Finished Vers. Noah Nishihara INDEPENDENT READING RESPONSE

 

Noah Nishihara (T09)’s INDEPENDENT READING RESPONSE

Author: Umberto Eco

Title: The Name of the Rose

In one or two paragraphs, summarize the plot.Write about one character in two or three paragraphs. Describe the character. Why did you like or dislike this character? How did the author make you admire or dislike the character? How does the author use the character to develop ideas in the narrative?Choose one event in the story. Write two or more paragraphs in which you describe what happens and explain why it is important to the narrative. Explain how the event develops the story’s ideas.In two paragraphs, explain how the author keeps you interested in the book as a whole. Explain the effect of two of his or her techniques. Use specific examples in your explanation.Write a paragraph or two about what you learn about yourself and others from this narrative. Would you recommend this book to other readers? Why or why not?

 

Achievement Standards	Grade
1.2 Ability to explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used to represent different ideas and issues in texts.   1.3 Develop and justify your own interpretations of texts.-you identify and judge the effectiveness of techniques the novelist uses to depict ideas.
MsBourlioufas’s comment

The name of the rose is set in an Italian abbey inhabited by monks and servants in the year 1327. The novel begins with a prologue by the aged Adso of Melk, who is the narrator of the entire story. He tells the story in seven main parts, with each part representing a day. On a ‘beautiful morning at the end of November’, William of Baskerville, a learned Franciscan, ‘reaches the foot of the abbey’ with the young narrator, ‘a Benedictine novice from the monastery of Melk’. William had been given a mission and Adso was his scribe and disciple. The abbot of the Benedictine abbey asks William to investigate the strange death of one of the monks. During the course of the week, four other monks are murdered. Although William discovers the main perpetrator of the crimes, a suicide attempt foils their plans and leads to a fire, which burns down the abbey within three days.

Beyond this late medieval detective story lies the religion, beliefs, life, and characters of the past, which serve as a historical reminder of human nature. The narrator, Adso, also mentions in his prologue, ‘Everything is on the wrong path.’ Eco uses this theme in order to support those who have ‘the desire to learn and a sense of the straight way,’ or promote the young to study in order to prevent the ‘disaster of an ageing world’.

Thus, William of Baskerville is a required character for the novel to act as a didactic work. William’s physical appearance during their visit to the abbey is, according to Adso: ‘Extremely tall and thin’ amongst the other monks, ‘his eyes were sharp and penetrating’, his face had ‘the expression of a man on the lookout’, and ‘his tireless body moved with an agility… his energy seemed inexhaustible.’ These physical characteristics all align with the image of William that readers may create upon being informed of the actions he performs at the abbey. To Adso, indeed, to all or most of the monks of that abbey, William represents something different but good. The consecutive deaths of the unfortunate monks upon his arrival show us that he indirectly affected them by arousing their curiosity for forbidden things.

In truly dark times, he brings light and wisdom. He desires and seeks for truth. For example, after demonstrating his acumen by helping a group of people find the abbot’s favourite horse, he says: ‘Recognize the evidence through which the world speaks to us like a great book.’ He also questions and doubts what he observes. The methods used by William include: semiotics, logic, scientific observation, and imagination. In the opinion of Adso, ‘He not only knew how to read the great book of nature, but also knew the way monks read the books of Scripture, and how they thought through them.’ As a result of this, Adso recognizes the ‘power of truth’. His method of reasoning and deduction involves semiotics. He explains: ‘The ideas used to imagine a horse not yet seen were pure signs… and signs and the signs of signs are used only when we are lacking things.’ Consequently, hoof prints in the snow are signs of the idea, ‘horse’, in William’s mind. He had ‘great scepticism about universal ideas and treated individual things with respect. His skills are based on his fundamental character.

A significant effect on readers is caused by William’s actions. Just as the great abilities of a detective are admired by all, our admiration for William increases as we see him in different situations. Eco creates numerous opportunities for William to show his intelligence and agility. As a detective, he collects evidence, deciphers code and secret symbols, while entering the forbidden library several times. This ability is always a source of his pride and vanity. In the finis Africae, the secret room of the library, William asks: ‘How could you be sure I would arrive?’ He expects the antagonist, Jorge of Burgos’s answer purely as a reward for his own skill. Jorge answers: ‘your voice… drew me to debate on a subject I did not want mentioned. You were better than the others. You… think and reconstruct in your own mind the thoughts of the other… heard you were asking other monks questions, all of them the right ones.’ Words of praise for the undertakings of William are frequently spoken by various characters in the novel. Meanwhile, his agility is demonstrated twice. Adso recounts in his description of their first adventure in the library: ‘All of a sudden a sharp sound distracted us… we flung ourselves in that direction, he moving faster, I more slowly, for I was carrying the lamp. I heard the clatter of someone stumbling and falling… another noise… Once again William was faster than I and reached the desk first.’ A few days later, the pair run again, with the purpose of overtaking Jorge and saving a book. They ‘fall on him with violence,’ but do not succeed. The language style used here is wordy and staccato. Eco uses this to achieve the effect of suspense. The emotion that Adso feels when fighting against someone are vividly portrayed. The passage becomes reality.

