“The Cemetery of forgotten Books”
Daniel explains, “For almost half an hour, I wandered within the winding labyrinth, breathing in the smell of old paper and dust. I let my hand brush across the avenues of exposed spines, musing over what my choice would be. Among the titles faded by age, I distinguished words in familiar languages and others I couldn’t identify. I roamed through galleries filled with hundreds, thousands of volumes.” The labyrinth depicts the tangling of the shelves within the cemetery. The old papers’ odor is inescapable because all the books there are ancient publications; hence, a fresh smell cannot be anticipated. Volumes of books affirm that it is certainly a mausoleum where all the historic books are discarded. Additionally, the cemetery is assorted due to the incorporation of books written in additional languages other than English.
Clara’s Avoidance of Daniel
Daniel expounds, “The preceding months had been the most bewildering in my strange friendship with Clara. I hardly ever read to her anymore. Clara would systematically avoid being left on her own with me. Whenever I called by her apartment, her uncle popped up, pretending to read a newspaper, or else Bernarda would materialize, bustling about in the background and casting sidelong glances. Other times the company would take the form of one or several of Clara’s friends. I called them the “Sisterly Brigade.” Always chaste and modest in appearance, they patrolled the area around Clara with a missal in one hand and a policeman’s eye, making it abundantly clear that I was in the way and that my presence embarrassed Clara and the entire world.” If Clara regarded Daniel as a genuine friend, she would have been comfortable with him. Her uncle and girlfriends are archetypal chaperones who she calculatingly invites to her dates with Daniel to warranty that she will not be alone with him. Perhaps, Clara is petrified by Daniel’s probable sexual advances; hence, takes insurance to safeguard that there will be no room for him to seduce her. Clara does not trust Daniel wholly.
