The narrator finds himself trapped in this disorienting world where reason is helpless. Events dreamed seem to affect real life and vice versa. In a particularly unsettling twist, the narrator nearly has an affair with the innkeeper’s wife, later sees this event on a “Seahorse” card, and eventually finds himself in a position where he has effectively replaced the innkeeper, growing to resemble him more with each passing, nightmarish day. The ambiguous ending leaves the reader wondering if the entire experience was a dream or a descent into a sinister reality.