William is in most respects the character focussed on by all readers. Eco uses scribe Adso to narrate, William to teach and solve the mystery, Jorge to act against William, and everything else as a part of the late medieval world. This didactic work involves William teaching semiotics, reasoning, and science while exploring philosophy, the truth, and religion. He is detached from the story involving the abbey and its people, as he is an outsider, a visitor called upon to investigate. However, this does not prevent him from influencing the events of this world.

Apart from the role William fills in as the mouthpiece of Eco, we see him cleverly advancing on the reason of the deaths. This process, unfortunately, cannot be manipulated by the reader. We learn to see everything as a clue which assists in comprehending the next stage. William’s true aim remains unrevealed to us, yet we do know he is determined: ‘The challenge is between me and the whole business. I am not leaving until I have found out… I must know. I must.’ And in reply to Adso’s remark: ‘No one ever obliges us to know. We must, that is all.’ This true determination is also a source of our admiration for his spirit.

The climax involves the pair fighting Jorge and allowing the blind man to ‘fling away a lamp onto a heap of open books.’ Everything ‘happened too quickly’ and no one could put out the fire. Despite the best efforts of both men, the servants and monks are totally unprepared, weary with sleep as they are. There is also the complete lack of people with authority, which consequently led to no one obeying orders quickly enough. William is helpless and weeps at the loss of the library. Adso watches as the Aedificium ‘revealed its weakness’ with ‘cracks, corroded walls, and crumbling stones’ revealing the wood. It is a scene of chaos that he observes. This disorder ‘was only the beginning of the tragedy’. The church catches fire due to the sparks carried by the wind. The ceiling ‘crashed down’ on the ‘firefighters’. Afterwards, ‘all the buildings had been reached by the fire’.

This event is important to the narrative as it is the main component of the climax. After readers have read the procedure of the deaths through Jorge and William’s discussion, they see before their eyes the abbey, with all its history, completely destroyed beyond repair. Not only does it signify the coming of a new age of discoveries and ideas, but it also gives William the material required to produce a final conclusion of the events. He tells Adso that ‘There was no plot, and I discovered it by mistake.’ He contradicts himself but states that he has ‘never doubted the truth of signs.’ Only after these events does he learn that ‘there is no order in the universe.’ The story ends here with William saying that there is too much confusion. William is ‘wounded in the depths of your spirit’. They do not speak of the events that occurred even when they part, leaving the reader to make sense of everything. This abrupt ending adds to the shock that all readers involved in the plot willexperience. Eco did this because of the lack of any other signs in the story after the destruction.

Although the novel ends with a tragic event, we do not become horrified or disappointed. William speaks to Adso about his various dissatisfactions. What we learn from this is the importance of improving through failures. Although Jorge seems to have won, William recognizes the various facts and new knowledge that he had not been aware of before. He has gained something new from this process which may help him in the future. Therefore we must never reproach ourselves too much for failing or making mistakes. Through these, we learn.

Moreover, the fire allows the old, blind man Jorge to prevent anyone from having the opportunity to discover secrets which he hid and protected over the years. He represents the old system and beliefs. Throwing the lamp onto the books is his last act; determined as he is to ‘destroy falsehood’. Many people who only see their own benefits and aims end up dying after refusing to cooperate with William in his investigation. William paraphrases the abbot: ‘Thank you Brother William, the Emperor needs you, you see what a beautiful ring I have, good-bye.’ There is a conflict of interest between the insiders and outsiders. There is also conflict of beliefs within the insiders. Although they all serve God, they all still have their self-interest and their own will; doing things ‘in the Name of God’. Their job as a monk is like a name.

Consequently, the dark times have to be destroyed to allow people to embrace the new age. The best way is with fire, which ‘raced from room to room’ and ‘spread rapidly among the thousands of dry pages.’ Fire is something bright and can destroy. Jorge caused the fire in his agitation and determination. In his speech a few days before, he mentioned the reason why a library ‘could and should disappear’ as: ‘commentary and clarification of Scripture is just a repeat and is therefore useless while contradictory writings are harmful’. His tradition had a darker aspect as well. In an awful voice, he says, ‘Madmen and presumptuous fools that you are!’ while William says, ‘You are the Devil who lives in the darkness’. The old and the new argue and try to convince each other, yet neither succeeds. The old can only be destroyed.The burning of the abbey also reminds people of the phoenix, which rises from the ashes. The past must be burned for the future to emerge.

