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Part 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Piranesi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Human vs. Inhuman Worlds
Science and the Pursuit of Knowledge
Memory and Identity
Friendship, Betrayal, and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
A few weeks later, Piranesi approaches an old man. Piranesi asks if he is 16, but the man is confused. Piranesi explains his numbering system, listing the dead people, like the biscuit box man. The man claims the biscuit box man used to live in his study and speculates that the skeletons are Stanley Ovenden and an Italian person he was visiting “here.” He explains he is only passing through to see what had happened to Piranesi. He asks if the other living person—i.e., the Other—is Val Ketterley. Piranesi confirms this, and the man explains that Val used to be his student, but that he never had any original ideas. According to the man, he himself discovered this place.
Piranesi meets a new stranger who seems to possess a great deal of information about the House. Not only does he know the Other, referring to him as Val Ketterley, but also he claims to know the identities of the dead, speculating about their identities as though they were people he knew. Most spectacularly, he reveals himself as the original discoverer of this world, reinforcing the idea that the House is not be the only world. Though these are all potentially ground-shaking discoveries, Piranesi’s remains surprisingly unperturbed.
Themes
The man claims he paid a great price for his discovery: prison. He then tells Piranesi how “this world was made,” claiming that, in his youth, he realized that the wisdom of the ancients—allowing men to fly, etc.— had been lost, but that it could not have vanished. He speculated other worlds must exist, eventually finding this one, a Distributary World created by “ideas flowing out of another world.” Piranesi listens, wondering who this man is. He does not fit 16’s description, so Piranesi reasons he must be someone else. The man asks Piranesi if Ketterley still believes the ancients’ wisdom is here. Piranesi says yes, but that he personally does not.
If true, the man’s story of his discovery of the House has profound implications for Piranesi. Were the world truly a “Distributary World” discovered by this man, this would mean that Piranesi is not an native inhabitant as he believes, but rather a transplant from another world. This hypothesis would explain many of the strange occurrences events surrounding Piranesi, such as his knowledge of words like “tree” that do not have tangible referents in the House.
Themes
The man applauds Piranesi’s intelligence, explaining that the ancient wisdom is long gone. Piranesi asks if the statues represent the “Ideas and Knowledge” flowing out from the other world. The man says he believes so, speculating that statues of computers may be emerging somewhere in the labyrinth right now. The man then says he cannot stay long, as there are side-effects of doing so, like amnesia and mental collapse. However, he observes that Piranesi is surprisingly coherent, despite others who have gone insane after spending only a fraction of the time here. He tells Piranesi that someone is searching for him. Piranesi asks if it is 16, which the man confirms uncertainly.
This passage provides further evidence, like the stranger’s knowledge of computers, of the existence of another world—one which resembles the reader’s modern world. It also hints at a possible explanation for Piranesi’s alleged memory loss: If the man can be taken at his word, prolonged occupancy in the House can cause “amnesia” and “collapse.” This information, if true, also recontextualizes the Other’s strange behaviors, such as his insistence on short, one hour meetings with Piranesi.
Themes
Piranesi says the Other claimed 16 was after him, not Piranesi. The man says denies this, claiming Ketterley is an egoist. The man hates Ketterley and plans on providing 16 directions to get here. Piranesi begs him not to, but the man insists; however, he explains that 16 may never arrive. Not everyone, apparently, can find this place; only Sylvia D’Agostino was able to get here without instructions. He explains that the closer 16 gets, the more nervous Ketterley will become. Piranesi wishes him luck on his journey. The man reflects that while he once thought of Piranesi as an “arrogant little shit”—back when he refused Piranesi’s written request to see him—he is now “charming.”
If true, the man’s claims about the Other—or Val Ketterley—would have massive implications. Not only would it mean that the Other has hidden his knowledge of other humans from Piranesi, but also that he might not even be from Piranesi’s world at all. The man’s claim that Piranesi once wrote to him is equally revelatory, for Piranesi clearly believes the man is a stranger. This introduces the possibility that Piranesi may have once also belonged to this other world.
