"I Know How You Feel" "Do You?"

             The old woman's story reflected the imagery of the book, especially thanks to the detailed descriptions the author provides. However, there is irony and absurdity when the old lady says "I am the daughter of Pope Urban X..." (p.49) due to the fact that there has never existed a Pope Urban X, showing how discreet the author is. Despite the fact that the old lady had made it clear that her story was truly devastating, the way she started it made me realize how bad it was going to end. This is so because she began talking about how perfect her life used to be, and how flawless and beautiful she was, not to mention the prince she was going to marry. But all good things must come to an end right?

              The imagery transmitter to the audience at first is like a Utopia. She had no problems whatsoever, nothing to worry about, she was pretty, had a wealthy family, and was getting married, which was going to be one of the biggest events. She had nothing to worry about, therefore the reader imagines perfection in her life, but also senses how shortly that paradise of hers was going to last, and how bad it was going to end. She was sold many times and suffered as a slave with her mother. "I need not tell you what a hardship it was for a young princess and her mother to be carried to Morocco as slaves, and you can readily imagine what we had to suffer on board the pirate ship" (p. 51) This being said by the old lady, the reader imagines her suffering and how hard it must have been, even though she has not given any further information or detail on what she lived and saw. It is easy to see it coming that at the end of the day, she will wind up all by herself.

            One of the parts where imagery is strongly seen and the audience gets a sense of repugnance, sorrow and goosebumps is when she describes detail by detail the death of her mother, as if it had been yesterday. "In the end I saw my mother and all four italian ladies torn limb from limb, slashed, and massacred by the monsters that fought for them" (p. 52) Not only is the description extremely precise and graphic, but the tone of the old lady makes it sound even more real. It is a tone of sadness and disappointment as well as loneliness, after all, her mother was all she had left. You can easily see how destroyed she is, and you know what they say about time healing all wounds? That clearly isn't happening here, since she remembers it perfectly, showing her pain and devastation. Another thing that demonstrates how destroyed she is after telling her story, is when she says " I should never have spoken of my misfortunes if you had not provoked me a little..." (p. 57) shows the audience the sadness she feels when thinking about her past, as well as how it affected her so much, that she still (after all this time) cant get over it.

The way the author describes her past is crystal clear

            I would say that tone and imagery, (after satire) are what makes the audience connect to the book as well as feel it and its characters. The story of the old woman really made me feel how she was feeling, as if she were talking to me. But as unexpected as this book is, who knows if she will still be "with us" by the end?