Passage Response Examples
If on a winter’s night a traveler
by Italo Calvino
Quotation Response Journal
Student's Name
Teacher's Name
AP Literature & Composition F Block
January 10, 2011
| SELECTION | RESPONSES |
| “‘Reading,’ he says, ‘is always this: there is a thing that is there, a thing made of writing, a solid, material object, which cannot be changed, and through this thing we measure ourselves against something else that is not present, something else that belongs to immaterial, invisible world, because it can only thought, imagined, or because it was once and is no longer, past, lost, unattainable, in the land of the dead…’ ‘Or that is not present because it does not yet exist, something desired, feared, possible or impossible,’ Ludmilla says. ‘Reading is going toward something is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be…’” (Calvino 72) | Throughout the novel, the act of reading is interpreted and analyzed in various forms through the novels in the novel and through the Reader and the Other Reader. In this instance, Professor Uzzi-Tuzzii believes that reading is way of measuring ourselves, or putting ourselves up against something for comparison and from the text one can draw things that are not “made of writing” and are not “solid, material object[s]”. Reading can be used as juxtaposition from what something is and what something can be. “The land of the dead” is referenced because Professor Uzzi-Tuzzii is a character that is prevalent earlier in the novel when the Leaning from the steep slope is thought to be Cimmerian, which is dead language from a dead culture. By referencing the dead, the act of reading is put into the past tense, as something that has already happened that we may compare ourselves to. For Ludmilla, her viewpoint contrasts Uzzi-Tuzzii’s because she puts the idea of comparing oneself to something that has not happened and only through exploration in and outside of the text can one go “toward something that is about to be”. |
| “The story must also work hard to keep up with us, to report a dialogue constructed on the void, speech by speech. For the story, the bridge is not finished: beneath every word there is nothingness.” (Calvino 83) | In the fourth story introduced in the novel, through the narrator of Without fear of wind or vertigo Calvino introduces the idea of “the void”, which is the nothingness that is underlying in a story, what is said without ever being said. Though this is a story in the novel, there is a presence that it tags along with the Reader because the narrator gives is the sense that author is not writing the story, but the characters are writing the story and the author, whether the author in the void or the author constructed on the void, must follow the characters regardless of the endeavors. Also, the through the fourth narrator, the idea of the unfinished story concretely comes into play. The unfinished bridge, so to speak, lies in coherence with the motif of the void. |
| “’The novel I would like most to read at this moment,’ Ludmilla explains, ‘should have as its driving force only the desire to narrate, to pile stories upon stories, without trying to impose a philosophy of life on you, simply allowing you to observe its own growth, like a tree, an entangling, as if of branches and leaves…’ On this point you are in immediate agreement with her; putting behind you pages lacerated by intellectual analyses, you dream of rediscovering a condition of natural reading, innocent, primitive…” (Calvino 92) | Ludmilla, the Other Reader, is a driving force in what it means to truly and naturally indulge in a book, simply for the enjoyment of watching it develop. It is the idea that the novel is not trying to press certain ideals on you, but is merely satisfactory because you can track the development, which should be as natural as the growth of tree. The novel itself largely surrounds a similar principle, reading is a natural process, one which should be interpreted as desired, but Calvino wants to inhibit a response throughout the novel, which makes Ludmilla, at times, a contradictory character, thus providing further reasons why she is the Other Reader and not the Reader. The idea of “natural reading” introverted earlier in the novel acts as a guiding light and a foreshadowing for the frustration of those incapable of producing this natural state amongst their readers. Ludmilla’s natural and “innocent” idealistic views of reading provide an untainted view of idea of reading itself in relation to the reader. |
| “’There’s a boundary line: on one side are those who make books, on the other those who read them. I want to remain one of those who read them, so I take care always to remain on my side of the line. Otherwise, the unsullied pleasure of reading ends, or at least is transformed into something else, which is not what I want.’” (Calvino 93) | Ludmilla clarifies the so-called dangers of crossing the boundary between the publishing world and the reader world. Through Ludmilla, Calvino clarifies why she is the Other Reader and why the Reader is the Reader. The Reader, later on, decides to interfere and further investigate the link from novel to novel by entering a publishing house to further his research, thus putting him on the opposite side of the “boundary line”. Since Ludmilla won’t cross this line, it puts her on the other side of the fence. There is also an element of the artificial world versus the natural world that is used as an indirect analogy. Calvino establishes his own void through Ludmilla, the Reader, and unsaid actions of the two. Ludmilla states that she enjoys the natural aspects of reading, the book on the shelf, like leaf on a tree. A publishing house is machine, a machine that destroys, shreds, presses, and changes the words of the book, thus standing against the idea of leaving the book, in its natural state. Through the analogy of the boundary line, Ludmilla’s views and reading ethics are established and thus further the artifice that is the publishing world. |
