Past & Present & Future

The intro borders those three words: past, present and future. Marco explains that one person’s present could be another’s future, but one change in roads can modify that.

Kublai Khan, the reader, asks Marco Polo, the author, if the purpose of these travels is to relive the past or recover the future. Marco responds by saying, “ The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have,” (29). That sentence is divided in times, ‘…little that is his…’ represents the present, ‘…much he has not had…’ represents the past and ‘…will never have…’ represents the future. He already knows what he has, and then he visits the cities and sees things that he knows he never had in the past. Then, along the lines with what this intro is trying to say, he realizes that what he sees he can never have because he chose to take a different road compared to other people.

Marco says that the more one was lost in unfamiliar cities, the more one understands the other cities. All of them connect in some way. For example, in section 3, the first three chapters mention women. Not just that they are there, but they play a main part in the city. Perhaps the cities symbolize his life. Shown in Cities & Desire 5, there is a woman who keeps running away, but once they try to keep the women in one place, she cannot be found. This may represent something in Marcos life. We do not know what, but it may be a lost love.

As I read the first Trading Cities, I thought that maybe all the descriptions of the cities have a bit of each characteristic, for example: memories, desires or signs. Except, they are named the way they are, because each one has a little more of one topic. In Trading Cities it mentions that, “…you start summoning up your memories one by one…” it mentions about memories, but the overall ‘theme’ is about trading. On page 36 it says, “…At each word the one man says…the others tell, each one…” the city is trading stories that one man shared.

In section two, Cities & Desire 4 really connects with the italics part in the beginning because, just like mentioned in the intro, Fedora, the city, also brings up the ‘what if’ question. One main question that is asked in this chapter is, “How would Fedora look if other events happened,” and it links with, “How would my life look if I took another road”. On page 32 you can clearly see what I mean, “…the waters of the canal (if it had not been dried up)…” and a couple more of those. This city is imagining another city, resembling this one, but one they like better. They are longing for a city that they desiring.

Kublai Khan doubts Marco Polo a bit, whether or not these cities really do exist, or is he just messing with his mind and repeating detail. Just like the readers might be thinking about Calvino. Is he really telling us the truth? Do these cities really exist? It is possible that these cities are all a story. They lead to something, represent something in a relationship. All these cities are an emblem that we are still trying to figure out. They are going to lead us to understand the truth behind the connection between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo.