706 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2024
    1. “Going on?” I fumbled by way of a question. “Nothing.” I thoughtabout it some more. “Nothing,” I repeated, as if what I was vaguelybeginning to get a hint of was so amorphous that it could just as easily beshoved away by my repeated “nothing” and thereby fill the unbearable gapsof silence. “Nothing.”

      The irony of repeating "nothing" and yet a growing sense of amorphous insight. This demonstrates the deception of words well, and yet shows that understanding is often pushed away and manipulated by words

    2. Now, in the silence of the moment, I stared back, not to defy him,or to show I wasn’t shy any longer, but to surrender, to tell him this is who Iam, this is who you are, this is what I want, there is nothing but truthbetween us now, and where there’s truth there are no barriers,

      Silence and yet at the same time communication

    3. This time I looked out to the sea and, with a vague and weary tone thatwas my last diversion, my last cover, my last getaway, said, “Yes, I knowwhat I’m saying and you’re not mistaking any of it. I’m just not very goodat speaking. But you’re welcome never to speak to me again.

      Words are a diversion, a cover, a getaway

    4. “What things that matter?”Was he being disingenuous?“You know what things. By now you of all people should know.”Silence.“Why are you telling me all this?”“Because I thought you should know.”“Because you thought I should know.” He repeated my words slowly,trying to take in their full meaning, all the while sorting them out,

      No explicit conversation here, just fuddling, yet the meaning is conveyed perfectly and they share it with a kiss.

    5. Did I want to be like him? Did I want to be him? Or did I just want tohave him? Or are “being” and “having” thoroughly inaccurate verbs in thetwisted skein of desire, where having someone’s body to touch and beingthat someone we’re longing to touch are one and the same, just oppositebanks on a river that passes from us to them, back to us and over to themagain in this perpetual circuit where the chambers of the heart, like thetrapdoors of desire, and the wormholes of time, and the false-bottomeddrawer we call identity share a beguiling logic according to which theshortest distance between real life and the life unlived, between who we areand what we want, is a twisted staircase designed with the impish cruelty ofM. C. Escher. When had they separated us, you and me, Oliver?

      Twisted Skein of desire

  2. Jul 2024
    1. his is like coming home, like cominghome after years away among Trojans and Lestrygonians, like cominghome to a place where everyone is like you, where people know, they justknow—coming home as when everything falls into place and you suddenlyrealize that for seventeen years all you’d been doing was fiddling with thewrong combination. Which was when I decided to convey without budging,without moving a single muscle in my body, that I’d be willing to yield ifyou pushed, that I’d already yielded, was yours, all yours, except that youwere suddenly gone and though it seemed too true to be a dream, yet I wasconvinced that all I wanted from that day onward was for you to do theexact same thing you’d done in my sleep.

      Seventeen years fiddling with the wrong combination -- this indicative of his conflict that this bildungsroman aims to tackle

    2. So this is who he also is, I said to myself after seeing how he’d flippedfrom ice to sunshine.I might as well have asked: Do I flip back and forth in just the sameway?P.S. We are not written for one instrument alone; I am not, neither areyou.

      ?

    3. After I had finished explaining my transcription, I became aware ofthe keenest glance coming from my left. It thrilled and flattered me; he wasobviously interested—he liked me. It hadn’t been as difficult as all that,then. But when, after taking my time, I finally turned to face him and takein his glance, I met a cold and icy glare—something at once hostile andvitrified that bordered on cruelty.

      very clear contradictions in Oliver here.

    4. There is a law somewhere that says that when one person is thoroughlysmitten with the other, the other must unavoidably be smitten as well. Amorch’a null’amato amar perdona.

      Hahaha this is what I was looking for

      could it also show narcissus, a reflection, love is seeing oneself in the other and being thoroughly okay with oneself that all identity comes loose and having and being are simply one and the same thing?

    5. Hesaw through everybody, but he saw through them precisely because the firstthing he looked for in people was the very thing he had seen in himself andmay not have wished others to see

      Does this support the idea of Narcissus? Yes, it means he sees his own reflection in others and understands others only because he knows himself. Demonstrates maturity

    6. I would have blushed, and blushed because I had blushed, fuddledwith words and ultimately broken down—and then where would I be? Whatwould he say?Better break down now, I thought, than live another day juggling all ofmy implausible resolutions to try again later

      Shows that true identity is most transparent (Cor cordium; heart of hearts) through the expression of the body. The body never lies. The blushing and the fuddling would have given it all, and therefore is the basis of bodily continuity

    7. Speechless,I would have admitted things I hadn’t mapped out for myself or didn’tknow I had it in me to admit. Speechless, I would have gotten to where mybody longed to go far sooner than with any bon mot prepared hours aheadof time.

      Elio's comment on the use of words to express oneself, on defining (unnecessarily) identity that confound and bring oneself FURTHER from truth, than if he stayed silent and speechless, through which more could be conveyed than with any fancy expressions said verbally

    8. I repeated his phrase as if it were a prophetic mantra meant to reflecthow he lived his life and how I was attempting to live mine.

