- As a "reply" to this post, paste the quotation you found the most significant.
- Then, as a reply to that comment, post your 2-3 sentences.
- If anyone in the class selected a passage that you had written about for the homework, post your 2-3 sentences for that passage as a reply to the passage.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Penumbra Passages
For homework last night, you selected five of the passages you had text-marked during your reading of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and wrote 2-3 thoughtful sentences for each to explain why you marked each as you read. You selected passages that are significant to you for different reasons.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
On my screen, Tyndall will borrow a book from the top of aisle two. Then, in another month, Lapin will ask for one from the same shelf. Five weeks later, Imbert will follow—exactly the same shelf—but meanwhile, Tyndall has already returned and gotten something new from the bottom of aisle one. He’s a step ahead. I hadn’t noticed the pattern because it’s so spread out in space and time, like a piece of music with three hours between each note, all played in different octaves. But here, condensed and accelerated on my screen, it’s obvious. They’re all playing the same song, or dancing the same dance, or—yes—solving the same puzzle.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this passage signifies a turning point for Clay because despite his previous suspicions about the uniqueness of Mr. Penumbra’s Bookstore, this was the first time he discovered that there was much more to the store than just the books and four walls, an epiphany caused by realizing that the books from the Waybacklist were being checked out in a certain order. Moving forward from here, Clay’s curiosity about the store blossomed, and he transformed from an ordinary clerk to an adventurer searching for the answer to The Founder, then the meaning of the Unbroken Spine, and ultimately the MANVTIVS book.
DeleteThis passage is significant because as Clay is designing his 3D model of the library he discovers the patterns in which the Waybacklist books are being checked out, which are in the shape of the face of “The Founder”. This begins Clay’s discovery of the Unbroken Spine, in which basically begins his whole journey solving this puzzle.
Delete"It’s everywhere around us. You see Gerritszoon every day. It’s been here all this time, staring us in the face for five hundred years. All of it—the novels, the newspapers, the new documents—it’s all been a carrier wave for this secret message, hidden in the colophon. Gerritszoon figured it out: the key to immortality."
ReplyDeleteI would call this passage the most important passage in the entire book, because immortality is such a significant theme in this novel. Robin Sloan argues that immortality isn’t achieved by living forever, but rather it is obtained by leaving a lasting mark on society.
DeleteI thought that this quote was worthy of landmarking because it reveals the secret to immortality. While our lives may be short, by leaving a legacy and creating something that exists well beyond our own deaths, we can achieve “immortality.”
DeleteI highlighted this passage because it reminded me of other situations and puzzles where the answer was in plain sight. I also found it interesting because the fact that no one had ever even thought to approach the puzzle in a different way, when if they did, they would’ve solved the 500 year old puzzle.
DeleteI must admit,” Penumbra says, shaking his head, “I am in awe of Griffo Gerritszoon. His achievement is inimitable. But I have more than a little time left, my boy”—he winks—“and there are still so many mysteries to solve. Are you with me?” Mr. Penumbra. You have no idea.
ReplyDeleteThese are some of the last lines in the novel. Here Clay made a decision to stay with Penumbra for years to come solving mysteries around the world.
Delete"Tyndall says, “Not the man, the book—his book! Just as bad, even worse. Better flesh than page. They will burn his book, just like Saunders, Moffat, Don Alejandro, the enemies of the Unbroken Spine."
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of how fanatical the cult-members are about books. They believe so devoutly that writing brings them “immortality” that they uphold the records of them more than their own lives.
Delete"Would you make your message so potent that people couldn’t resist passing it on? Would you build a religion around it, maybe get people’s souls involved? Would you, perhaps, establish a secret society? Or would you do what Gerritszoon did?"
ReplyDeleteI chose this passage because it shows that immortality does not have to be only is physically living forever, but also leaving behind a legacy that people can remember, and having stories passed down from generation to generation about you. Also, it gives an example of how this relates to history. History is stories of people being passed down from generation to generation about what have done it their life and why it is significant, you must earn your immortality and not just get it handed to you for free.
Delete"He lets out a whispering sigh. “I was embarrassed.”"
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this sentence because I know what a humble feeling it can sometimes be to be truly honest with one’s feelings. In Mr. Penumbra’s case, he seems to place much of the burden of “failure” on himself. Sometimes we are less forgiving with ourselves than with others.
Delete"History hinges on such small things. A difference of thirty degrees, and this story would end here. But my laptop is angled just so, and on my screen, the 3-D bookstore is spinning wildly on two axes, like a spaceship tumbling through a blank cosmos, and the girl glances down"
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how the small details in this passage made all the difference. The sentence “History hinges on such small things” was very thought-provoking and it made me consider the things in my life that were caused by the little moments that history decided to “hinge onto”.
