Madness in the New York Trilogy Dalia Zuckermann 11th Grade

Author Philip K. Dick once said, “It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.” The theme of the source of madness is explored in all three stories that form Paul Auster's novel The New York Trilogy. The three relatively short detective stories all explore similar themes and similar ideas, one of them being why people would go mad in our society. In the first story, the reader sees Queen the detective become mad as he cannot crack the Stillmans case, which in the end was no mystery to solve. In the second story, the reader sees Private Investigator Blue go mad when he is paid to simply watch a man write all day, nothing else. In the third story, the narrator goes crazy by trying to find his own identity through his childhood missing friend. At the end of the novel, the reader can recognize Paul Auster is making the point in his three narratives that because men have no real purpose, they will go mad.

City of Glass deals with the theme of the existence of purpose leading to insanity by presenting writer Quinn with a detective case. He is hired to follow Peter Stillman Sr, who has been in jail for locking up his chil several years. However, since the beginning of the case were are presented with the...