Eco keeps readers interested in the book as a whole by employing his vast knowledge of the Middle Ages and of the Italian monks in a murder mystery. Detective stories follow a process which nearly all the time, engages the reader and instils a desire to read on until the end. We begin to guess what the outcome or solution is, but only if the author gives us, and the detective, strange signs, mysterious and seemingly meaningful. When Malachi, the librarian, falls onto the ground during the chanting of psalms in front of everybody, William listens to his: ‘He told me it had the power of a thousand scorpions.’ No one else takes this evidence seriously, but William gains a great deal, and decides to first investigate the past history of the abbey and secondly, ask the abbot for information on the identity of the mastermind. The ‘blackened fingers and tongue’, is later shown to be evidence pointing to the book. New evidence or clues move the events forward, all with the intentions of Eco. These are all signs and everyone interprets them differently. Eco has considered each piece of evidence carefully, to ensure that we do not conflict with William or Adso and therefore enjoy reading the text. Therefore, the plot works to keep our interest.

Another example of Eco’s technique is his well-thought-out setting and characterization. Here, semiotics is used. Everything is a sign. Eco makes Jorge a blind man, forbids people other than librarians to access the library, and gives the book a title, ‘The Name of the Rose’. Adso describes Jorge as, ‘I saw him move and speak as if he still possessed the gift of sight.’Alinardo, the oldest monk, attempts to warn the scholars to be careful using the Apocalypse, which can be summarised as, ‘first hail, then blood, then water, and now the stars.’ The deceased monks died in various locations or are killed with objects relating to those signs. William’s lenses are stolen from him, disabling him from reading. It is a warning to stop him from studying. The abbey is located on top of a cliff. This is to show that the abbey is a closed place, far from the normal person’s reach. The time span is only seven days; one week. During each day, progress is made by William. These signs each have meaning. The job of the reader is to interpret these or allow them to guide and connect various events. There are many possibilities when interpreting. Obvious signs such as the horse trail or black fingers are rare. For most of the time, these signs represent many things and gives reason for the setting and characterization. These signs which exist in the setting and characterization of the novel work to inform the reader of the complexity involved in this investigation. The well-thought-out signs easily remain in the memory of readers and attract them to re-read the novel. This succeeds fascinatingly in doing so.

The process of readers understanding why Eco intentionally created this world and its characters also brings satisfaction. There is too much to gain and understand from this novel. A thorough read would take many weeks. Yet each passage can be reread again and again, until the meaning of it is fully understood. Certain passages are more obscure and complex than others. Thus, interest can be maintained.

We learn about ourselves through history. It is a mirror and we reflect upon it. There are many human characteristics which have never changed. For example, our curiosity is still strong. Education has never before been so wide, with the Internet and other technology embedded within our life. There will always be that desire for knowledge. We learn about others through the characters. Jorge seems to be a respectable, kind-hearted man, but he is not the person who we think he is. His main purpose is to protect old beliefs. William says, ‘Madmen and children always tell the truth,’ after attending a trial. I learn that the people on high positions rarely tell the truth. Those curious monks are sacrificed by Jorge just for Aristotle’s book on laughter. Just to satisfy his old illusions of his narrow scope. Individual people are sacrificed for the group, for a cause, such as justice or loyalty. This is the same in the case of wars or conflicts. The cruelty of Jorge can be observed from this quote: ‘Is he still alive? I thought he would already have suffocated.’ ‘He’ refers to the abbot. The elderly (Jorge) should be respected, but they should have a reason to be respected. Why keep (meaningless) secrets and allow so many young people to die? Of course, the deaths are not just because of Jorge’s cold blood; the fact that William is there as an investigator itself is perhaps, one of the primary causes of the later deaths. I learn to see this world of insiders and outsiders as one interrelated realm. The function of readers is also considered in this novel. The rose is written by a semiotician/historian, and so the purpose differs from an entertainment based book. The theory is not apparent and we must follow the narrator to grasp the concepts.

I would recommend this novel to others. William has a unique style, in his sensibility and all his actions. He acts on semiotics, and so cannot tell the future before a sign is discovered. Reading about him is one of the enjoyments of this book. The plot is complicated but interesting; suitable for a nice, slow and attentive read. This novel may also be for people interested in semiotics, Middle Ages history, life in Italian abbeys, and detective novels. The length of the novel will not put any readers off, as this informative novel is also entertaining. Conversations between William and the other monks contribute to this purpose. I recommend this book because history is important, even if it is dark history. We require the ideas and experience gained from this book to truly appreciate the history after the Middle Ages. We will even appreciate our life now.