Post for March 3rd

I read Fiction Packet #3 last week, and I wrote down a couple of quotes that I really appreciated from the story "The Falling Girl" by Dino Buzzati. This story instantly caught my interest with the title: I was curious to find out what it was about. The story is about a nineteen-year old girl named Marta, and from what I gathered I think it is about moving through life too quickly. This reminds me of myself in many ways: I have to make sure I remember to take it easy and not be in too much of a hurry.

"The city became a sweet abyss with pulsating lights..."

The story maintained my interest even past the beginning. I was surprised that Marta had free fallen from the balcony on the top of the skyscraper, but I soon realized it was for a reason. Her fall from the top was described as "constituted an interesting diversion for the tenants" -- as if somebody falling off of the top of a skyscraper can be belittled to be named a diversion.

"Gentle butterfly, why not stop a minute with us?"

While she was falling from the top of the building, she was approached by strangers along the way enticing her to slow down and enjoy herself. Although she surpassed all offers, eventually she was falling so fast that she didn't even have time to decline.  I found this to be very relative to my daily life.

Also as Marta was falling, it was described that she soon began to notice other young women falling along side her. Personally, I took this as an implication of the tendency for women to compare themselves to other women in a competitive fashion throughout life.

"A decrepit old woman..." "At least down here you can hear the thud when they hit the ground"

I was surprised at the end of the story that Marta had been described as an older woman by someone who had seen her falling: but that's when I realized that the story was about passing through life too quickly and not living for a purpose but living because you have to. I thought this story had a great lesson to learn along with being an overall good read.