Reading Notes

Multicultural Literature in Contemporary Italy

"M"

The window as an indicator of who he is... "It tells me where and therefore who I am". The author has the perspective of an observer, rather than an active participant in his own life. He expresses a lack of control over his own actions, an "acceleration" that takes over him. This lack of control is more optimistic than anything, compared to having "a credit card which would allow [him] to live in a multidimensional world that, down there, would not yet reveal its intentions." (115). He views the future as a recovery from the past and an opportunity for positive change. He also expresses the "feeling of not belonging" as one that has never left his chest or his heart. He has found success in his life despite being different. He seems to view "otherness" as inevitable and unchangeable, but also see the potential for success and happiness inside of that identity.
Last line: "Without realizing it, I leaned my head against the glass, opening up distant memories in search of a future." He perceives the past as a necessary tool in moving into the future, rather than something that must be left behind and forgotten.

"Leaving With No Return"

The author emphasizes the impossibility of staying in his own country, while at the same time facing nothing promising in the "new life". He leaves behind a home that is unstable, chaotic and upside down. In deciding to leave, he faces a completely bleak unknown. He choses the potential for change in the nothingness that he faces over the certainty of brokenness in what he's leaving behind... aware that there is no returning.