      Yes, it was Oliver's approach to life, "If not later, when?" that Elio had been taking upon himself just like any other of his traits, because Elio wants to be Oliver as much as he wants to have him.

    9. Or making fun of me. Or seeing through me.It stung me when he finally came out with it. Only someone who hadcompletely figured me out would have said it. “If not later, when?”

      His "If not later, when?" offends Elio because it hints at his looking for a better moment to speak (to speak or to die) and their continuous delaying of approaching the matter at hand by speaking, maybe because speaking will change something between them, because speaking means something.

      In this case, Oliver himself is picking at his own scab, as he always says "Later!" Him saying this to Elio is ironic because the two of them are both delaying admitting their true feeling and Oliver is telling Elio to hurry up and confront him, even when all signs say he doesn't want to.

    10. When had it started? Andhow was it that I hadn’t been there when it started? And why wasn’t I told?Why wasn’t I able to reconstruct the moment when they progressed from xto y? Surely the signs were all around me. Why didn’t I see them?

      The need to define, to put x and y together, to make sense of, to conflate. And oliver hates it. To bear witness, to keep, to possess, all signs of immaturity. childlike tone

      He is projecting his need to define Oliver's life because he believes he is Oliver, in the twisted skein of desire.

    11. I always tried to keep him within my field of vision. I never let him driftaway from me except when he wasn’t with me. And when he wasn’t withme, I didn’t much care what he did so long as he remained the exact sameperson with others as he was with me. Don’t let him be someone else whenhe’s away. Don’t let him be someone I’ve never seen before. Don’t let himhave a life other than the life I know he has with us, with me

      Perhaps this goes to show how he sees Oliver as himself. Thus proving his hypothesis on the "Twisted Skein of Desire" where to be and to have are the same things, but on opposite sides of the river.

      And his insecurity blooming from not knowing who Oliver is when he's gone reflects his insecurity in not fully defining himself. It shows his immaturity and instability

    12. Like all caubois, she said: theyknow everything there is to know about food, because they can’t hold aknife and fork properly. Gourmet aristocrats with plebian manners. Feedhim in the kitchen.

      To know everything there is to know about oneself (the food) because he does not adopt the non-paradoxical constraints that one uses to define identity. He defies expectations of knowing so much about foods, cheeses and wines -- more than the Italians who have been doing this forever, because he does not stick to custom, to traditional views of identity.

    13. Hanging on a hook was this morning’s redbathing suit which he hadn’t swum in, which was why it was hanging thereand not drying on the balcony. I picked it up, never in my life having priedinto anyone’s personal belongings before. I brought the bathing suit to myface, then rubbed my face inside of it, as if I were trying to snuggle into itand lose myself inside its folds—

      This scene... What is going on?

    14. But all of these hours were strained by fear, as if fear were a broodingspecter, or a strange, lost bird trapped in our little town, whose sooty wingflecked every living thing with a shadow that would never wash.

      Fear as a central component of his love for oliver. what is this significance?

    15. When I think back to that summer, I can never sort the sequence ofevents. There are a few key scenes. Otherwise, all I remember are the“repeat” moments.

      What do all these different types of moments mean or represent?

    1. The Ovidian allusions underscore Elio’s double-role as pursuer and pursued.

      So these allusions most notably show that they take on both roles in their relationship which highlight not only the fluidity of their relationship, but more fundamentally the dynamism and contradictions that lie in individual identities.

    2. and I never waited long enough to knowwhether I was even wanted there; look away because I was too scared to stareanyone back; look away because I didn’t want to give anything away

      Proof that this physical moment of eye contact "gives things away" rather than words

    3. Like Narcissus, each perceives the signs given by the other, but they cannot be sure exactly howto interpret those signs because they do not have any opportunity to talk about the significance oftheir gestures unless they find themselves in a private place. Narcissus notes that his reflection’sgestures mirror his own, but Elio and Oliver do not seem to realize that their signs of love arealmost exactly the same until they have the opportunity to speak about those signs. Nevertheless,in either case, it is the words that are missing: Narcissus needs his reflection to confirm withwords his suspicion that the reflection loves him back, just as Elio and Oliver both need spokenconsent from the other before pursuing their desire for each other.

      Both of them echo each other's signs, and Elio does not understand himself enough to recognise his own reflection, projecting the same signs of affection he himself is giving off.

      However, I disagree with the words argument. In my interpretation, words serves to confound the confession and true expression of identity, and what often gives it all away is the body. Just as the knight fuddles with words. Instead, Elio finds himself unable to refute the meaning his bodily expression brings.

    4. After the two lovers have at last slept together, we learn that what each perceived as theother’s indifference and dislike had actually been signs of their affection all along. In fact, welearn that the signs they misunderstand are largely signs that each himself uses to conveyaffection, so that they are almost literally in love with their own reflections.

