Alkaitis’s “counterlife” is completely detached from reality. It functions more as an escapist fantasy than an outline of the different, more morally upstanding choices Alkaitis might have made to avoid being arrested. The alternate reality that Alkaitis constructs in this counterlife illustrates the regret he feels at being arrested, but not any remorse about committing crimes in the first place. It’s not an examination of wrongdoing, but an expression of frustration with his current imprisonment. As a result, Alkaitis denies himself the opportunity to reflect on his moral failings.