"Usually I took advantage of the calm reigning on the mountain at this hour to practise my violin, but now it seemed a depressing thing to do. I stepped inside an picked up my instrument, but when I played it the sound was shrill and disagreeable, as if I had forgotten how to play.” (58)
The narrator’s attachment to his violin parallels his nostalgia for his childhood life and brings him hope of leaving the mountain and going back to his old ways. The narrator grows from being sheltered and insecure to independent and capable of making his own choices.
The first passage shows the narrator’s dependance on the violin, using it as a sense of comfort as he is initially put into re-education. It represents his childhood, as it reminds him of his intellectual life, and he plays it to reminisce about his past. He also mentions that he is hopeful that he will be able to go back to his old life by being one of the "three in a thousand" that leaves because of talent.
The second quote shows that what comforted him in the past is now not as appealing as it was before. As the narrator is surrounded by the unfamiliar during his re-education, he discovers that going back to his past through the violin no longer brings him the same relief. As he comes of age, he needs to adapt to his surroundings and become more self-reliant.
All in all, the violin represents the narrator's new found maturity and how he is hopeful of leaving the mountain and going back to his childhood ways.
Do you think that story telling is more or less influential to him compared to his violin?
ReplyDeleteCould the violin in this book be a symbol for hope?
ReplyDeleteSomewhat, but later on page 58 he finds that the violin no longer brings him comfort, but he doesn't exactly lose hope for the rest of the book. I think that although hope is part of it, just saying that the violin represents hope is oversimplifying it.
DeleteDo you think that the second passage shows the narrator's hopelessness as he loses solace in his violin?
ReplyDeleteI think this symbol not only symbolizes maturity as the narrator changes his viewpoint and grows over time, but also a lack of hope and loss as he now he cannot even find solace in his violin.
Could the first passage symbolize that change fuels hope? At first, when the narrator played an old song, they were both still upset. But when he played a revolutionary tune, they both cheered up.
ReplyDeleteI think the violin represents a need to mature and come of age as he is forced to adapt to a new environment. Although he has owned the violin since he was young, it doesn't bring him the same joy anymore.