      "The signs they misunderstand are largely signs that each himself uses to convey affection, so that they are almost literally in love with their own reflections."

      Firstly, what does this mean, and how do we know?

      Does this show a disconnect between understanding one's own identity as he misunderstands Oliver's coldness which is actually affection? Elio does not have a grasp on himself because he misunderstands his own reflection, although he does come to understand him more as the story progresses.

    5. The height of their emotional and physical connection is marked by their exchange andconformity of identity: their love is all about each seeing himself in the other

      Thesis: Their love is founded on seeing oneself in another, the exchange and conformity of identity

    6. Elio says that he “repeated his phrase as if it were a prophetic mantra meant to reflecthow he lived his life and how I was attempting to live mine” (Aciman 2007: 51). These examplesfurther highlight Aciman’s theme of repetition which underscores his more potent references tothe myth of Echo and Narcissus.

      Does this repetition or echo of this mantra restrict his identity in any way?

    7. he channels Echo often in the novel whenhe describes his contemplative repetitions of things Oliver says to him in his dreams or inactuality. He has a dream that Oliver says, “you’ll kill me if you stop,” which happens in hisdreams on various other occasions, and Elio holds onto this phrase until the two of them finallyconsummate their love and Elio repeats the phrase aloud several times

      Basically, Echo is reinforcing the idea of interpersonal identification. Although in the dream Oliver says "you'll kill me if you stop", the phrase is actually said by Elio -- showing how they desire one another both to have each other but also to be one another. Through the exchanging and replacing of words. How do words and speech represent or shape identity?

    8. Oliver’s response “hated it?” turns Elio’sstatement into a question, just as Echo turns Narcissus’ question into a statement: dixerat “ecquisadest?” et “adest!” responderat Echo (“He had said, ‘Is anyone here?’ and ‘She is here!’ Echohad responded,” Ov. Met. 6.379)

      Does this show how meaning in words can be twisted into several other variations, and therefore how speaking can be of deception, while bodily expression is most honest of the identity? And then how do we connect bodily continuity/expression to identity holding contradictions?

    9. ndeed, Elio later emphasizes his fear ofspeaking when he likens himself to a knight in a novella he is reading who cannot decidewhether it is better “to speak or to die” in order to resolve his concealed love for a princess(Aciman 2007: 63). We later learn that the knight does decide to speak, but “fudges” and doesnot say everything that he wants to say (Aciman 2007: 68)

      What do words signify in CMBYN? We know both that Elio has a "fear" of speaking, but how does speaking show deception, and why is that important in identity?

    10. Now Elio stares intently at Oliver,but is “fleeing” with the same gesture, playing both the role of the pursuer and the pursued lover.Narcissus, in the same way, conveys both signs of pursuing and being pursued with his gestures,as the reflection of his attempts to court his reflection look to him like gestures appropriate forone being courted

      Important quotation because this is the point of Gianelle's articulation about the references to Narcissus. It is that they have contradictory (quite literally opposite: pursuer and pursued) roles in their dynamic, and that hints to a flexible and fluid and contradictory identity

    11. This sets up Aciman’s thematic comparison of Elio and Oliverwith Alcibiades and Socrates, which I will address in the following chapter.

      This was just pre-knowledge for the real argument in Alcibiades and Socrates? Because this did not confound expectations, simply established a kind of perceived imbalance in love?

    12. It is notsurprising, then, that his representations of Elio’s relationship with Oliver through references toancient Greek and Roman literature should perform, by themselves, a queer reading of thosetraditional categories of gender and sexual power dynamics.

      Gianelle aims to investigate the dynamic between Elio and Oliver on the assumption that Elio represents the difficulty in categorizing or defining oneself, hypothesizing that the dynamics will be queer and confound gender norms (+ adds contradictory nature of identity)

    13. Aciman has intended for his narrator to resist a single interpretation because Elio is himselfmeant to reflect the condition of people to be dynamic and difficult to categorize.

      Elio is meant to reflect the condition of people to be dynamic and difficult to categorize. Gianelle supports this idea with the Goldman Sachs Talk with Andre Aciman talking about the San Clemente Syndrome when Elio tries to transcribe the quartet.

  3. Jun 2024
    1. You makeme like who I am, who I become when you’re with me, Oliver. If there isany truth in the world, it lies when I’m with you, and if I find the courage tospeak my truth to you one day, remind me to light a candle in thanksgivingat every altar in Rome
    2. I remembered the scene in the Bible when Jacob asks Rachel for waterand on hearing her speak the words that were prophesied for him, throws uphis hands to heaven and kisses the ground by the well.

      ? what does this say and why dooes it matter

    3. but in urging him tospeak about her behind her back, I’d turn Chiara into the object of man-to-man gossip. It would allow us to warm up to one another through her, tobridge the gap between us by admitting we were drawn to the same woman.
    4. because I wanted to see if her arousal took thesame turns as mine, so that I might trace mine on hers and see which of thetwo was the genuine article.