| “In fact, looking in perspective at everything I am leaving out of the main narration, I see something like a forest that extends in all directions and is so thick that it doesn’t allow light to pass: a material, in other words, much richer than what I have chosen to put in the foreground this time, so it is not impossible that the person who follows my story may feel himself a bit cheated, seeing that the stream is dispersed into so many trickles, and that of the essential events only the last echoes and reverberations arrive at him; but it is not impossible that this is the very effect I aimed at when I started narrating, or let’s say it’s a trick of the narrative art that I am trying to employ, a rule of discretion that consists in maintaining my position slightly below the narrative possibilities at my disposal.” (Calvino 109) | Throughout the novel, Calvino interjects his views of reading, writing, and the various thought processes that go into both. In the fifth novel introduced, Looks down in the gathering shadow, Calvino employs the idea of the void further but also uses one of the novels within the novel to solidify the motif of the forest that classifies the natural realm of reading that can allow the reader to gain insight beyond the text. The narrator of Looks down in the gathering shadow also creates a void stating that one must gain perspective through the things that are left “out of the main narration,” or are unsaid altogether. Calvino almost means to apologize for the various directions his novel has gone in from the beginning and will continue to go in because the Reader “may feel a bit cheated, seeing that the stream is dispersed into so many trickles”. |
| “Lovers’ reading of each other’s bodies (of that concentrate of mind and body which lovers use to go to bed together) differs from the reading of written pages in that it is not linear. It starts at any point, skips, repeats itself, goes back ward, insists, ramifies in simultaneous and divergent messages, converges again, has moments of irritation, turns the page, finds its place, gets lost. A direction can be recognized in it, a route to an end, since it tends toward a climax, and with this end in view it arranges rhythmic phases, metrical scansions, recurrence of motives. But is the climax really the end? Or is the race toward that end opposed by another drive that works in the opposite direction, swimming against the moments, recovering time?” (Calvino 156) | Calvino seeks to focus on the interpretation of one human to another and what they make of it. The “lover’s reading of each other’s bodies” holds values of existentialism through the idea that there are two juxtaposing forces in an intimate fair. One is pulling away from the idea of developing feels for the other. The other force is doing just the opposite of that, “swimming against the moments”, and trying to pull one another close into a closer analysis of the other. An affair can be what you make of it; it can end gloriously or go up in flames and “get lost” so to speak. Existentialism exists in the realm of affection and the skewing of it that can take place through the analogy of two lovers. Also, the affair between the two readers thus enacts the motif of sex in the novel. Sex, being a natural act, sides with Ludmilla and her natural views of realm of reading. |
| “At other times, on the contrary, I seem to understand that between the book to be written and things that already exist there can be only a kind of complementary relationship: the book should be the written counterpart of the unwritten world; its subject should be what does not exist and cannot exist except when written, but whose absence is obscurely felt that which exists, in its own incompleteness.” (Calvino 172) | Chapter 8 is pivotal in the recognition of the cognitive processes of an author. Silas Flannery, the author of In a network of lines that enlace, introduces the struggles of writing a novel. Flannery has a different view of the literary void and the realm of “the book to be written and things that already exist”. He believes that they must work in stride to create “counterpart[s]” or foils of each other. Thus in attempts to balance each other while working simultaneously to create a world that does not exist through a world that does. Calvino emphasizes existence through nonexistence with Flannery’s thought processes. As a conflicted author, Flannery struggles to find the realm of existence that he can transfer into the realm of nonexistent. He seeks to create through the written, a world that does not exist, and which is felt when reading. Through Flannery’s contradictory thought processes, Calvino establishes the idea that through incompleteness, or nonexistence, completeness and existence can be gained and understood. |
