One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Second Western Hall
Piranesi reaches the secluded One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Second Western Hall as ordered by the Other. He is immediately struck by the different, ominous atmosphere. There are no windows and there is a strange atmosphere. He is reluctant and fearful to enter the Hall, but his curiosity and drive to please the Other pushes him to do it. There he sees statues, like everywhere else, but unlike elsewhere, the statues here aren’t representative of individual characters, but they represent a crowd. This makes Piranesi wonder in awe what it might be if the world was inhabited not by two, but thousands of people. This is a metaphoric moment in the novel, and represents the world in itself, it represents Piranesi’s isolation and his subconscious desire to get back to the real world.
Cat among the pigeons
Piranesi meets Laurence Arne-Sayles in one of the halls of the House. Not knowing any better, he calls him the Prophet. After inquiring about 16, the Prophet tells Piranesi that he will show them the way to the House, despite Piranesi’s fear of them. The Prophet compares sending 16 there to putting a cat among the pigeons. This is very much like the character of the mad scientist Arne-Sayles, who enjoys causing chaos and toying with life.
Like a memory
Piranesi discovers the message left to him by 16. The message says: “Are you Matthew Rose Sorensen?” This causes confusion in Piranesi, and he has a sudden image in front of him, like a memory or a vision. This memory is of him standing in the rain in the streets of a city. Piranesi is a victim of a horrible crime, he was used as a plaything for the selfish cause, but the sudden appearance of a third person at the House leads him to uncover the truth.
An emptiness, a silence, an absence
Piranesi finally discovers the truth about himself and the world. He discovers that he is a victim of the Other’s manipulation and hunt for the Knowledge. He discovers that he is Matthew Rose Sorensen. Consequently, he is enraged and fantasizes about ways to get his revenge, but he is detached from the person of Matthew. Piranesi doesn’t see himself as him, but as himself – Piranesi.
“I was trying to summon up Matthew Rose Sorensen, to trick him into revealing himself. If he really was some forgotten part of Myself, then he would not like to be contradicted; he would argue his position. But it did not work. He did not rise up from some shadowy recess of my mind. He remained an emptiness, a silence, an absence.”
This loss of self portrayed through Piranesi could be interpreted as an effect of trauma, it implies complete dissociation from self and creation of a completely new identity due to the inability to face the traumatic reality.