      Is he looking towards others to figure out how he feels, what is real and what is not, what is right or wrong? In some way he is also trying to see himself in her, just as narcissus does. And he does this to know himself, which was his main goal anyway

    5. I described her naked body, which I’d seen two years before. I wantedhim aroused. It didn’t matter what he desired so long as he was aroused.

      Is this trying to see another part of Oliver, to know another side of him? What does this have to do with identity/bodily continuity?

    6. wouldhave done anything to ruin every opportunity they had to be alone

      Why does he always need to bear witness? Why does he need to define? Why does he need to know everything? That is also his love for oliver, the knowing of the intimate sides of him, of his underskin

    7. I was watching. I dreaded losing him to her. Dreaded losing her to himtoo. Yet thinking of them together did not dismay me. It made me hard,even though I didn’t know if what aroused me was her naked body lying inthe sun, his next to hers, or both of theirs together.

      How tie this to the thing about sexuality? And bodily continuity?

    8. It threw me back to age six.I shrugged my shoulders, meaning, Go ahead, I couldn’t care less. Butno sooner had they left than I scrambled upstairs and began sobbing into mypillow.

      What does this say about his maturity? age 6?

    9. If I hurt my face, I’d wanthim to look at me and wonder why, why might anyone do this to himself,until, years and years later—yes, Later!—he’d finally piece the puzzletogether and beat his head against the wall.

      ?

    10. Whenhe came to my assistance to help me understand a fragment by Heraclitus,because I was determined to read “his” author, the words that sprang to mewere not “gentleness” or “generosity” but “patience” and “forbearance,”which ranked higher.
    11. no one lusted after every ripple ofmuscle, no one took him to bed every night and on spotting him in themorning lying in his heaven by the pool, smiled at him, watched a smilecome to his lips, and thought, Did you know I came in your mouth lastnight?
    12. until I realized, almost to my shame, that part of me didn’t mind hisdying, that there was even something almost exciting in the thought of hisbloated, eyeless body finally showing up on our shores
    13. One day I saw Oliver sharing the same ladder with the gardener, tryingto learn all he could about Anchise’s grafts, which explained why ourapricots were larger, fleshier, juicier than most apricots in the region.

      When the apricots represent Oliver's deepest and most hidden fragments of identity, and Oliver "trying to learn all he could about Anchise's grafts" shows his determination in understanding his contradictory bits of himself, that don't meet his confident, tan caubois mannerisms. Furthermore, the apricots were "larger, fleshier, jucier than most apricots in the region". Indicating his understanding of his identity allowed him to mature into such a beautiful fruit.

    14. that part of his body that must have been fairer than the rest because it neverapricated—and near it, if I dared to bite that far, his apricock

      The skin motif comes up once again, where he appreciates and obsesses over the parts of Oliver that haven't been exposed, that haven't been shown, the multi-dimensionality of Oliver (?). Specifically, he fantasises about biting into the apricot, which he compares to Oliver's ass. This connects a desire for intimacy and a selfish (?) knowledge of the other regarding the dimensions of their identity. "Apricate" is to sunbathe.

    15. I was seventeen that year and, being the youngest at the tableand the least likely to be listened to, I had developed the habit of smugglingas much information into the fewest possible words

      Couple things: Elio ties the transition between immature to mature as the acceptance of a elongated, convoluted, and contradictory identity that cannot be condensed into words. Elio also displays this immaturity through one key behaviour: His "smuggling"of as much information into the fewest possible words, indicating his desire to condense his identity. Thirdly, in the next line, what that gives him in terms of appearance, he is unconfident and that juxtaposes him with Oliver

    16. nd you’re basically scrambling to come toterms with something, which, unbeknownst to you, has been brewing forweeks under your very nose and bears all the symptoms of what you’reforced to call I want.

      "Forced to call I want", implies societal pressure to put labels on feelings... What does Elio think of this? Assigning definitions based on symptoms. Based on others telling you -- this is the transition that Elio takes to become Oliver.

      Will he eventually not want him? And how does this prove identity is contradictory!?

    17. soles, of his throat, of the bottom of his forearms, which hadn’t really beenexposed to much sun. Almost a light pink, as glistening and smooth as theunderside of a lizard’s belly. Private, chaste, unfledged, like a blush on anathlete’s face or an instance of dawn on a stormy night. It told me thingsabout him I never knew to ask

      Motif of skin introduced in CMBYN, where Oliver's duality of skin, tanned, and pink and untouched represents the multidimensionality of identity, and the contradictions that exist within him -- which is what fascinates Elio. The coexistence of both contradictions in such a beautiful, whole, masterpiece who has affinities leaping out of him is enlightening for Elio. Elio may see Oliver as an Elio who he wishes to mature into.

    18. No name added, no jest to smooth out the ruffled leave-taking,nothing. His one-word send-off: brisk, bold, and blunted—take your pick,he couldn’t be bothered which.