| “I see that one way or another I keep circling around the idea of an interdependence between the unwritten world and the book I should write. This is why writing presents itself to me as an operation of such weight that I remain crushed by it. I put my eye to the spyglass and train it on the reader. Between her eyes and the page a white butterfly flutters. Whatever she may have been reading, now it is certainly the butterfly that has captured her attention. The unwritten world has its climax in that butterfly. The result at which I must aim is something specific, intimate, light.” (Calvino 172) | While Flannery is on a retreat, trying to write a novel, he observes through his spyglass, Lotaria, Ludmilla’s sister, and observes the tranquility she maintains when she reads. Flannery envies the serenity of the reader and so she becomes his muse in his writing ventures. It is referenced that Flannery wants to be that butterfly that holds the reader’s attention. As he “circl[es] around the idea” like a butterfly between the written and unwritten world, Flannery relates himself to the butterfly. Also by aiming to be the thing that captures her attention, there is a sense of intimacy that is established not only between Flannery and Lotaria, but between author and the reader. The use of nature in the realm of reading is once again used through the white butterfly. The butterfly catches Lotaria’s attention and through that unwritten exchange, specific and natural feeling is produced. Through the lithe idea of thinking and state of being is relished through the use of the white butterfly further justifying that reading should be a process that is naturally enjoyed. |
| “’Something must always remain that eludes us… For power to have object on which to be exercised, a space in which to stretch out its arms… As long as I know there exists in the world someone who does tricks only for the love of the trick, as long as I know there is a woman who loves reading for reading’s sake, I can convince myself that the world continues…And every evening I, too, abandon myself to reading, like that distant unknown woman…’” (Calvino 240) | Arkadian Porphyrich, a character that furthers the insanity of apocrypha, also shares the idealism that exists in the natural indulgence of the women who was the inspiration for Flannery. There is now a sense of abandonment and loneliness that are implied through love for “love of the trick” through Porphyrich’s perspective. Also, there is sense of sensuality and power that govern that natural feeling that Lotaria and Ludmilla indulge in when reading. Every time a jealously for this feeling is expressed, it is almost sensual in description and in jealously. The sense of abandoning is not just a depressing use of diction, but is also sensual in the sense that these men are losing themselves in the idea of another, just as the Reader loses himself with Ludmilla and Flannery with Lotaria. Sex is used as metaphor for a state of being as well as physiological state that one can lose oneself in through divulging in reading. |
| The seventh reader interrupts you: ‘Do you believe that every story must have a beginning and an end? In ancient times a story could end in two ways: having passed all the tests, the hero and the heroine married, or else they died. The ultimate meaning to which all stories refer has two faces: the continuity of life, the inevitability of death.’ You stop for a moment to reflect on those words. Then, in a flash, you decide you want to marry Ludmilla.” | As the Reader is at the library trying to get the last ten books that he was not able to finish, he lands himself in a philosophical conversation on the meaning of reading, and the continuation of a story. Though the seventh reader aims to make the point that a story can end in more than two ways, ironically enough, the reader’s story had both of the outcomes the seventh reader noted. The Reader passed all the tests. Throughout the novel chase he was persistent, and when traveling to other countries he succeeded in all that he was tried against in the world of banned literature and fake literature. Also, the Reader and Other Reader, or the Reader and Ludmilla, are the hero and heroine of the book, and impulsively minutes after the seventh reader concludes to the Reader, the Reader decides to marry Ludmilla. Through marrying Ludmilla, the Reader succeeds in establishing “the continuity of life”. And through the end of story, in which the Reader does finish If on a winter’s night a traveler, the inevitability of the death of literary wild goose chase has ended. The continuity of life can also be interpreted as the continuity of existence, which is a recurring theme in the novel. The inevitability of death exists more so in the ten stories within the novel that occur. After a while, you catch on that no story of the ten that is told will be completed in the duration of the novel, thus the story itself dies, and the novel as a whole continues. Thus the novel suffices for its own criteria as a story. |
Quotation Response Journal for The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
