Building on Eco's theoretical contributions to semiotics, concepts like logic, reality, and appearance are often explored through signs that people need to decode, interpret, and comprehend. The Name of The Rose, as described by Eco himself, is an "open work" that invites multiple interpretations without enforcing a single, definitive conclusion. The novel's ambiguity is both deliberate and central to its theme. A scholar who collaborated with Eco characterizes The Name of The Rose as "a thoroughly semiotic book." Similar to the library depicted in the narrative, the novel is a complex maze with paths and meanings that are not easily revealed.