Moon in the Afternoon.
Moon in the Afternoon by Italo Calvino.
Going into this reading I had no prior interactions with Italo's work which caused me to have problems with understanding the point of it. After reading it a couple times over and reading some of his other work I realized it was more of a commentary on how we view the small things in life instead of moon itself. The moon is something that is so familiar to us because we see it most nights and since it is so familiar we miss the parts of it that are the most beautiful. Perfect example of this is when Mr. Palomar is describing it in the first couple sentences by saying "Nobody looks at the moon in the afternoon, and this is the moment when it would most require our attention, since its existence is still in doubt." We as humans can't control the moon and yet we have this trust in it every night to come out in the sky, but if we tried finding it during that late afternoon sky we'd be pleasantly surprised by "the whitish shadow that surfaces from the intense blue sky". Another point to make is that though this reading has nothing to do with what is going on in this day in age, I think its a good reminder that even though we are all cooped up in our living spaces, we can find joy in the small things around us and slow down a bit.
I agree James in the beginning I was a bit lost it took me a couple times to read it to really understand what was being said. I agree that this reading could be about trust, the trust that we hold in things we can’t control is pretty amazing. Sometimes I think about the amount of trust we put in cars and our phones every day. Considering these are machines, who knows the damage it could do to us if something was to go wrong. Lastly, it is funny how it seems like everything relates to our current situation, but it is a good reminder to continue to push and find joy even when it seems far from possible.
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