| “' He is not well' said the mother to the head clerk while the father was still speaking through the door, 'he's not well sir, believe me. Why else would Gregor miss a train! All that boy thinks about is work. What makes me most mad is how he never goes out in the evening; he's been in the city eight days now , but he's been at home every night. He sits with us at the table quietly reading the newspaper or studying the train schedules. His only amusement is busying himself with his fretsaw'” (13, Barnes and Noble Classics) | I think that this passage is interesting because it serves two purposes, firstly it is indirect characterization of Gregor and secondly it could been seen as a connection to the current working class. The mother describes Gregor as a hardworking young man who lives a much less than idealistic life. Although it seems as though Gregor might view his lifestyle as exemplary (he is completely focused on his main duty, that of providing for his family) it is clear that the mother is speaking for the readers as well in expressing her concern for Gregor's happiness. However, we might apply this description of Gregor's life to a larger picture, perhaps that of the whole society at that time? It might be the bleak book cover that conjures up images of a depressing middle class, but the images are in my head and associated with the tale nonetheless. It seems as though Kafka might be pointing a finger at the communist regime in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time, where men were disconnected from family and friends and worked tirelessly just to get by. |
| “With the aid of the chair, Gregor slowly pushed himself to the door, then let go and threw himself against it and held himself upright-the pads of his legs were slightly sticky- and rested there for a moment from his exertions.” (16) | This passage clearly exemplifies the weirdness of Kafka's writing. He is describing in great detail and verisimilitude and event which is simply absurd for readers to imagine, and yet we do thanks to his description. If we just take a moment and look back- we are reading about the struggles of a giant cockroach attempting to open a bedroom door, from the insect's point of view. However odd this may be for any other writer, this style is what Kafka is all about. Passage's like these seem to be why so many critics raise the question of categorizing Kafka's work- is it modernism or post modernism? In a way I think that it is both. The language Kafka uses in Metamorphosis is modernist, he is relatively straight forward and analytical but the subject matter is anything but. This is where it becomes more postmodernist. The plot is abstract and surreal and Kafka does not adhere to any truths or traditions. Through more analyzing of passages I'm hoping to define this transition and difference a little more clearly, my thoughts are slightly hazy on the subject. |
| “ In the end however, there remained no other choice, for Gregor observed to his horror that he could not control his direction when moving backward, and so he began as quickly as possible, which was actually very slowly, to turn himself around. Perhaps the father recognized his good intentions because he did not interfere; instead he occasionally even directed the movement from a distance with the tip of his stick. If only the father would stop that infernal hissing!” (20) | I think it's interesting how despite his bodily transformation, Gregor still says the same mentally. He keeps the same outlook on everything, and even thinks about how he can get to work and do his chores. Instead it is the mindsets of his family that change. Although they never seem particularly loving or appreciative towards Gregor in the beginning, we get the sense that he is accepted as a member of the family. As the novel progresses however, they slowly start to see him as an unwelcome guest imposing on their happiness despite all that he did for them before. It is his father whose mind changes the most. We can see that he is still trying to accept Gregor in the passage above “perhaps his father recognized his good intentions” but the father is still becoming more and more hostile towards Gregor “if only his father would stop that infernal hissing!”. Perhaps the true metamorphosis is not that of Gregor, but of his family. His change only catalyzes this, and it is his family's reactions that we should pay the most attention to. |
| “Those had been happy times and they had never returned, at least not with the same brilliance, even though Gregor later earned enough to meet the expenses of the entire family and did so. They had simply grown used to it, both the family and Gregor; the money was gratefully accepted, and gladly given but it no longer brought and particular warmth.” (26) | This does not seem like such an unusual occurrence. Often times we become used to things we previously cherished, and begin to disregard their significance. The difference here is that the money has been given with such sacrifice on the part of Gregor. He gave up his happiness to provide for his family which is not something that everyone would do. But still, his contributions become common place until he is no longer able to provide at which point his place in the family shifts. |
| “Incidentally, the mother wanted to visit Gregor relatively soon but the father and the sister put her off with logical arguments that Gregor listened to very attentively and approved of wholeheartedly. But later when she had to be held back by force, and when she cried out ; “let me go to Gregor, he's my unfortunate son! Can't you understand that I must go to him?”Gregor then thought that it would perhaps be beneficial if the mother did come in...” (29) | This seems to be one of the first signs that show that one of Gregor's parents still care about it. It isn't surprising that it is Gregor's mother. Although she was clearly scared by Gregor's transformation it seems as though she is struggling with how to act towards him. He is still her son no matter what form he takes. I think by the end of the story she loses this attitude or maybe just allows herself to be pushed over by the father when they all decide that it is best that Gregor leaves the house. For the short time in between however she struggles with how she must act towards him and in the passage above she takes the role of ever-loving mother. |
