Well, The Book of Chameleons<\/i> is not actually about chameleons. I expected this because none of the books we have read in this class have been about the literal meaning of their titles. As I read new books for this class, I try my best to identify the underlying themes.<\/p>\n
For instance, when I was reading the second chapter, “The House,” Agualusa writes that the country needs sappers for mine-sweeping operations; I immediately thought, “war!” I was correct, as we, the readers, then see the post-traumatic reactions of the people in Angola.<\/p>\n
Felix has a very interesting job: inventing “good” pasts for his clients. He notices that people with secure social status often lack a good family history, so he turns this into a business by making up the entire family trees and legacies for those people. Initially, this business sounded like nonsense to me. However, Agualusa\u2019s writing explains the necessity of it:<\/p>\n
\n“Well\u2014sir\u2014… you’re white.” “And what of it? You’re whiter than I am…” “White? Me?!” The albino choked. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead. “No, no! I’m black. Pure black. I’m a native. Can’t you tell that I’m blac<\/span>k?…” (p.18)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Here, a Black man suffering from albinism is mistaken for being white. His condition conceals his identity, and he feels a desperate need to assert his true self. The word “native” makes me think of belonging. The people who visit Felix may also be looking for that same sense of belonging. Agualusa writes that these people want “a name that resonates with nobility and culture.”<\/p>\n
Later, in the chapter “Splendorium,” Agualusa describes Angela L\u00facia’s ability to recognize locations by the light. She takes out a few slides and calls them her “splendorium.” This choice of words and the previous discussion about the past reminds me of the book Sternstunden der Menschheit<\/i> (Decisive Moments in History). <\/i>That book is about the collective legacy of humanity, focusing on those important moments as “stellar moments.” The book is really famous and people love to know about how great their ancestors were.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the characters in The Book of Chameleons<\/i> love to discuss their family stories, even if they are made up. Felix asks Angela, “Talking about family histories, you know you’ve never told me yours?” Like, he is the one who always made those up!! He is now asking Angela to tell him hers!!!<\/p>\n
Discussion Question:<\/b> Do you think family legacy matters today?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, The Book of Chameleons is not actually about chameleons. I expected this because none of the books we have read in this class have been about the literal meaning of their titles. As I read new books for this class, I try my best to identify the underlying themes. For instance, when I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-60","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","tag-the-book-of-chameleons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/dorisd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}