The only passage that did not cause severe distress in today’s reading was the reference to Renzo as “always the respectful country lad.“ An apt description in my opinion.
Having read these two passages back to back because I was behind a day, I was struck at the contrast between the descriptions of the lush overgrown wild garden in the previous chapter and the human devastation from and in response to the plague. Also interesting to me was the description of the effect on how people of all classes dressed -- dropping any fashion that would bring fabric in contact with the street, other surfaces, or other people.
A key sentence: "Hence ignorance-the reverse of courage and caution-increased distress and spread unfounded terrors, usurping the sensible health precautions it had disdained at the start of the plague". Renzo displays courage and caution, while the man who raises his knotty walking stick continues to the end of his long life still believing and propagating nonsense. It's one of the central themes of the novel, how people deal with fear.
So much is value is attached to the eye witness, the person who was there. But this idea is turned on its head with the man who mistook Renzo for an annointer, so wrong yet so convinced of his opinion:
"For the rest of his life, which was a long life indeed, he would repeat this story whenever the conversation turned to the anointers, adding, “Anyone who still insists it isn’t true had better not say it to my face. Seeing is believing!”
Has Lucia died of the plague? More likely than not yes. What about the damnable vow to the virgin? I'm on the edge of my seat. What an awful image: "They were piled high and jumbled together, like a nest of snakes slowly uncoiling in the warmth of spring. At every jolt, every bump in the road, the tragic heap shook and came apart grotesquely."
Renzo invokes God over and over in this chapter - more so than he ever has before: "with the help of God...when I find...that is, if I can find..." and "Ah: So this is reparations..." and he "took a moment to say a prayer for these unknown dead" and "Oh Lord!...Grant her wish! Take her to you! Take her to you, her and her little baby! They have suffered enough!" I wonder: Has Renzo become more spiritual? Are these invocations in gratitude for his survival? Are they in response to the horror of Milan? Or is Manzoni reminding us of Providence's presence as we approach the climax of the story?
almost caught up! the pathos of the plague aftermath is very moving. "...voices and sobs murmuring through the air, giving forth a sadness tinged with feelings of comfort." (p572)
The only passage that did not cause severe distress in today’s reading was the reference to Renzo as “always the respectful country lad.“ An apt description in my opinion.
Having read these two passages back to back because I was behind a day, I was struck at the contrast between the descriptions of the lush overgrown wild garden in the previous chapter and the human devastation from and in response to the plague. Also interesting to me was the description of the effect on how people of all classes dressed -- dropping any fashion that would bring fabric in contact with the street, other surfaces, or other people.
A key sentence: "Hence ignorance-the reverse of courage and caution-increased distress and spread unfounded terrors, usurping the sensible health precautions it had disdained at the start of the plague". Renzo displays courage and caution, while the man who raises his knotty walking stick continues to the end of his long life still believing and propagating nonsense. It's one of the central themes of the novel, how people deal with fear.
So much is value is attached to the eye witness, the person who was there. But this idea is turned on its head with the man who mistook Renzo for an annointer, so wrong yet so convinced of his opinion:
"For the rest of his life, which was a long life indeed, he would repeat this story whenever the conversation turned to the anointers, adding, “Anyone who still insists it isn’t true had better not say it to my face. Seeing is believing!”
Has Lucia died of the plague? More likely than not yes. What about the damnable vow to the virgin? I'm on the edge of my seat. What an awful image: "They were piled high and jumbled together, like a nest of snakes slowly uncoiling in the warmth of spring. At every jolt, every bump in the road, the tragic heap shook and came apart grotesquely."
Renzo invokes God over and over in this chapter - more so than he ever has before: "with the help of God...when I find...that is, if I can find..." and "Ah: So this is reparations..." and he "took a moment to say a prayer for these unknown dead" and "Oh Lord!...Grant her wish! Take her to you! Take her to you, her and her little baby! They have suffered enough!" I wonder: Has Renzo become more spiritual? Are these invocations in gratitude for his survival? Are they in response to the horror of Milan? Or is Manzoni reminding us of Providence's presence as we approach the climax of the story?
almost caught up! the pathos of the plague aftermath is very moving. "...voices and sobs murmuring through the air, giving forth a sadness tinged with feelings of comfort." (p572)