Irving repeats this twice, in the beginning and at the end.
Are we tricking ourselves? Is reality some kind of factual stories we made up by connecting the dots of fact just the way we like?
The truth is it happens, actually, a lot.
We consider what we hear and see facts. We put them together and make a story out of them, and then sell it to ourselves until proved otherwise.
The truth is we're wrong, actually, often.
Just as Ian McCallum once wrote, "We are all, in our own subtle ways, manipulators and con men, ...", Irving seems to share the thought: We con ourselves so that we may get through our lives .
He's married. He has a wife he once fell in love. He has a step son he truly loves. When he says no to Sidney, rejecting her suggestion to get away with Danny, he states, ” I give him my name."
This is the moment you know this con man is real.
Your conclusion will be confirmed again and again, when Irving doesn't want to bring along Rosalyn to a party to which Sidney is invited too, when he appears uneasy when hearing Carmine genuinely thank and applaud him, and when he's having a heart attack after being kicked out of Carmine's house.
Then you know this con man is so very real.
Maybe it's true that the reality we're experiencing are just stories we're feeding ourselves, but deep down in your heart you know sharply when you meet the genuine.
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