| “Upon hearing his mother's words, Gregor realized that the lack of any direct human exchange, coupled with the monotony of the family's life, must have confused his mind; he could not otherwise explain to himself how he could have seriously wished to have his room cleared out. Did he really wish his warm room, comfortably furnished with old family heirlooms, to be transformed into a lair which he would certainly be able to crawl freely in any direction, but at the price of rapidly and completely forgetting his human past?” (31). | In a previous quotation I think I mentioned how Gregor's mind stays relatively the same-- I partially take that back now. I think that Gregor seems to be struggling with maintaining his human mind and letting himself revert to the mind of a beetle. He subconsciously wants to embrace his physical form and allow himself to be comfortable “certainly be able to crawl freely in any direction” but I think he is afraid of losing more of himself if he does. His number one priority stays the same throughout the beginning of the book, that of caring for his family. |
| “Then other times he could not be bothered to worry about his family, he was filled with rage at their miserable treament of him, and even though he could not imagine anything that mike spark his appetite he still devised plans to raid the pantry and, even if he was not hungry, get the food due him.” (39) | This reaction seems more realistic, this is perhaps the feeling I would have if I were turned into a giant dung beetle and my family began to ignore me (knock on wood). Tired of putting up with the less than satisfactory treatment Gregor becomes upset, as an normal person would. He no longer is playing the role of selfless caretaker, instead the roles seemed to have switched. It is up to his family to take care of him and they end up doing a rotten job. Whether he realizes this consciously or not their inability to care for Gregor like he cared for them infuriates him to the point of wanting to steal what he feels is rightfully his. |
| “And yet the sister played so beautifully. Her face was tilted to one side and she followed the notes with soulful and probing eyes. Gregor advanced a little, keeping his eyes low so that they might possibly meet hers. Was he a beast if the music could move him so?” (44) | I thought that the juxtaposition of the sisters beautiful music and Gregor's beastliness was really interesting, especially since in the next few paragraphs Gregor goes on to explain how he would like to shut Grete up in his room and never let her leave. This kind of contradiction seems to be driving the whole book, the struggle about how to accept this new form of Gregor appears to be one of the main themes. In this particular passage Kafka is playing up Gregor's change by describing the sounds of Grete's music beforehand. This reminds the readers of just how un-human Gregor is becoming, something that is foreshadowed in the next few paragraphs. |
| “And it was like a confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions that at their journey's end their daughter jumped to her feet and stretched her young body.” (52). | Reading the last line of the book out of context, it almost seems like it could be plucked out of an entirely different story. It seems like a breath of fresh air and installs a sense of hope in the reader- but placed in the context of Metamorphosis it is a kind of hope that we do not want to willingly accept. Yes the daughter and the family holds new prospects and new ideals but at the price of what? They had to be finally rid of Gregor before gaining this new outlook and after being told much of the story from Gregor's perspective I cannot help but be reluctant to accept these new prospects. |
| “Many modernist works try to uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which has been lost in most of modern life; art will do what other human institutions fail to do. Postmodernism, in contrast, doesn't lament the idea of fragmentation, provisionality, or incoherence, but rather celebrates that. The world is meaningless? Let's not pretend that art can make meaning then, let's just play with nonsense.” (http://www.colorado.edu)** | This is a quote from one of our background sources**, an English course at the University of Colorado Boulder on literary theory. Above, the author (Mary Klages) is pointing out one of the distinctions between modernism and postmodernism, a distinction which I have been struggling with in terms of Kafka. Klages points out that postmodernists tend to accept the world as absurd whereas modernists try and pull the absurd together to make a meaningful reality. In this particular sense I think tha Kafa is more postmodern. Metamorphosis does not make sense (a man turns into a dung beetle, what?) but Kafka does not try and explain or rationalize this instead just accepting it as is and moving on with the story. Klages classifies Kafka as modernist however, because he helped “radically to redefine what poetry and fiction could be and do”. I agree with this too, even with my elementary knowledge on the world of Victorian standards and the transition into modernism I think that Kafka was one of the forerunners of that change. Perhaps then we can classify him as both modernist and postmodernist. |
** This assignment called for students to reserve on of their ten (10) responses for an outside source that illuminate some aspect of the work they had chosen to read.
