Life´s Things

The table of contents of the book is different from all. The way the chapters are arranged suggest that there are many ways to read the book. On can read the different cities and ____ (for example Cities and Memory) in order or by blocks, starting fro the end. I choose to read the book in page order.

Since I already new that the empire symbolized the life of the reader, it seemed obvious that the cities meant something, related to life.  An option could be the events that happen in one´s life or the essential things to one life. I kept on reader with this in mind and connected that with the description of each city.  

The following descriptions have been introduced: memory, desire signs, thin, trading, and eyes. These words follow the word “city” or go before it, in the name of each chapter.

Anastasia is the second city of “Cities and Desire.” Even though Marco Polo says that the description awakens desire, truly “you believe you are enjoying Anastasia wholly when you are only it´s slave.” (Pg. 12) I would say that this would be a good definition of many events in live. You may believe that you are enjoying every thing you do in life, but truly you do not have a choice. Take school or any form of education as an example.  You may have fun at school, and like being with your friends and even learning, but you don´t have the option of choosing whether you want it or not. You have to go to school, not only because your parents force you to, but also because, with out an education it is very unlikely to succeed in life.

The most obvious of all is “cities and memory.” Life is based on memories and past events.  Human beings mostly act and make decisions based of the events of the past. When I cook a cake for the first time, and it burns, the next time I cook it, I would remember this time and put the oven less hot.

One of the cities that confused me was “Thin Cities.” I could not think of something essential that could be represented by the word thin, but after reading more “Thin cities,” I noticed a trend in the description of these. In all, Marco Polo mentioned the water, and the importance to the city.  Valdrada is on of these and actually there are two Valdrada. Since the city was built next to a body of water, every thing is reflected upon it, creating the second Valdrada.  Since all had to do with water, this could only mean that “Thin Cities” are responsible for symbolizing the need of water. With out water, nothing of earth would survive.