Philosophical Effects of Punctuation

          Specific usage of punctuation is generally not a central part of any given piece of writing. In some cases however, the author may include unique and unusual punctuation choices to convey a certain idea or attitude. This can be used to create a passage that stands out from the rest in order to achieve a certain end, such as a transition from one topic to another. One passage that does just that in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance come just after the narrator describes the landscape of the mountainous region he finds himself in. He writes:    
       
           "I want to talk about another kind of high country now in the world of thought, which is some ways, for me at least, seems to parallel or produce feelings similar to this, and call it the high country of the mind.
          If all of human knowledge, everything that's known, is believed to be an enormous hierarchic structure, then the high country of the mind is found at the uppermost reaches of this structure in the most general, the most abstract considerations of all.
          Few people travel here. There's no real profit to be made from wandering through it, yet like this high country of the material world all around us, it has its own austere beauty that to some people make the hardships of traveling through it seem worthwhile.
          In the high country of the mind one has to become adjusted to the thinner air of uncertainty, and to the enormous magnitude of questions asked, and to the answers proposed to these questions. The sweep goes on and on and on so obviously much further than the mind can grasp one hesitates even to go near for fear of getting lost and never finding one's way out.
          What is the truth and how do you know it when you have it? ...How do we really know anything? Is there an "I," a "soul," which knows, or is this soul merely cells coordinating senses? ...Is reality basically changing, of is it fixed and permanent? ...When it's said that something means something, what's meant by that?"

          The author, Robert Pirsig, makes some grammatical and structural choices here that serve to progress his discussion from the physical world to the philosophical world of thought. He makes this transition with the use of excessive commas to elongate his sentences and express his many ideas in pithy statements. The first four sentences of this passage contain 10 commas, used to interject relevant thoughts that enhance the overall
meaning of what he says. One might also note that these four sentences make up 3 separate paragraphs, each concerned with a different subtopic. His use of multiple commas allows for this efficiency of explanation by creating a smoother flow of ideas. All of this translates to a more understandable and accessible progression of writing.
          The second part of this passage utilizes rhetorical questions as a way to foster philosophical thought on the part of the reader, and to help the reader understand the type of thinking that the narrator is describing. Not only do these questions lead to interaction between the author and the reader, they also serve as examples of the type of things discussed in the "high country of the mind". Furthermore, the ellipses between the questions convey the idea that they are connected as a string of conscious thought and exploration, an idea that would become more important as the narrator dives further into this ocean of philosophy.