11

The Canto of Ulysses

As I was reading this chapter, I was confused about what point Primo tried to make. I think this chapter doesn’t have any significant parts to the plot but it shows another character of Primo. Primo tries to teach Italian to a French inmate, by translating The Canto of Ulysses from Dante’s Divine Comedy.
I remember reading Divine Comedy and how it was quite confusing. It is an epic poem of Italian literature. The studies of the great literature work helped me to understand why Primo would be translating it. While Primo was making the effort to translate the poem, he noticed the beauty of Italian and his own country.

The pride of being an Italian shows a good character of Primo. He finds a little bit of hope when he realized his identity as an Italian. He was also able to see the small thing as beauty of owns mother language in a situation where no one could ever feel proud or hopeful. I was able to see his optimism made him a different prisoner than other prisoners that surrounded him.