"To be or not to be"

Polo and Khan start doubting wether their reality is actually true. They start thinking that they are fictitious characters and that the actual reality is what they build up inside of their minds. At this point, I felt like Polo and Khan were referring to my reality. In the other hand, their hypothesis is basically saying that they are Gods who create a world where everything revolves around their imagination and their creations.

Polo starts the dialogue by saying "Perhaps the terraces of this garden overlook only the lake of our mind." (117) Then Khan responds "And however far our troubled enterprises as warriors and merchants may take us, we both harbor within ourselves this silent shade, this conversation of pauses, this everything that is always the same." (117) If they can't even assimilate their reality, this means that they are simply lost in their own existence. Their reality is so plain, but at the same time so ingenious. This ingenuity only happens inside their heads, while their actual life is not more than a misery.

Then Polo talks about another theory. "Unless the opposite hypothesis is correct: that those who strive in camps and ports exist only because we two think of them, here, enclosed among these bamboo hedges, motionless since time began." (117) Here comes the idea of a powerful mind, where they build these idea that they can create a world only by imagining it. How egocentric can they be to consider such a thing? They are basically saying that they are the chiefs of the world and that they decide what to do with the lives of everyone.

Finally, they both reject this hypothesis and conclude that they are the ones who exist. Khan says: "We have proved that if we were here, we would not be." (118) Then Polo concludes: "And here, in fact, we are." (118) This reminds me to Shakespeare's poem "To be or not to be."

The poem says:

" To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by sleep, to say we end
the heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
that flesh is heir to?"

When we think further, we start questioning our own existence. What is really the essence of our existence, do we really understand our presence? Are we conscious of it?
In this case, Polo and Khan don't know if they really are or if they are not. Both o these characters seem to have a subconscious mind, making them even more realistic to the reader. In Hamlet, the character questions whether it is better "to be, or not to be, which implicates his own suicide. He is doubting wether to kill himself or not. In this case, Polo and Khan are doubting wether their reality is true or false.

Idealized Venice

Marco Polo has mentioned all the good qualities of the cities he has visited, but Khan insists that there just can't be such perfect cities. Polo insists that it is not worth talking about the negative aspects of these cities, since no city is perfect. At this point, we can see that Polo opposes pessimism. With Polo as a friend, Khan will probably begin to change his mentality and he will start to be more optimistic about his empire. Remember, I'm just foreshadowing about the text, this doesn't mean that this will eventually happen.

Polo says to Khan: "Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice." (87) Khan doesn't seem to understand his intentions and responds furiously: "When I ask you about other cities, I want to hear about them. And about Venice, when I ask you about Venice." (87) By Khan's reaction, we can see that he is too literal and he doesn't understand the real meaning of what Polo is trying to say. Marco Polo is doing a compilation of all the good qualities of these imaginary cities. In the other hand, it is very important to take into account what Polo avoids mentioning the negative aspects of each city because it doesn't help at all, it simply makes people more selfish and pessimistic. This situation portrays Khan's empire because he only looks towards the dark side and the negative aspects of an empire. Khan doesn't strive to make his empire a better place for everyone, instead he dreams of finding the ideal city, which is Venice.

There is a point in the book where Polo states that he is being sarcastic when talks about the good qualities of these cities. Khan does not understand his sarcasm, which makes his interpretation of these cities totally opposite to Polo's.

"The empire is being crushed by its own weight," Kublai thinks, and his dream now cities light as kites appear, pierced cities like laces, cities transparent as mosquito netting, cities like leaves veins, cities linked like a hand's palm, filigree cities to be seen through their opaque and fictitious thickness" (78)
At this point, I finally understood the meaning of the title "Invisible Cities." All the cities mentioned by Polo do not exist, they are just dreams and aspirations. They are "transparent as mosquito netting" because they are impossible to reach and to live in.

Polo's sarcasm and the way he portrays this cities proves that our society is a total failure. Khan is a perfect representation of naivety. He thinks that the ideal city is one with and ideal economy and wealth for the whole community, but is this really what life is about? Isn't life about humor, about making fun of our reality like Polo does?  It is difficult to change our reality, but it helps if we make fun of it instead of lamenting it all the time.

