As I was nearing the end of the book I noticed that pretty much all of the characters felt like they were destined for greatness or for some higher purpose. Claire wanted to make a meaningful movie, Pat wanted to be a well-known musician, Shane wanted to be a famous writer, Dee longed to go back to acting days, and Pasquale wants to build his quaint family business into famous and fancy resort for Americans. Many of the characters were not happy with the way their life was turning out. I think it is because they all were stuck in the past( kind of like No Exit). They could not move on and try to do something fulfilling because they were fixated on what could have been.
" All we have is the story we tell. Everything we do, every decision we make, our strength, weakness motivation, history, and character-what we believe- none of it is real; it part of the story we tell. But here's the thing:it's our goddamned story!" (Walter 266)
Obviously the past is important and there are things that you can't control(like the actions of others), but people should still make the best out of their situation. I think life is some kind of combination of destiny and choice. People have a general path, but they chose how to travel it. In other words certain events are fated, but not a person's actions. I believe the interaction between Pasquale and Dee was fated, but their response to the situation was not.
"I was living in dreams when I met you. And when I met the man you loved I saw my own weakness in him. Such irony how could I be a man worthy of your love when I had walked away from my own child? That is why I went back. And ontwas the best thing I ever did. She understands: she began teaching als a kind of self- sacrafice, subversief her own desires and ambitions for the ambitions of her studentes. But then you find there is more and that it really does lessen the loneliness,"(Walter 315).
Dee and Pasquale both took hold their lives and made the most out of their situations and ended up happier for it. How important do you think the past is in shaping who a person becomes?
Obviously the past is important and there are things that you can't control(like the actions of others), but people should still make the best out of their situation. I think life is some kind of combination of destiny and choice. People have a general path, but they chose how to travel it. In other words certain events are fated, but not a person's actions. I believe the interaction between Pasquale and Dee was fated, but their response to the situation was not.
"I was living in dreams when I met you. And when I met the man you loved I saw my own weakness in him. Such irony how could I be a man worthy of your love when I had walked away from my own child? That is why I went back. And ontwas the best thing I ever did. She understands: she began teaching als a kind of self- sacrafice, subversief her own desires and ambitions for the ambitions of her studentes. But then you find there is more and that it really does lessen the loneliness,"(Walter 315).
Dee and Pasquale both took hold their lives and made the most out of their situations and ended up happier for it. How important do you think the past is in shaping who a person becomes?
As much as we can try to ignore it, the past is always going to be there to remind us of our mistakes. It is inevitable to avoid, and a part of life that we must deal with. I believe that if you want to become a different person than your past-self however, that is possible with great effort and determination.
ReplyDeleteAfter having lived their respective lives to the fullest, Dee and Pasquale decide to do something they missed out on in the past. They travel to Italy together in an attempt to make up for lost time. I'm sure they both felt regret that they hadn't done it earlier, but they chose to make the best of their situation and limited time.
It is impossible to change what happened in the past, but it is not impossible to change what you do in the present. While Dee and Pasquale can never reclaim the time they didn't get to spend together in the past, they can always try to make up for it by spending time together now.