      Can this characterise Oliver as someone who doesn't believe in the constructed identities of individuals, seeing as he says to all, "Later!" without naming? Or characterise him as someone who has no respect for societal obligations and is simply true to himself in such way?

    1. Stephen’sattitude to death is consequently important in his early characterisation, for it both reflects theinfluence of Catholic doctrine upon him and, in his assimilation of Catholic principle into hisevery-day life and the suggested superficiality of his understanding, implies his dutifulness tosurrounding authority.

      Concluding sentence of main point

    2. Tn both his alignment withCatholic principle and his anxious completion of duties, one perceives a desperation to avoid anyform of transgression, reflecting, perhaps, his state of vulnerability during his early days atClongowes.

      Connecting eagerness to another perspective: he wants to avoid transgression, and it reflects his state of vulnerability from his past. Indicating that this vulnerability has affected him long-term.

    3. he simplicity and matter-of-factness with which Stephenassimilates the fear of spiritual death into his nightly routine, and his inherent belief that failureto complete his duties will condemn him to hell,

      Real examples from the story to back it up

    4. However,there is a discrepancy in severity between the every-day, straight-forward tasks listed and theconcluding reference to hell and death and, despite this, Stephen treats these elements incombination, indiscriminately.

      This becomes a logical argument of just meaning. Just meaning. Rational deduction of what Stephen is based on his actions and associations

    5. This fear of damnation is directly associated withStephen’s Catholic context, for, within the Catholic paradigm, physical death will be succeededby eternal punishment if one has committed severe transgressions.

      An explanation of the context needed to understand WHY he may fear these things

    6. Stephen’s impetus to quickly fulfil his nightly duties is, seemingly, a fear of spiritual death — hedoes not want to be condemned to hell.

      The main takeaway and interpretation of the quote is stated here. they will connect it in the next lines to answer the RQ that is: How do the implications of the protagonists' attitudes towards death develop their character?

    7. To investigate the question posed, instances in the narratives of Stephen and Joana that refer todeath will be identified, and the characters’ attitudes and emotional states will be explored,observing how these states have been evoked by the writers. Critical works discussing 4 Portraitand Near to the Wild Heart, and those comparing the works of Clarice Lispector with those ofJames Joyce, will be studied.

      Methodology (?)

    8. However, whilst Cixous explores Stephen’s wishto engage freely and creatively with reality as a reason for his rejection of priesthood,” this essayidentifies a shift in Stephen’s preoccupation, from fearing damnation to prioritising the processof living.

      This is how this essay DIFFERS from Cixous's and is not a copy. they are elucidating the purpose of the essay whilst arguing for originality

  4. May 2024
    1. He had never had apricotjuice in his life. She stood facing him with her salver flat against her apron,trying to make out his reaction as he quaffed it down. He said nothing atfirst. Then, probably without thinking, he smacked his lips.

      He just downed a glass of his own fluid, and enjoyed it... Does this mean love and sexual desire is a desire targeted at loving oneself?

    2. The Latin word was praecoquum, from pre-coquere, pre-cook, toripen early, as in ‘precocious,’ meaning premature

      Apricots are compared to "blushing with shame, shame comes with age" and then directly referenced to Oliver's butt. Clearly representing Oliver with age and reference to his butt, so it characterizes Oliver as two things; shameful, and "premature" and "ripen early", which is ironic considering his age -- what does this say about youth, identity, and contradictions?

    3. Oliver timido? That was new. Could all of his gruff Americanisms benothing more than an exaggerated way of covering up the simple fact thathe didn’t know—or feared he didn’t know—how to take his leavegracefully?

      New revelation that there is more to the gruffness of Oliver as one has thought. At the same time, gruffness and timidity coexist harmoniously in this Muvi Star

    4. He had, it took me a while to realize, four personalities depending onwhich bathing suit he was wearing. Knowing which to expect gave me theillusion of a slight advantage. Red: bold, set in his ways, very grown-up,almost gruff and ill-tempered—stay away. Yellow: sprightly, buoyant,funny, not without barbs—don’t give in too easily; might turn to red in notime. Green, which he seldom wore: acquiescent, eager to learn, eager tospeak, sunny—why wasn’t he always like this? Blue: the afternoon hestepped into my room from the balcony, the day he massaged my shoulder,or when he picked up my glass and placed it right next to m

      Look for contradictions to this to prove your argument

    5. I was Glaucus and he was Diomedes. In the name of some obscure cultamong men, I was giving him my golden armor for his bronze. Fairexchange. Neither haggled, just as neither spoke of thrift or extravagance.

