Summary This section starts off with a disclaimer from Bellatin excusing any differences in the texts due to language barriers (Bellatin 41). Bellatin goes on to explain that he has had several religious conversions which lead him to the realization that his late grandfather did not actually pass away so much as he transformed (Bellatin 42). Bellatin then explained how his grandfather had appeared to him as if in a vision, telling him a story about Macaque, “…a woman of Slavic origins […] fleeing a horrific marriage” who ended up meeting a martial arts fighter and falling in love (Bellatin 50).
Response
Bellatin has started questioning his grandfather’s death, referring to his uncertainty, “…that is what they told me on that occasion and now I have my doubts – or if it had simply been another one of his numerous transformations” (Bellatin 42). He goes on to say, “That confusion between death and transformation arose in me some years later…” (Bellatin 42). In this excerpt we can begin to question Jacob Pliniak’s transformation; was it merely death? (Bellatin 16). One can make the argument that death is not the ending of a life; rather, it is the beginning of another reality. Bellatin notes, “…it has never been clear to me …show more content…
Jacob tells Julia that, “She, […] as a human being, was divided into parts, like stages, that at the same time were a reflection of other times in history” (Bellatin 75). Are we all just that reflection of the past? Simply someone else that has been transformed and mutated into us, a faint echo of the past within each of us? Bellatin alludes that his grandfather didn’t tell his stories to him before his “transformation,” as he was a man of few words; however, Bellatin has a vast amount of information about Macaque’s story, through what seems to be an innate knowledge that his grandfather has passed on to him (Bellatin
Response
Bellatin has started questioning his grandfather’s death, referring to his uncertainty, “…that is what they told me on that occasion and now I have my doubts – or if it had simply been another one of his numerous transformations” (Bellatin 42). He goes on to say, “That confusion between death and transformation arose in me some years later…” (Bellatin 42). In this excerpt we can begin to question Jacob Pliniak’s transformation; was it merely death? (Bellatin 16). One can make the argument that death is not the ending of a life; rather, it is the beginning of another reality. Bellatin notes, “…it has never been clear to me …show more content…
Jacob tells Julia that, “She, […] as a human being, was divided into parts, like stages, that at the same time were a reflection of other times in history” (Bellatin 75). Are we all just that reflection of the past? Simply someone else that has been transformed and mutated into us, a faint echo of the past within each of us? Bellatin alludes that his grandfather didn’t tell his stories to him before his “transformation,” as he was a man of few words; however, Bellatin has a vast amount of information about Macaque’s story, through what seems to be an innate knowledge that his grandfather has passed on to him (Bellatin