The Baron in the Trees: A Post-Structuralist Perspective

[Aaddiittyyaa]

Good Evening Everyone,

I hope your holidays are going well. I was just wondering whether anyone who has done Literature last year (or this year) could give me some constructive criticism on the following Literary Perspectives Essay that I have written? It is on the text, The Baron in the Trees, and I have written it from a post-structuralist perspective, so for anyone who is experienced in that area, giving feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much, and good luck for the year!

.
.
.

Topic: The Baron in the Trees is simply a fantasy. Discuss.

The power of fantasy, and the effect that it can have on characters instills a "desire to … live" for Cosimo and Biagio as they both subvert the intentions of Italo Calvino in The Baron in the Trees. The true strength of this fantasy is made evident through the post-structuralist perspective, as it offers the interpretation that "this thread of ink which [Biagio has] let run on for page after page" is all there is in Ondariva, and that there is no reality except the fantasy that both the characters, and the author himself reside in. The "elusive element which had urged Cosimo into the trees" allows not only him, but for his brother as well, to be consumed by the fact that their lives are simply a fantasy. This highly seductive, and almost personified nature given to the forest allows for the actions of Cosimo to be justified and portray his futility in escaping the world of "branches spread out like the tentacles of extraordinary animals" that he has created. Child-like excitement is also evoked in the reader as they observe the ability of Cosimo to stay desensitised to his surroundings for so long. The boys, who eventually become men, are unable to have 'proper lives' in eighteenth century Italy. Biagio, who is the more reserved of the two, takes on a commentative role as he muses his brother "was not completely mad, but … as becoming something stupid". This ability to have an opinion on his brother and essentially control him portrays the discord with his own life. Structurally, the novel is written in third person through the perspective of Biagio. This distant and judgemental disposition highlights the Cosimo-centric life that the brother has confined himself to. In this case, it is made clear that as he is the one following the baron's moves in the trees, he becomes the faithful narrator more so than Calvino himself.

However, Calvino takes advantage of this authorial position given to Biagio, as he infiltrates himself into the lives of Biagio and Cosimo. The authorial figure of Biagio overshadows the lessons that Cosimo "could not say in words but only by living". The monosyllabic nature of this statement shows that the life of the baron in the trees was stilted, and thus it was the words of Biagio that allowed for Cosimo to be presented with a flowing story in the novella. This therefore means that the author is able to escape the idea of the 'Death of the Author', and is instead taken in by the fantasy that is created by the brothers. This theory states that in reading the text the author must be taken away and it is the interpretation of the reader that is paramount in determining the meaning of the novel. Therefore, Biagio, Cosimo, and Calvino "raise a wall" around their own lives in which they do not "think about what is left out". The truth is consumed in the fantasy, and the fantasy is what characters then come to accept. This metaphor of building a wall allows for a parallel between Biagio and the author to become further evident. In this case, Biagio is the man who has shut himself off from everything else that has been present in his life, including his wife and the estate, and instead of being "interested in so many things", Biagio still muses that his brother "understood something else" that was deeper in life. On the same note, Calvino has shut himself from the political debate that was occurring in Italy at the time to become an observer. Thus, the character of Calvino is not only shown to be present in Cosimo, but in his brother as well.

This acceptance of fantasy eventually leads to the "conflicting ideas" in Cosimo's mind to "[dominate] … his life". As Cosimo slips into the fantasy world, he is overcome by the nature of his changed life, and therefore cannot escape the reverie. As his life is "dominated", it is as if the words used to describe the fantasy encircle him. Strong words such as dominate and "desire" push the idea that the fantasy is one that is not to be escaped. Instead, similar to the books that he starts to read, Cosimo is taken into the fictional world that he has created and he "did not have enough hours from dawn to dusk for what he wanted to read, and continued in the dark by lantern light". This analogy of the books that he reads is therefore akin to the life that he leads. The true immersive nature of the books is described by Biagio, to accentuate the connection that the baron felt to the stories, and how this connection was similar to the fantasy he built around him. Similar to Cosimo's consumption into the novels, Biagio is consumed by the life of Cosimo. As he writes down the last "splutter" of "words", this description of the story coming to an end is similar to life ending. Instead of having a clean end to the story, it is as if the last words are struggling to make their way out of the narrator. Similar to the various objects that "hung all over … his trees", Biagio reflects on the life of Cosimo as the being of fantasy sputters to death. The possessive pronoun used to describe "his trees" finally pushes the prospect that the fantasy was his own.

Therefore, in the end it is made clear that the story of Cosimo and Biagio is a one of their own making, and that they had become so desensitised to their own lives that the death of Cosimo, and the death of the fantasy means that there is no meaning left in the life of Biagio anymore, and the story of the pair is simply a fantasy.

Please note that this essay was not written in timed conditions, and was written with a quotation sheet on hand, because I wanted to get a feel for the structure and the perspective first.