Essay Questions

Show how the theme of poverty is brought out in Italo Calvino’s Marcovaldo: Or The Seasons in the City.

Marcovaldo has a large family, six children, and a wife who is lazy. Due to the kind of job that he has, Marcovaldo is incapable of providing his family with basic needs. As a result of this apparent lack of enough money, the character is forced to eat leftovers from the previous day’s supper as lunch. Additionally, his house is said to be freezing in winter and he is forced to go out into the night to fetch firewood for a fire. Also, they are unable to afford to buy anything from the supermarket. In this way, the writer tackles how poverty affects this family.

Show how loneliness is brought out in Italo Calvino’s Marcovaldo: Or The Seasons in the City.

Marcovaldo, despite having a considerably large family is lonely. One of the main arguments behind this state of affairs can be argued to be the fact that his family does not share in the interests that Marcovaldo has. He is deeply interested in nature and can be seen to notice the minutest of details on nature. Marcovaldo is poor when it comes to conversing and has very few friends. In this way, he becomes a symbol of loneliness in the work.