Themes
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Piranesi writes down his experience. He names the man “The Prophet,” since he explained the creation of the world. Piranesi tries to interpret the Prophet’s various claims, like his claim that he is not 16 and that he sent others here. Piranesi wonders if the Prophet is from a distant location in the House where there are more people. He reflects on the revelation of four of the skeletons’ names and expresses pleasure at the Prophet’s affirmation that the Other’s pursuit of knowledge is senseless. He wonders why the Other has never mentioned the Prophet, since they clearly know each other. He is baffled by the Prophet’s claim that Piranesi ever sent him a letter; he just met him, after all.
Piranesi’s reflection on the Prophet reveals that he has not processed the broader possible implications of the man’s story. While he ponders the Other’s failure to tell him about the Prophet, he seems to interpret the Prophet’s other claims in largely metaphorical terms. Despite the Prophet’s repeated insistence that he is from another world, for instance, Piranesi assumes that this simply refers to a distant location in House. He does not imagine that the man’s explanations might have more immediate implications for Piranesi and his existence in the labyrinth. After all, he still believes his memory is intact.
Themes
Several days later, Piranesi meets the Other. He wants to tell him about the Prophet, but the Other interrupts before he can. He tells Piranesi that 16 is actually looking for Piranesi, and that 16 will tell him horrible things that will drive him mad. The Other explains that if 16 speaks to Piranesi, Piranesi could turn against the Other and the Other would be forced to kill him. Piranesi promises to stay away from 16, but he says nothing else. The next day, Piranesi is glad he did not tell the Other about meeting the Prophet; after all, Piranesi approached him because he thought he was 16. Piranesi thinks if the roles were reversed, he would not consider killing the Other.
This passage highlights Piranesi’s growing independence from the Other. Not only does he admit to openly disobeying the Other’s orders—he approached the Prophet because he thought he was 16, not by accident—but he also decides not to tell the Other about his meeting with the Prophet. While he still counts him as an ally, Piranesi is clearly increasingly wary of the Other, particularly after the Other’s threat to kill him. This signals a major shift in the power dynamic between Piranesi and the Other.
Themes
Piranesi practices hiding from 16, noting how his faded clothing makes for good camouflage amid the statues. The next day, he indexes his journals for the past two weeks. To his surprise, he discovers not only that an entry for Stanley Ovenden already exists, but it’s from Journal no. 21—a journal that does not exist; he is only on 9. He finds other indexed subjects that are equally vexing, like “Outsider psychiatry,” that similarly reference non-existent journals. The writing is different too—younger. Inspecting his journals, Piranesi realizes that Journals 1, 2, and 3 had had the number 2 crossed out, meaning they used to be 21, 22, and 23.
Looking through his journals, Piranesi makes several startling discoveries, including multiple entries he does not recognize, and references to entire journals he does not remember writing. Though he has long advocated for the integrity of his memory, these discoveries make it increasingly difficult to take him at his word. The Other may be unreliable, but his claims about Piranesi’s amnesia look increasingly plausible.
Themes
Piranesi finds the journal entry on Stanley Ovenden. It is a biography, and it describes a group of students gathering under the tutelage of Laurence Arne-Sayles in 1987 in Perugia. The favorite students are Ovenden, Bannerman, Hughes, Ketterley, and D’Agostino. In the narrative, tensions appear in the group, a product of Laurence’s divisive disposition. Ovenden and Hughes are increasingly ostracized and befriend Maurizio Giussani. This alarms Arne-Sayles, and several days later, Maurizio goes missing. Ten years later Arne-Sayles is convicted of kidnapping and the Italian police reopen the case. Piranesi stops reading, horrified. He realizes he has forgotten things after all. He flings away his journal and seeks comfort in the arms of the Faun Statue.
Reading his journal entry on Stanley Ovenden, Piranesi finally acknowledges his amnesia. The handwriting is clearly his, and yet the world described in the entry—a world which he obviously used to be familiar with—is one which he has no memory or knowledge of. Confronted by this, Piranesi has no choice but to accept that Other was right all along. Equally if not more concerning than the fact of his amnesia, is the nature of the memories: the journal on Stanley seems as though it were written by a different person in a different world. And for that matter, the entry describes mysterious disappearances, if not kidnappings—raising questions again about how, exactly, Piranesi ended up in the House, and if he himself was abducted.
