Inferno

"It is all useless, if the last landing place can only be the infernal city, and it is there that, in ever-narrowing circles, the current is drawing us." And Polo said: "The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space." (Page 165) So in the end the beyond is not happy. Or there is no beyond. We live in an inferno or in a heaven, depending on how we manage to deal with it and/or escape from it. This might also be an allusion or comparison to Dante's Inferno.

The first option that Marco portrayed is becoming an emblem among emblems. That is of course easy for many, you just accept the fate you have and deal with it. So you don't see it as an inferno anymore, you just see it as life. The second portrays one selecting the best of the inferno and take care of them to prevent losing them. Give them space and enjoy the good parts of the inferno. So, it is in your hands, it is in your mind and choices the decision of living in an inferno or escaping from it. Your past, present and your future all affect that, and you will have to make the best of those to escape it using one of the two ways that Marco portrays to escape the inferno. As Francisco said in his blog, on half of the city is permanent while the other is temporary. At this point one must be expecting to get the book but it is still hard for me to understand the book. Like the story, some things about us are permanent while others are temporary. I understand the book on a literary level but we all know that you can't take this book literally. One cannot take Calvino literally. Getting some pieces together is still lacking for me, but in the end we must all live the inferno. I believe that what Marco said in section two became true. Now, I am the book. I have become an emblem among emblems. I know that I will never know it all and that I need to keep traveling in my journey through life. At least that is how I take it.