DeleteI thought this quote was worthy of landmarking because it proposed the idea that oftentimes small, seemingly insignificant events can end up drastically changing the course of history. If Clay had decided against creating the Google-based ad campaign, aligned his laptop at a slightly different angle, decided to listen to the audiobook version of the Dragon-Song Chronicles, or just walked past the Help Wanted sign on Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, the secret to immortality may never have been found. It is these seemingly innocuous coincidences that can shape our history, for better or worse.
DeleteTo me this was such an important quote because of how true it is when you really start thinking about. For instance, all the events that had to happen exactly the way they did for you to be here today, and everyone for that matter. It is hypothesized that the chances of a single human being be born the way they are are 1 in 4 trillion: think of all the minute historical events that made you as a human possible.
DeleteThe mountains that divide the Western Continent form letters. They are, Fernwen realizes, a message, and not just any message, but the message promised long ago by Aldrag”
ReplyDeleteThis is when Clay was listening to the audio book and realized that he would have to look at the actual punches to solve the puzzle. Not only that but this quote proved that Clay solved the puzzle partly through noise.
Delete"The first-grader pauses, pensive, tugging on the green yarn around her neck. She’s really thinking this over. Tiny gears are turning; she’s twisting her fingers together, pondering. It’s cute. Finally, she looks up and says gravely, “I would ask the hays to find it.” Then she makes a quiet banshee whine and bounces away on one foot. An ancient Song Dynasty gong thunders in my head. Yes, of course. She’s a genius! Giggling to myself, I pound the escape key until I’m free of the terminal’s awful taxonomy. Instead, I choose the command that says, simply, ACCESSION."
ReplyDeleteI highlighted this passage because I think it shows that simplicity is key. I believe this is an important message because I often see others, and myself, overthinking things in everyday life when thinking simply first, and then elaborating later, is the way to solve these problems.
Delete"It’s everywhere around us. You see Gerritszoon every day. It’s been here all this time, staring us in the face for five hundred years. All of it—the novels, the newspapers, the new documents—it’s all been a carrier wave for this secret message, hidden in the colophon. Gerritszoon figured it out: the key to immortality."
ReplyDeleteI thought that this quote was worthy of landmarking because it reveals the secret to immortality. While our lives may be short, by leaving a legacy and creating something that exists well beyond our own deaths, we can achieve “immortality.”
DeleteI would call this passage the most important passage in the entire book, because immortality is such a significant theme in this novel. Robin Sloan argues that immortality isn’t achieved by living forever, but rather it is obtained by leaving a lasting mark on society.
DeleteI highlighted this passage because it reminded me of other situations and puzzles where the answer was in plain sight. I also found it interesting because the fact that no one had ever even thought to approach the puzzle in a different way, when if they did, they would’ve solved the 500 year old puzzle.
DeleteThis quote hits home the idea that immortality doesn’t have to come in a literal sense. However subtly, you live on through records of your life and through your contributions to society.
Delete“And the magic is in its making alone. Do you understand? There is no sorcery here—none that I can detect.”
ReplyDeleteThis passage shows when all else fails never give up and eventually you will solve the puzzle. This is a landmark because clay never gave up and found the answer to the puzzle.
Delete"Moffat: You were brilliant. You saw something that no one else in the whole history of the Unbroken Spine ever saw. You raced through the ranks, you became one of the bound, maybe just to get access to the Reading Room—and then you bound up their secrets in a book of your own. You hid them in plain sight."
ReplyDeleteThis landmark shows when Clay discovers the answer to the puzzle in which a whole fellowship has been trying to solve for many years. His favorite author revealed the answer in plain sight, by leaving the Unbroken Spine and took his codex vitae, using it to complete his final book of The Dragon-Song Chronicles. On Clay’s way back to San Francisco, he finally makes the connections from the characters in the book, to those in the Unbroken Spine.
DeleteAnd just like the internet today, printing in the fifteenth century was all problems, all the time: How do you store the ink? How do you mix the metal? How do you mold the type? The answers changed every six months.
ReplyDeleteI love how true to life this quote is, because change is constant. Every other day, someone finds a new and better way to solve a problem. This quote is just as important in the book as it I in real life.
Delete“‘Computers, my boy,’ he says. ‘They hold the key for us. I have suspected it for some time, but never had proof that they could be a boon to our work. You have provided it! If computers can help you solve the Founder’s Puzzle, they can do much more for this fellowship.’ He makes a thin fist and shakes it: ‘I have come prepared to tell the First Reader that we must make use of them. We must!’”
ReplyDeleteI thought that this quote was worthy of landmarking because it introduces the idea of old and new tools working together for a common goal. Oftentimes only one method is employed to solve a problem, but, as the book states, oftentimes that may not work to get the job done. Only by utilizing multiple methods (books and computers, OK and NK) can we truly solve problems effectively.
DeleteI thought this quote marked a change in dynamics in the book. Before, Clay thought of Penumbra as a sort of adversary, but after Penumbra said this, Clay realized that Penumbra was a friend, not an enemy. This caused them to work together for the rest of the novel.
Delete