of the visiting protagonist. In the end, the protagonist's friend speculated that the protagonist had been viewing their own world all along, rather than a parallel one, but merely from a different point of view. |
| parallel universe | major | The protagonist willed himself into a parallel universe uncannily similar to his own by consciously changing his perspective on the world, much as one can switch between seeing a vase and two faces in Rubin's vase image. Although it is to be noted that the protagonist's friend, upon the protagonist's return, speculated that it was the protagonist's original universe all along, but from a different point of view. |
| patriotism | major | The protagonist watched in horror as his propagandized countrymen waxed with a patriotic desire to go to war with a group of nations across the ocean. |
| problem of language and meaning | major | The protagonist struggled to understand the meaning of the nonsense phrase "The gostak distims the doshes." (paraphrased in the title) which stirred up so many into a patriotic frenzy. |
| religion as a control mechanism | major | The story is a social commentary on the insidious role played by the church in cultivating patriotism in the population during times of war. |
| war propaganda | major | Much was made of the state and church making use of the jingoistic nonsense phrase "The gostak distims the doshes." (paraphrased in the tittle) to whip the people up into a frenzy to go to war with a group of nations across the ocean. |
| what if I could never go home | major | The protagonist found himself in a parallel universe uncannily similar to his own with little prospect for getting back. |
| capital punishment | minor | The protagonist was convicted of treason and sentenced to be shot at sunrise. |
| facing one's own execution | minor | In an act of desperation, the protagonist prayed to the long dead mathematicians Bernhard Riemann and Nikolai Lobachevsky to save him from his date with the executioner. |