      Allusion to Diomedes and Glaucus

    6. “Listen to this,” he’d sometimes say, removing his headphones,breaking the oppressive silence of those long sweltering summer mornings.“Just listen to this drivel.” And he’d proceed to read aloud something hecouldn’t believe he had written months earlier.“Does it make any sense to you? Not to me.”“Maybe it did when you wrote it,” I said.He thought for a while as though weighing my words.“That’s the kindest thing anyone’s said to me in months”

      In some way, this is like temporal parts -- how one can be completely A one day and then completely B the next

    7. The very possibility of meeting his family suddenly alarmed me—tooreal, too sudden, too in-my-face, not rehearsed enough. Over the years I’dlodged him in the permanent past, my pluperfect lover, put him on ice,stuffed him with memories and mothballs like a hunted ornamentconfabulating with the ghost of all my evenings. I’d dust him off from timeto time and then put him back on the mantelpiece. He no longer belonged toearth or to life. All I was likely to discover at this point wasn’t just howdistant were the paths we’d taken, it was the measure of loss that was goingto strike me—a loss I didn’t mind thinking about in abstract terms butwhich would hurt when stared at in the face, the way nostalgia hurts longafter we’ve stopped thinking of things we’ve lost and may never have caredfor.

      Even after fifteen years, he has not matured the way Oliver had, because he still holds tightly, too tightly, to the Elio of yesterday, the Elio of fifteen years ago, to his identity-yesterday. But his identity can never flourish without the flux. His identity requires flux. Elio is not Elio if he never changes. This is his attempt at psychological continuity, the preserving of memories and the fear of destroying that continuity.

    8. Would I like him, wouldhe like me, would either of us understand why the other became who he is,would either be surprised to learn that each of us had in fact run into anOliver of one sort or another, man or woman, and that we were verypossibly, regardless of who came to stay with us that summer, one and thesame person still?

      He's stating that no matter what happened, man or woman he loved, no matter who it was, Elio is still Elio no matter what. Has he finally found the truth that he does not need to condense or simplify himself to reach a substance, an essence? That simply being in his own body is Elio enough to be Elio?

    9. I should have learned to do what he’d have done. Shrugged myshoulders—and been okay with pre-come. But that wasn’t me. It wouldnever have occurred to me to say, So what if he saw? Now he knows

      Juxtaposition with the fear of expressing one's identity (Elio) and the carefree nature of Oliver, who is honest about his body whereas Elio feels shameful with the honesty of his body's expression of identity.

    10. I asked, “Must we?” This was theclosest I would ever come to saying, Stay. Just stay with me. Let your handtravel wherever it wishes, take my suit off, take me, I won’t make a noise,won’t tell a soul, I’m hard and you know it, and if you won’t, I’ll take thathand of yours and slip it into my suit now and let you put as many fingersas you want inside me

      Later in the novel it shows that he does pick up on this. This shows support of body language, the deception of words and yet the honesty of bodily expression. True identity comes through in skin.

    11. What struck me was not just his amazing gift for reading people, forrummaging inside them and digging out the precise configuration of theirpersonality, but his ability to intuit things in exactly the way I myself mighthave intuited them. This, in the end, was what drew me to him with acompulsion that overrode desire or friendship or the allurements of acommon religion.

      Evidence that religion, sexuality, and all the shallow ideas of romance is not enough to define their relationship -- it is their similar intuition, and his amazing gift for reading people. Also.. this is like Sammy!!!

    12. Only once during his very first few days did I get a sense that thiswillful but accommodating, laid-back, water-over-my-back, unflappable,unfazed twenty-four-year-old who was so heedlessly okay with so manythings in life was, in fact, a thoroughly alert, cold, sagacious judge ofcharacter and situations

      Example of Oliver holding contradictions, and Elio's noticing of this, because Elio loves his multidimensionality

    13. My father told him his insights into Heraclitus were brilliantbut needed firming up, that he needed to accept the paradoxical nature ofthe philosopher’s thinking, not simply explain it away. He was okay withfirming things up, he was okay with paradox. Back to the drawing board—he was okay with the drawing board as well.

      He was OK with the paradox. It signifies he could accept himself, too, in all his discontinuity and multidimensionality

  5. Apr 2024
    1. A few hourslater, when I remembered that he had just finished writing a book onHeraclitus and that “reading” was probably not an insignificant part of hislife, I realized that I needed to perform some clever backpedaling and lethim know that my real interests lay right alongside his

      Oliver wrote a book on Heraclitus, the main connector between his ideology, characterization, and the theory of universal flux, that one may not necessarily be one's past temporal part -- but one who continues it, like an illusion of movement.

    2. I had put reading last on my list, thinking that, with the willful, brazenattitude he’d displayed so far, reading would figure last on his.

      An assumption, like many others (such as the bathing suit situation) about Oliver's identity that is quickly refuted, because identities never make sense. A person as a whole cannot be summarized in rules or statements or if.. then.. conditions.

    1. I am not valiant neither,But ever puny whipster gets my sword.But why should honor outlive honesty?Let it go all

      He feels he has lost his honor because he has no more honesty. What does honesty mean in this context?

