1. The story is radical because of the extremely almost impossible and revolutionary and life altering statements it has within it through the words of the writer about what the Aleph is. When the narrator sees the Aleph for himself, the way he describes the place is extremely radical as it describes somewhere unlike anywhere humans have ever had access to before, with things like the modification of death and the unimaginable universe. The place can be compared to an experience someone would have on heavy psychedelic drugs.
2. The story seems to understand time as something systematic, like an instrument used only to record when and how often certain events take place, such as the visiting of the deceased woman’s family every year. the use of times of day whether it be the actual time in years or minutes or how light or dark it is outside or past versus present or time alive versus time deceased is used as a motif in the story. None of it really changes my perception of time but it does provide an interesting way of thinking about it and all the ways time affects us without us even realizing it.
