Shima answers “What do we think happened to the original...”

Gabrielle asked this question about Piranesi:

What do we think happened to the original Matthew Rose Sorensen? The book suggests that he was so traumatized by his early days trapped in the House that Piranesi arose and took over as an alternative consciousness in his psyche to deal with the situation. Sort of like a personality in multiple personality disorder?

Shima I don't read it so much as another personality, but more so as a question of how much of what makes us "us" is just the collection of our memories.
The…moreI don't read it so much as another personality, but more so as a question of how much of what makes us "us" is just the collection of our memories.
The way I read it was that once he was in the House, he lost all of his autobiographical memories, later he learned of them again, but they were no longer autobiographical to him. He was a new person because he'd been living in a new environment without any of his previous experiences and learnt characteristics, so he'd formed entirely new memories and learnings and became another person.
In essence, I think Matthew died when all of his memories were gone, and another person took his place. But that's because I'm equating Matthew with his "mind", whereas his brain and genetic material remained living. It really comes down to what you believe makes a person themself. (less)

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