Dreams or Reality?

            I noticed that the book is also related to the movie Inception. I believe this because the whole book is based on the description of cities that don't even exist. They are cities created in the minds and dreams of Khan and Marco Polo, as well as in Inception, where people control their dreams and confuse them with reality. This kind of confusion can also be seen in the book because the cities, despite the fact that they are completely fictional, seem very real to the characters and the audience as well. In my case, even though I knew the cities were just a product of their imagination, the descriptions were so precise and clear that they seemed real, especially to them.

            In the movie and the book, there is a very thin line between imagination (in dreams) and reality. In Inception, the characters sometimes don't know whether they are dreaming or not, since the feeling is so pure, strong, and real. The same thing happens in Invisible Cities to Marco Polo and Khan. For them, the cities are real, even though they are completely aware of the fact that they are just the product of their imagination. The thin line between reality and imagination can also be seen when Marco Polo says that the cities he was making up were actually Venice. This definitely took me by surprise because they were always talking about creating cities and imagining them, and to think that he was referring to Venice through these detailed descriptions of all these cities was completely unexpected.

            When the audience is informed that the cities were actually Venice, the thin line between reality and imagination can be seen significantly, just like in Inception, where it is seen throughout the whole movie. Even though both characters are aware that they are talking about Venice, they keep on describing more cities after that, as if it weren't allowed to describe Venice directly. Inception relates to this because of the way the characters react towards their dreams: Even though they know they confuse reality with their dreams, dreaming and the actual concept of building their dreams with their sub conscience is their natural way of living. They literally design their dreams, just like Kahn and Marco Polo design the cities the audience thinks are fictional until Marco Polo says its Venice.

     


   The ending was surprising, and I never would have figured it out on my own. However, as soon as I knew that the cities were a compilation of Venice, it all made sense. I liked how the author creates an atmosphere of ambiguity and uncertainty through the different descriptions of every city, dialogue between the characters, and the description of imagination turning out to be reality.