The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

     Italo Calvino's The Baron in the Trees is a tale of a young boy, Cosimo, who at the age of twelve climbs into the trees in rebellion and independence against his parents and vows to never come down. The themes in this novel are love and detachment. The theme of love shows that there is only one true love in life, and the theme of detachment shows that distance allows for an objective point of view. The themes are shown through the feelings and actions of the characters, conflict, characterization, point of view, and the ending of the novel.
    The theme of love is shown through the actions and feelings of Cosimo and Viola. "The carriage door was already shut, the coachman was on the box, and Cosimo, still unable to take in this departure, was trying to attract her attention and make her understand that he had dedicated that bloodythirsty victory to her, but could only explain by shouting: "I've killed a cat!"' (Calvino 52). Cosimo loved Viola, and was willing to do anything to impress her. When he accomplished something great, he felt that he needed to show her; an example the cat he had killed. He was proud of killing the cat, and because his feelings toward Viola are love the importance of him showing her the cat exposes those true feelings of his. Her reaction to his attempts to impress her are uninterested, her nature is to be in control, and to take too much interest in him would show a weak point in herself.
    As Cosimo attempts to impress Viola, she attempts to hide her reactions. "She was surprised--very. There was no doubt of that, though her eyes were laughing through her surprise. But she recovered at once and pretended not to care, and smiled with her and mouth, revealing a tooth she had had as a child" (155). This shows Viola hiding her feelings with a nonchalant attitude towards Cosimo. She was surprised, but she could not show that side of herself for too long because it would make herself less powerful. Her inner feelings may not be completely expressed through her actions, but there are glimpses of her true self when caught off guard. Cosimo tries to impress and surprise her so he can catch a moment of her love for him. For Viola, a strong character, to show her true feelings to someone is a rarity. When Cosimo shows he can do this it shows how their love is true, because for no one else but someone she truly loved, would she ever accidentally expose her feelings.
    The conflicts between Viola and Cosimo are what fuels their relationship. "Then suddenly Donna Viola, unpredictable as her anger, reappeared" (163). Viola's anger left Cosimo alone for many reasons and many times, and it was what kept them together and tore them apart. When she was with him after a fight, there love was twice as strong, so she felt that she needed to start conflict with Cosimo to keep things interesting. Cosimo does not enjoy the mind games, and soon became so jealous it drove her away for good. Viola's stubborn personality cause her to never come back, just because she said she would never come back. Her and Cosimo were the same in this way, Cosimo said he would never come down from the trees, and Viola that she would never come back to him. The difference between the two is that Cosimo never regreted what he said while Viola "Would dream of the trees of Ombrosa" (178). Although Viola left forever, she was never truly happy again because she was not with him. Viola had many men in her life besides Cosimo, so for her to miss him of all them shows that he was her true love, and she was his.    The theme of detachment in the novel is very important to the characterization of Cosimo. Cosimo first went into the trees because of rebellion, but stayed because of the view on the world. "Anyone who wants to see the earth properly must keep himself at a necessary distance from it" (144). Cosimo wants to keep distant from the world, because he gets a different, objective view on everything below him. He is detaching from the world to attach in a way no one has ever tried before.
    The point of view the novel is narrated through is first person, by his brother Biagio. This is important to the the theme of detachment and the novel as a whole because it keeps Cosimo always a bit of a mystery. Having his brother tell his tale shows his detachment at a higher scale because he is also detached from the reader as well as from everyone in the novel. We learn about him as he learns about the world, from an objective view.
    Cosimo is both attached and detached at the same time. He shows concern for the conflicts happening on the ground, but they do not have any effect on him. "The soap bubbles even reached her face, and she would burst them with a puff and a smile. A bubble even reached her lips and stayed there intact. We bent down and over her. Cosimo let the reed fall. She was dead" (146). Cosimo is often near when someone is dying, and he comforts them as best as he can, but when someone dies, he accepts it very well. He know that these things happen, but they happened on the ground and  he leaves them on the ground, he does not take them with him in the trees. Death to Cosimo is like climbing into the trees, it is a form detachment from the world below him. The importance of the conflicts in the novel show how Cosimo leaves his problems where they happened; on the ground.
    Although Cosimo does detach himself from society, he involves himself in things his own way. "He watched the burial from beyond the cemetery wall and when we all flung a handful of earth on the coffin he threw down a small branch of leaves" (121). The significance of this line is to show how he shows concern for the things happening on earth. Cosimo and his father did not have the best relationship, but Cosimo still showed his respects at the funeral. The importance of him throwing a branch of leaves on the tomb is that he was making peace with his father. Cosimo has to make peace with all conflicts or they will stay with him on the trees, which would make the trees just the same as the ground.    In the end, when Cosimo died, he had no where to go but up. "On the family tomb there is a plaque in commemoration of him, with the inscription:'Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo--Lived in the trees--Always loved the earth--Went into the skies'" (216). Cosimo's independence and detachment from the earth that he vowed to the moment he began his life in the trees is kept consistent even in his death. When he took flight, he truly became free and detached from the earth. The importance of the way Cosimo dies is that it reinforces the fact that he was truly detached from the people below him, if he was going to die it needed to be his own way, which would not be buried into to the ground, the one place he rejected.
    The themes of love and detachment are shown through the feelings and actions of the characters, conflict, characterization, point of view, and the ending of the novel. Cosimo lives an unconventional life in the trees, but he has many of the same values as his friends on the ground. He takes love above all else, but he does detach in a more extreme way than most would try.

New doggy!

I like how all of my posts have been about animals. But i finally after years of wanting animals, (see previous blog entry) finally have one!

For the fourth of july my family goes up to my cousins cabins. My cousin was fostering a dog, and my family and I fell in love with this little boy! His name is Fritz, we did not name him. He is from a shelter in a few cities over. He is two years old and we think he may have been abused because he is very afraid of men and people holding sticks.
      The first two days we had him he barked whenever my dad or brother walked into a room. The second night my sister and I went out and Fritz was alone with my dad, it did not go well. Fritz was on the top of the stairs laying there, barking loudly everytime my dad walked by. Last night was a little different though. My sister and I left for my moms house for a couple of days and he really was a good dog, did not bark at all to my dad, on the contrary he followed my dad around the whole night. He is (thankfully) getting over his fear of my dad, and I think what did it was my dad carried treats around with him everywhere and regularly tossed him a couple.
        My childhood dream is now a reality, I never thought it would ever happen.

Day at the Farm

This little guy is named Gus! Do not even kid yourself he is the cutest thing you have ever seen! He is a goat, and he has two other little playmates named Pip, a white grade A goat, and Lokey a black grade C goat! My family has a farm, which my aunt lives on and this spring she finally bought three little goats. They are so friendly and follow you around where ever you go! They also like to climb vertical rock walls like the one pictured just behind Gus. This is what I spent today doing, playing with the goats with one of my friends. I love going to the farm, it is so peaceful and the animals relieve stress and make me happy. My family never let me have pets, besides one hamster, so to be in a place where there are many different animals is a true joy!