Umberto Rossi posits that some degree of academic discomfort towards the novel has resulted from uncertainty whether Dick genuinely believed in the more fantastical aspects of the narrative (further supported by the Exegesis which followed). In detailing the many ideological shunts between skepticism and belief which occur within the plot, Rossi concludes Dick intended neither view to achieve hegemony, but that the synthesis of both effectively depict "the unyielding contradictions in [Dick's] experience of self... Being involved in a quest does not automatically confer enlightenment, but rather involves a search for the light; the condition of the quester is one of doubt, not certainty."