Themes
To feel better, Piranesi visits his favorite statues the next day. Thinking more calmly, he concludes he must have been ill in the past when he wrote those entries. However, the information in the journal is not all nonsense. Some of the words seem to evoke sensory memories, and some of the names are found elsewhere in the House, like Laurence’s note. Piranesi decides to focus on his health to guard against the return of the illness that made him mad. He also wants to study his journals to discover what he forget and to learn about his own madness. Given what the Other and Prophet have said about the House, Piranesi wonders whether he trusts it. He decides he does, trusting in its ways.
Piranesi attempts to make rational sense of his amnesia, concluding that his past journals entries must have been the product of an illness. Though logical, this conclusion ignores much of the information at his disposal, such as the Prophet’s claim that the House can cause amnesia. Piranesi, in other words, is still unwilling to consider explanations that threaten to undermine his worldview. Illness is a much easier pill to swallow than the possibility of total amnesia.
Themes
A week and a half later, Piranesi reads about Sylvia D’Agostino. Born in Scotland, she studied mathematics at the University of Manchester but switched to anthropology after hearing Arne-Sayles lectures on ancient minds. She soon began living with and caring for Arne-Sayles as an unpaid secretary and housekeeper. He eventually demanded she cut off ties with her family. She made movies, one of which was titled The Castle and featured a vast landscape of different castles, supposedly a record of one of Arne-Sayles’s worlds, as described in his book, The Labyrinth (2000). In 1990 she struck up a friendship with Robert Allstead at her work. Arne-Sayles was jealous and demanded she leave her job. Sylvia refused and was never seen again.
The journal entry on Sylvia D’Agostino offers new clues as to the true nature of Piranesi’s world. To the reader, at least, it seems increasingly clear that Piranesi’s world is in fact what the Prophet has described it as: a magical world, somehow accessible from modern-day Earth. Sylvia’s film The Castle is all but direct evidence of this. It seems to depict a world almost identical to the House, as though she, like the Prophet, had traveled there from the regular world.
Themes
Piranesi reads from two journal entries for James Ritter. The first recounts the arrest of Arne-Sayles after a housecleaner discovers a secret room hiding a sick, imprisoned man —James Ritter. The entry describes Ritter in his youth as attractive but troubled. After being recovered from Arne-Sayles’s house, Ritter is initially unable to describe what happened. When he does, he describes spending time in a house with statues and halls and often seems to believe he is still there. Some theorize that Ritter brainwashed him to support his claims of other worlds, while others claim the kidnapping was sexually motivated. He works at the Manchester Town Hall, which reminds him of the other house. He refuses an interview with journalist Angharad Scott.
Once again, more evidence accumulates in support of the Prophet’s explanation of the House. Like Sylvia, James Ritter’s account of his travels to another world closely resembles the narrative provided by the Prophet, as do his descriptions of the House itself. His descent into madness also reinforces the Prophet’s claims concerning the psychological side-effects of prolonged residency in the House, drawing parallels to Piranesi’s own predicament.
Themes
Piranesi is intrigued by Ritter’s journal entry, particularly the part about the Hall of Minotaurs—a clear reference to the First Vestibule. Sylvia’s movie The Castle also seems to correspond to the Halls. Piranesi reflects there are words he knows that do not exist in the House, like a garden, but reasons that such words are deduced from the different statues around the House. Counting the new names, Piranesi realizes there are 15 of them, and that if you exclude the Other and the Prophet, there are 13. This is the same number as the dead, but Piranesi thinks this could be a coincidence. There are more people in the journals, they are just unnamed.
Though Piranesi notes the strange parallels between the stories in his journal and his own situation, he is cautious not to make any hasty conclusions. While this is in part a sign of his scientific integrity, it also seems to stem from a reluctance to acknowledge the potentially paradigm-shattering implications of the information he is learning.
Themes
