Author: Katie

After reading

After reading Calvino’s “The Aquatic Uncle”, I was most intrigued by how much a sense of value each character had. In the beginning, Qfwfq was thrilled by the idea of the move from being a water organism to a land organism, but no matter how much he pushed the idea on his great uncle, he never seemed to budge from the older tradition of being a creature of the water.  Qfwfq claims, “It just wasn’t possible to make him accept a reality different from his own.” In my opinion this was true of both characters. They both took pride in their decision to either live on land or in the water and despite their ignorance of what life would be like on the other side, neither of them were willing to change. They both seemed very scared of the idea of change, especially since they each had been living their lives comfortably for so long. I think Calvino was trying to suggest that many people are afraid of change, but that it’s important to stick to what’s important to you. One should not let anyone else persuade them into changing their opinion if they are most comfortable with it and believe it’s right for them. I believe Calvino was telling the audience to honor uniqueness and do whatever the individual thinks is best. At the very end of the story, I was most surprised that Lll ended up changing her ways in deciding to learn how to be a creature of the water, leaving Qfwfq behind. However, I was especially surprised to see that even though he was upset, Qfwfq still stated, “They all had something…that made them somehow superior to me…And yet I wouldn’t have traded placed with any of them.” I liked how even though his life didn’t turn out the way he thought it would, he still was content with who he was.