I bear my scars as if they were medals.
The narrator compares his scars to medals. He understands the value of hardships he had to face to obtain his freedom. Freedom here is not just from a physical or social entity. He likes to have freedom from any sort of social or emotional bondage that would make him unhappy in his life. Since, he is a professional writer, he understands the values of such experiences and how they help him develop as a human being.
Celebrity is an aphrodisiac.
The narrator uses a person’s celebrity status as a metaphor for one’s chances of finding a sexual partner. According to him, it hardly matters how a person looks, or his mannerisms are, or how old he is. As long as that person is popular in media, he will find popularity which would lead people to that person who would be interested in that person sexually even if he is not attractive. That person’s celebrity status is what makes him sexy.
... the cathedral is me, it is all of us.
The narrator compares human beings to the cathedral in Vittoria. He observes how the cathedral which is a hundred years old keeps going under several changes till it’s not recognizable to its original design. He compares human beings to the cathedral as we all undergo several changes in society till we are no more the person we started with.
... no one knows why the current took them to that particular island and not to the one they wanted to reach.
The narrator often compares his books to islands and his journey of writing that book as a sail against a current to reach a particular island. He might think of a particular story but might end up writing something completely different. He is not sure why, the second idea might appeal more or the first might nor show as much interesting plot. He thus, compares his journey like sailing against a current in a sea. He can’t control where he is going, he can only hope to reach a certain island and it’s entirely possible that he may reach a different island.
As happens with all husbands, there came a point when you started to treat your wife as if she were just part of the goods and chattel.
Mikhail tells this to the narrator that even though he loved his wife, but over time he got used to the relationship and started to take her for granted, that she would always be there, that she would always obey him like a brainless animal trained to do his bidding and not an intelligent human being with thoughts and feelings of her own.