    2. So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true.So speaking as I think, alas, I die

      Perhaps the letting go of one's responsibilities, one's expectations and civility (as a woman) leads to her death, meaning that all life shallowly is, is the battle between ourselves and society's imposing constructs, and once this conflict is overcome, we are at peace -- we can ascend into heaven. This alignment between our inner clarity and our actions is what leads her to die "peacefully".

    3. Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.From this time forth I never will speak word.

      His last rebellion, his final influence over the situation -- knowing nothing. And its ironic because he was the source of all knowledge and information that sparked all the events, and now that everything is done, he is still. There is no more movement, even if they would like there to be some. In this way he is really like Shakespeare, having the power to cause and inhibit action through knowledge -- the greed of which is Othello's fatal flaw.

    4. When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate,Nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speakOf one that loved not wisely, but too well.Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought,Perplexed in the extreme.

      He wants to be described of honestly and free of malice, because for once, when he is dead, his image can finally be free of Iago's influence.

    5. Set you down this,And say besides that in Aleppo once,Where a malignant and a turbaned TurkBeat a Venetian and traduced the state,I took by the throat the circumcisèd dog,And smote him, thus

      By killing himself, he is cleansing the world of his "inner darkness" being a Turk, the beastliness that ruined the superior and ordered Venetian society. It is this, himself, who he kills -- showing he is, at heart, still a Turk, and not the driving motivation that causes all these events to unfold (Iago) -- as Iago is stabbed but has not died. This signifies the curse of suspicion and reason cannot be eliminated -- reason preys on individual people and is not something one can rid. In the end, he chooses once again to rid the tumor of society (which he believes first is his wife, Desdemona, now it is him, the Turk), following honor rather than personal desire.

    6. Had she been true,If heaven would make me such another worldOf one entire and perfect chrysolite,I’d not have sold her for it

      Honest is such a convoluted word here -- it refers to good, but is associated with bad (Iago), and for Desdemona to lie makes her good, and yet being a liar in her marriage is terrible to Othello, and yet Othello loves her for the fact she lied to Brabantio so she could be with him. Yet Othello wants Desdemona to be honest and true, although what he sees as honest is not at all honest.

    7. Yet I’ll not shed her blood,Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snowAnd smooth as monumental alabaster.Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.

      Othello doesn't want to ruin or taint her purity and innocence that she sees, but knows he has to take her light. And he acknowledges that even Prometheus cannot bring back that inner light she has. It shows that he sees through her objectification and beauty and sees her invaluable light.

      • He says, it is the cause, it is the cause, signifying he is holding on to reason (which is introduced by Iago), instead of following his heart. It shows yet again that reason betrays the true nature of humanity -- and yet we are blinded thinking rejecting passion is the way to retain civility, and thus, humanity.
    8. And have not we affections,Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?Then let them use us well, else let them know,The ills we do, their ills instruct us so

      Firstly, sort of an allusion to Adam and Eve, since Eve is built of Adam, so what Adam has is inherited or learnt by Eve. Secondly, she is one of the first characters to accept their vices, and therefore be immune or unbelieving to the devil (Iago's whispers). She sees him not as a honest man.

    9. Why the wrong is but a wrong i' th' world, and havingthe world for your labor, ’tis a wrong in your ownworld, and you might quickly make it right

      Does this point to personal truths and the rejection of black and white morality? Is Emilia true to herself, not trying so hard to grasp humanity through the external rules of morality?

    10. Why, who would not make her husband acuckold to make him a monarch?

      Emilia seems to be a little looser around pride and civility -- it seems she has her own convictions. I wonder what this implies, and how her interaction with Iago might show that? What is her significance? She is the WIFE of Iago, that may say something.

    11. But, alas, to make meThe fixèd figure for the time of scornTo point his slow and moving finger at!Yet could I bear that too, well, very well.But there where I have garnered up my heart,Where either I must live or bear no life,The fountain from the which my current runsOr else dries up—to be discarded thence!

      He actually admits to his pride not being something that kills him, he can put up with all but the pain of his heart, that is his true motivation. So it is Desdemona's love and adoration that focuses on him that keeps him going.

    Annotators

  6. Mar 2024
    1. Alas, alas!It is not honesty in me to speakWhat I have seen and known. You shall observe him,And his own courses will denote him soThat I may save my speech. Do but go afterAnd mark how he continues.

      Funnily Iago does not incite suspicion in Lodovico, only Othello. Perhaps that emphasizes Iago is a delusional part of Othello, the inner darkness that arises, indicating Othello has a fatal flaw that differs from all other characters. Is it really because he represses something? If so what? Why is he weak in his convictions and easy to sway? What does that show? What does it say about how he sees Desdemona?

    2. Is this the natureWhom passion could not shake?

      Ahh I see, the civility is based on being Iago, keeping one's passions, desires subdued -- he turns into a monster because he cannot accept his emotions and true self reflection by himself. Now that Iago has fished them out, he doesn't know how to deal with them. Like inferior function, repressing it only makes the inner darkness grow more dangerous.

