Selfishness Lies in our Gene

 Personally, Biology is not even close to being one of my favorite subjects, and when the book The Selfish Gene was handed out goose bumps ran down my arms. But then again, Dawkins use of metaphors and allegory did a better job at explaining genetics than my Biology teacher ever did. He does an exceptional job comparing chromosomes to 46 volumes of books, genes to pages, and the nucleolus to book cases. It allowed me to interpret the text by relating those complicated terms to things I encounter on a daily basis. Obviously, it is very different from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. When I am reading The Selfish Gene my purpose is not to decode the author’s hidden message towards society, but instead I am applying what I have learned in DNA replication and evolution to understand Dawkin’s concepts. In page 16 Dawkins states: “But let copies made from other copies, which in their turn were made from other copies, and errors will start to become cumulative and serious”. The author never mentions the name of the actual process that is taking place, but as a reader I know he is referring to specific mutations in DNA.

In chapter 3, Immortal Coils, Dawkin explains the reason he decided to name the book The Selfish Gene. How can a gene be actually selfish? It all starts with the definition of the gene, “…it is defined as any portion of chromosomal material that potentially lasts for enough generations to serve as a unit of natural selection”(28). In other words, the gene seeks longevity in the form of copies. It is willing to fight its way through using natural selection, in order to obtain the best traits and characteristics that will ensure the organisms survival. So yes, the gene is in fact selfish, for it looks out only for its self-interest and believes in survival of the fittest. The gene is able to manipulate the body, jumping from one generation to the next, and towards the end when the body is dying, it is already safe and sound in the organism of the offspring. Another example of selfishness comes from the mutator genes. Their job is to copy errors in the rest of the genes in order to wipe out all competition. This specific gene knows that the disadvantage of one gene means an advantage to itself, and it opens the door for it to finally spread through the gene pool. It is hard to think of something so remote and complex like the gene to be actually selfish. I usually relate selfishness to human nature, but I stand corrected by Richard Dawkin’s theory.

The Truth is Revealed

Of course! All the dead cities, the hidden, the trading, the continuous ones are actually just one independent city: Venice. It all makes sense now, the network of canals, the domes, the bridges suspended with tracery balustrades, are all characteristics of Venice. I must accept, Calvino does a flawless at tricking the reader, as well as Kublai Khan, that Beeisheba, Anastasia, Cecilia, and all the other cities are in fact one of the most detailed descriptions of the city in Italy. The image propagated by the young venetian is only skimmed at, the true meaning lied deep under the cities names, until the eager Kublai Khan asks: “On the day when I know all the emblems, shall I be able to possess my empire at last?”. He was blinded by pure ambition to defeat each and every one of the last enemy troops. So much that he was late to realize “there is still one of which you never speak. Venice.”(86).

The emperor was taken by surprise, why did he not start off his story by introducing Venice as it is? Polo’s answer was simple, “Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little” (87). Marco Polo’s passion is so powerful when it comes to his birthplace that he hesitates in revealing the true essence of Venice all at once. Italo Calvino feels Venice cannot be wasted by lips that speak of the city to the point where it is lost. He cherishes it, and speaking of other cities is the way he can express the images Venice leaves implanted in one's eyes.

Skipping Stones

On page 82 of Invisible Cities, a symbolic lesson of life is portrayed through a bridge. Marco Polo starts to describe a specific bridge stone by stone. Kublai Khan (as well as I) wondered what is so magnificent about this bridge, of each and every rock, which is the grand one? Marco answers: “The bridge is not supported by one stone or another, but by the line of the arch that they form” (82). This clearly leaves Kublai Khan bashful and thoughtful, for the arch is the only thing that matters in his perspective. This is where we are all wrong. In life we tend to focus on the big picture, we discredit those small details that make a true difference in the outcome of anything we know of. In the technological sector of society; Apple, Conoco Phillips, Ford Motors, and other companies stand out as large corporations on a global scale in the worlds market. But who or whom are the people overshadowed by these big names? Are they given any credit for what they have created? In most scenarios the answer is no. Their names are barely mentioned, and yet they are the masterminds behind the millions of dollars the companies produce. This is only one of the many examples where society reacts just like Kublai Khan towards the stones in the bridge. The same idea can be seen later on in the text when the traveler begins to describe the city of Phyllis. He rejoices every window, every kind of pavement embedded in the sidewalks, and the fortress walls. “Happy the man who has Phyllis before his eyes each day and who never ceases seeing the things it contains…” (90), here the traveler is hypnotized by the city itself, so much that he decided to stay. This is when he stops seeing the big picture and notices the rose windows, the statues on corbels, the pantones of sunlight, a bench, a hole that you stumble upon, each on a detailed level.