Objection: Penates & Lares

This topic goes back to my first blog about Invisible Cities, where I mention the tension between the poor and the rich. There are two interpretations: Either the rich or the poor can be "Penates" or the "Lares." Calvino portrays the tension between these two social classes in the city of Leandra.

"The true essence of Leandra is the subject of endless debate. The Penates believe that they are the city's soul, even if they arrived last year; and they believe they take Leandra with them when they emigrate. The Lares consider the Penates temporary guests, importunate, intrusive; the real Leandra is theirs, which gives form to all it contains, the Leandra that was there before all the upstars arrived and that will remain after all have gone away. (79)  Both the elite and the working class se each other as intruders, which doesen't make sense at all because they both work together for the wealth of the "whole community." But is that wealth distributed fairly? This is where power takes place, giving the elite class the most privileges in society. The elite class sees the lower class as intruders because they have different hair cuts, fashion style and language. This are all material things that separate these two classes. From the point of view of the lower class, they also see the elites as intruders because they are the ones responsible for their misery.

FAIR?

"The two species have this in common: whatever happens in the family and in the city, they will always criticize." (79) This is very true, we are very demanding with certain things that we want in life. As I mentioned in my last blog, we have too high expectations. The rich will always criticize the manners of the poor and the poor of the rich.
"The Penates bring our the old people, the great-grandparents, the great-aunts, the family of the past; the Lares talk about the environment before it was ruined. But this does not mean they live only on memories; they daydream of the careers the children will follow when they grow up (the Penates), or what this house in the neighborhood might become (the Lares) if it were in good hands." (79) The Penates have the status they have because of their past relatives, not because of their accomplishments in life. In the other hand, the Lares critique the system of society they have created in order to benefit themselves. The Penates parents dreams of the future of their sons, of their status and most importantly; their fortune. Instead, the Lares day dreams of what their lives was if these leaders (Penates) would take their future into account when managing the money of the country.

I strongly believe in social equality. I don't think that the ones who have had rich relatives from the past deserve all the power and fortune unless they have done something for the progress of everyone. The Lares deserve so much more, sadly most of them are the ones that really struggle for accomplishing their dreams, not having a penny. If you think about it, it is ironic in a sense because the rich should be the leaders, almost like Gods for the whole community. Unfortunately, this is not true and fortune makes them ambitious and self- conscious. This attitude has made the poor self-conscious as well. As a result, both attitudes make of our society a very competitive one.

Polo's Elemental Cities

It is important to know about the historical background of the characters in the story because it helps us understand Calvino's ideas in a more complex way. In Invisible Cities, Calvino explains Marco Polo's and Kublai Khan's relationship during the Middle Ages.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was a very important Venetian merchant who worked for the Mongol Prince, Kublai Khan. He received him with all his family. The prince felt really impressed by their knowledge and intelligence of the world, reason by which he kept them for various years. This is just basic information that is important to know when reading the book.                 I remember the first time we read it and no one really understood the first chapter that mentioned these two people. Now that I know what was their relationship was, now everything makes sense.

Polo travels to these "Invisible Cities" and comes back to the Empire to tell the prince about his discoveries and interpretations about each city. Since Polo describes him so many cities, his interpretations vary. "Kublai Khan had noticed that Marco Polo's cities resembled one another, as if the passage from one to another involved not a journey, but a change of elements." (43) There's two really important things about this quote: First, the way Polo describes the cities, and second the similarities all of these cities have in common. With Polo's factual descriptions, Khan feels that he is not hearing a journey of experiences, but of information. With so many descriptions about elements and objects, Khan mixes up all of these descriptions among these cities. 

Kublai Khan

"But what enhanced  for Kublai every event or piece of news reported by his inarticulate informer was the space that remained around it, a void not filled with words. The descriptions of the cities Marco Polo visited had this virtue: you could wonder through them in thought, become lost, stop and enjoy the cool air, or run off." (38) Off course this is not a virtue, the narrator is just making fun of Polo's inarticulate descriptions. Something really important as well is understanding the humor used behind the text. If we as readers, understand this humor, the purpose of the book is even more clear and evident.

"As time went by, words began to replace objects and gestures in Marco's tales: first examinations, isolated nouns, dry verbs, then phrases, ramified and leafy discourses, metaphors and tropes. The foreigner had learned to speak the emperor's language or the emperor to understand the language of the foreigner." (38) Although Polo's descriptions are not as deep, Khan gets used to them. This is a very good example of our culture. We adapt to things that are impossible not to get used to. This is the case of many foreigners that come to Colombia, leaving back their old ideas replacing them by new ones. In most cases, foreigners adapt to the country, but in others they don't. I've seen a lot of foreign students from the school that still haven't adapted to our culture. Instead, in the case of many American teachers from school, I can see that it is easier for them to adapt to the country because they chose to start a new life here.

Polo's and Khan's relationship is still evolving, they are understanding each other better and they are getting used to each other. We know that they both interpret the cities in different ways, but we still have to see what they will finally conclude of all these cities. Do they all share a similar concept? Are they divided among desires and aversion? All of these questions will have their answer as soon as we finish reading this book.

The Cities of Human Decadence

Humanity: The most achieving race, but the most obscure one. We are vicious individuals, who have created a world of our own. Everything revolves around our existence and our benefit. We expect too many things from this world, from this superficial society. These high expectations lead to our defeat when failure comes. In the world of TODAY, we do NOT accept mistakes because we have too many expectations.

"Just Society"

In Invisible Cities, Calvino depicts various cities that are all different. When analyzing the cities, one can contrast certain countries with these cities, where "invisible" societies appear. You might be asking yourself what do I mean by "invisible societies." Our mentality is simply rotten, isolated from all values and moral. We only care about our benefit, not for others' benefit. Our will to help is invisible, we only help if it benefits ourselves, which means that our intentions to help each other are just fallacies. Let's just take a look for the meaning of society in the world dictionary: "A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations." It states that society is related through "persistent relations," but how can we interpret these relations? Are they invisible or are they real? They are simply fake, which is worrying because this means we never know how a person might react to our personal difficulties. It is either our benefit our theirs, our life or theirs, this is human nature corrupted by society. The actual meaning also refers to "dominant cultural expectations." This goes back to my idea of humans expecting too much from this world of today. What are our expectations based around? fortune or progress? Here is where the two different thinkers appear, the ambitious ones and the revolutionary ones, who oppose the corruption of power and encourage prosperity for ALL.

In Invisible Cities, each city is known either for a particular emotion, a particular time, memory, or object that makes this city unique. Zaira is known for it's past, "however, it does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in corners of streets, the gratings of the windows, the banisters of the steps, the antennae of the lighting rods, the poles of the flags, every segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls." (11)
In this case, we could relate this city to a country, probably Colombia. In this country, history isn't told, but it is very evident today. In countries like Colombia, where the history is so crude and violent, this past has been tried to be forgotten, but it is just simply impossible because the past is what depicts the huge gap between the elite and the lower class today. The injustices over the lower class create a continuous resentment against the rich. This resentment is endless, it goes from generation to generation. This is the place where everyone would like to live in a more progressive country. The rich continuously critique the country because of it's violence and inactive progress. In the other hand, the poor continuously attack the rich, and as a result they form guerillas, such as Las FARC.

Zora is the vacation city, foreign to all our culture and monotonous life. It is a city where everything seems amazing to the eye of any foreign tourist. In my case, Zora for me is Machu Pichu, an amazing 15th century Inca site located in Peru. "Zora has the quality of remaining in your memory point by point, in its succession of streets, of houses along the streets,and of doors of windows in the houses." (15) This is exactly what I think about Machu Picchu. Although I went about 8 years ago, I still remember various particular scenarios in detail. It is a site of memories, of specific memories that will never be erased from my mind.

By contrasting these two cities with particular sites, we can deduce that Calvino makes a representation of our miserable lives in society. In my case, Colombia for me is the Zaira of a barbarous past where I'm not as happy. Instead, Zora is the city of my dreams, where I wish I lived. We are never completely satisfied by living the place we were born and raised. We have other expectations, we always desire a different life from the one we actually have.