I think he 'had' to choose his own world, given his character, and a different (no...supplemental) interpretation of the lesson. First: because even if the Land is real, it isn't his home no matter it's importance...and this matters because, second: part of the lesson he learned was that, though he had to be "religious" (as someone said) about his leprosy, he had been....umm..'radically fundamentalist' about it, dismissing out of hand anything outside of its basic tenets (part of his own struggle, too, because the world was treating him that way, and it infuriated him). In the Land, he had learned that he needn't be that way: that he could do more than JUST live his illness, leprosy was one thing is his life, but didn't have to be the only thing. But, being who he is, he couldn't be who he is in the Land.While true, does anybody else here see that as giving recognition to the fact that TC chose to live in the "real" world and not the Land? It's an affirmation of life, no doubt - but also, in terms of the story, of his leprosy and social isolation. What kind of life is that, versus living out his remaining years in the beauty and health of the Land and as a figure of heroic stature?
He obviously didn't completely learn this lesson, (or 'back home' the world wouldn't adjust to this lesson...probably both) hence the bitterness.
I also think he knew that, given their nature, the people of the Land would have treated him as a heroic figure, just as you said...and that would have driven him NUTS, because he wouldn't have felt it was justified.