    3. To LODOVICO) Concerning this, sir—(To DESDEMONA) Oh,well-painted passion!(To LODOVICO) I am commanded home.(To DESDEMONA) Getyou away,I’ll send for you anon.(To LODOVICO) Sir, I obey themandateAnd will return to Venice.(To DESDEMONA) Hence,avaunt!

      Maybe this passage signifies the intertwining of politics and personal, and how they are inseperable, because human is inseperable to their emotions -- lest they be Iago?

    4. Ay, let her rot and perish and be damned tonight, forshe shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone. Istrike it and it hurts my hand. Oh, the world hath not asweeter creature, she might lie by an emperor’s sideand command him tasks

      Confusion and contradiction

    5. Your case is better.Oh, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock,To lip a wanton in a secure couch,And to suppose her chaste. No, let me know,And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be

      Advising against innocence, against not knowing, although Iago's advice that gives Othello a taste of new information is really what leads to his downfall.

    6. Nature would not investherself in such shadowing passion without someinstruction. It is not words that shake me thus.

      Shows his reason being guided fully by physical emotion and anger, that even causes a seizure. He is not like Iago, as Iago has free will with the absence of emotion. Only reason, and that is why he is isolated from the rest, different. Juxtaposition between Othello (human) and Iago (reason, devil) and Desdemona (love, emotion) like tug of war

    7. Either from Venice, or some unhatched practiceMade demonstrable here in Cyprus to him,Hath puddled his clear spirit, and in such casesMen’s natures wrangle with inferior things,Though great ones are their object.

      She thinks it must be something political that is upsetting him -- perhaps it shows that relationship between personal and political conflict, the transferrable nature? Or proving Iago's point that emotion sways the most?

    8. Alas, thrice-gentle Cassio,My advocation is not now in tune.

      The fact that Desdemona is sometimes represented as divinity, as a guardian angel, shows that the fact that Othello is rejecting her advocation shows he is falling into his devil, into his inner Iago -- he is losing touch with God, with righteousness (while ironically thinking he is doing the right thing by being civil)

    9. Tis not a year or two shows us a man.They are all but stomachs, and we all but food.To eat us hungerly, and when they are full,

      Shows the misogyny in the society, how women are seen as resources to be eaten, consumed, to be wanted and then to be discarded.

    10. She told her, while she kept it'Twould make her amiable and subdue my fatherEntirely to her love, but if she lost itOr made gift of it, my father’s eyeShould hold her loathèd and his spirits should huntAfter new fancies.

      The parallel to the current situation, how a simple object like a handkerchief can dictate the "true" love between two people, the "perfect" love, and it just is ridiculous like magic.

    11. This hand of yours requiresA sequester from liberty, fasting, and prayer,Much castigation, exercise devout,For here’s a young and sweating devil here,That commonly rebels. 'Tis a good hand,A frank one

      How he is describing her as honest to her heart, but not so much civil. That she would lie to Brabantio for her passions, and would therefore lie to Othello for Cassio -- that he doesn't value honesty but values civility.

    12. I think the sun where he was bornDrew all such humors from him.

      Sort of parallels to the Little Black Boy in Blake, where being close to the sun = dark skin, = the absence of experience and dark desires, closer to God.

    13. Witness that here Iago doth give upThe execution of his wit, hands, heart,To wronged Othello’s service. Let him command,And to obey shall be in me remorse,What bloody business ever

      Iago has fully vowed himself to this plot that he has created, perhaps even if it means it will destroy him. Why? What is his motive? Does simply the creation of an entertaining story constitute the meaning of life?

    14. Though I perchance am vicious in my guess,As, I confess, it is my nature’s plagueTo spy into abuses, and oft my jealousyShapes faults that are not, that your wisdom,From one that so imperfectly conceits,Would take no notice, nor build yourself a trouble

      IAGO QUITE LITERALLY IS HONEST WITH OTHELLO! He warns him that these suspicions, these inner thoughts are all a delusion, and yet Othello's insecurity and stubbornness refuses to believe it

    15. As where’s that palace whereinto foul thingsSometimes intrude not? Who has that breast so pureWherein uncleanly apprehensionsKeep leets and law-days and in sessions sitWith meditations lawful?

      The palace refers to the mind where suspicion creeps in, who DOESN'T have suspicion invade their minds? Certainly not Othello, and Iago is stating the same for him, because they are one and the same person? He is literally telling him the truth of the situation, that these thoughts are "vile and false" but Othello will not listen.

    16. Nay, yet there’s more in this.I prithee speak to me as to thy thinkings,As thou dost ruminate, and give thy worst of thoughtsThe worst of words

      Iago has not elaborated or said much, it is Othello who is prying deeper and deeper into "knowing" what he should not, into peering into something that would disturb his peace. This connects to Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. It is then Othello's fault for looking for answers to his suspicions which he confirms with confirmation bias.