You start to realize those simple yet meaningful aspects of the city that are what truly make it so peculiar. Acknowledging every route and soon enough every footstep becomes crucial in the understanding of the city. It all comes down to the same message, that “without stones there is no arch.”(82)

Calvino's Decoration of Chapters

As I was reading Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, I noticed the book is divided in six sections where every page contains Marco Polo’s description of the elements, design, and structure of different cities. At the beginning of every section an introduction between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan is present in order to guide the reader in the setting and situation of the story. After that, chapters with no more than 2 to 3 pages are labeled on the top right corner with names:

·         Cities and Memory

·         Cities and Desire

·         Cities and Signs

·         Thin Cities

·         Trading Cities

·         Cities and Eyes

·         Cities and Names

·         Cities and Dead

·         Cities and the Sky

·         Continuous Cities

·         Hidden Cities

I refused to pay attention to these titles but as I continued to read and analyze the text I noticed there had to be a pattern that characterized each group of cities or city.  I started by guiding myself with the table of contents and finding any similarities in the repetition of names and appearance of new ones. I wrote them on a sheet of paper and started to make a rough draft by jotting down the titles horizontally. I started with Cities and Memory and every time it was named I started a new line. By repeating the process in sections 2-9, I caught on the pattern by which Calvino introduced them.

My final draft looked like this:

In Chapter 1 the titles appeared to the right, every line a new city was mentioned from 1 being Cities and Memory, 2, 3, and Thin Cities 4.

In Chapter 2 it has 5 cities starting with Cities and Memory and at the end in 5, Trading Cities appears. Up until this point the cities are being mentioned in a rightward manner.

From Chapters 3 – 8 now the First cities are out, moving leftwards. For example in Chapter 3, it doesn’t start with Cities and Memory but rather the second one which is Cities and Desire and so forth every time introducing new cities as if it were a machine sliding to the left and eating up the first city name mentioned.

In Chapter 9, the pattern is continued but it is repeated 3 times as if it were 2 new chapters, but the difference is that it stops and Hidden Cities and then continues to delete the first names and no new ones are added.

Journeys to Relive Past or Recover Future?

In Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, Marco Polo describes or imagines describing to Kublai Khan his journeys towards rare unimaginable cities where blind men walk with cheetahs on a leash, where nymphs possess the pipes, and where inhabitants praise postcards that remain unchanged. Their way of communication was “the more one was lost in unfamiliar quarters of distant cities, the more one understood the other cities he had crossed to arrive their…” (28). With this Calvino’s goal is to demonstrate how deeply Kublai Khan wanted to enter Marco Polo’s train of thought, leaving him to the streets he crossed, the creaking of wheels and carrousels he rode, the galleries and mullioned windows he viewed, all to take a course of their own. But how can this be possible? Did it not matter whether questions or details were laid out loud or kept in mere silence? How can one imagine interrupting or imagine answering each other’s questions? Apparently it is a technique Calvino chose in order to explain the complex relationship between both characters. After all, in order to absorb and cherish a perfect and detailed description of any object, you need more than just words, you need images. Images Kublai Khan would find only if he entered Marco’s mind to follow his answers and objections through his memories.

His characters have a unique relationship; anyhow, he takes advantage of the conversations between both to establish a message. For example, Marco Polo believes that his past has changed gradually as he advanced on his journeys. In other words, “the travelers past changes according to the route he has followed: not the immediate past” (28). To him, the cities are not only an empty structure, but rather they represent a past he did not know he had. Nostalgia seems to overwhelm the character knowing that he could be the man sitting at the plaza’s corner if he had only stopped a long time ago in that man’s place. So Khan’s question becomes: were those journeys to relive your past or recover your future? This teaches a vital lesson to all of us about the past we believe is unchanged and closed behind our backs. No key of return. In our journey through life we regret words, actions, and decisions, and as each day passes we are most certain that the past is the past, but according to Calvino it is not. Just as arriving to each city Marco discovers a new past, an event in our future lives may change the way our past is written out, whether it be finding love, to reunite or loose friends and family, or tragedy. So we need to set out on a quest and fix every mistake that haunts us, no regrets included, and relive our past differently.

Invisible Terminology

Gangrene:
verb (used with object)- to affect or become affected with gangrene
noun- necrosis or death of soft tissue due to obstructed circulation, usually followed by decomposition and putrefaction.


Domes:
noun- a vault, having a circular plan and usually in the form of a portion of a sphere, so constructed as to exert an equal thrust in all directions.

Nubile:
adjective (of a young women)- sexually devloped and attractive.

Bergamot:
noun- a small citrus tree, Citrus aurantium bergamia, having fruit with a rind that yields a fragant essential oil.

Banister:
noun- a baluster

Marjoram:
noun- any of several aromatic herbs belonging to the genus Origanum, of the mint family having leaves used as seasoning in cooking.

Onyx
noun- Mineral. a  variety of chalcedony having straight parallel bands of alterning colors.

Cornice:
noun- Architecture. any prominent, continuous, horizontally projecting feature surmounting a wall or other construction, or dividing it horizontally for compositional purposes.

Labile
adjective- apt or likely to change.

Knapsack
noun- a canvas,nylon, or leather bag for clothes, food, and other supplies, carried on the back by soldiers, hikers, etc.

Halberd
noun- a shafted weapon with an axlike cutting blade, beak, and apical spike, used especially in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Scaffold:
noun- a temporary structure for holding workers and materials during the erection, repair, or decoration of a building.

Zodiac:
noun- a belt of the heavens within about 8° either side of the ecliptic, including all apparent positions of the sun, moon, and most familiar planets. It is divided into twelve equal divisions or signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces)