Unknown love, clear heart

Major 2022-11-12 16:46:12

I still don't understand how the two people fell in love. The first time they met, they confronted each other in the tavern and slandered each other. One is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, and the other is a male from Italy. Bantini admits that he doesn't understand women, even fear and resistance. Although he is a writer, he has no decent work published. He lives in a hotel that costs 40 cents a day and often defaults on rent. This is not difficult to understand. In the age when tuberculosis was still uncurable, the currency was not inflated as it is today.

Camilla was already with Lamy. Lamy is also a writer, more embarrassed than Bantini, even less able to write, he likes to control Camilla, and even fists. The gentle Bantini appeared, giving Camilla a glimmer of hope. She waived Bantini from time to time to express a little favor.

Camilla is stubborn and illiterate, so she was angry when she saw the book sent by Bantini, thinking it was a humiliation to herself. Bantini was stubborn. The coffee he ordered was of low quality, so he dumped the beer Camilla apologized to the trash can.

Camilla is strong, regardless of Rami's censure and anger, Camilla took the initiative again and again and finally lingered with Bantini on the beach. Bantini is dull, both awkward and timid whether he is stealing milk or stealing people.

Camilla is also gentle, always wants to take care of this man, has hope for him, and also has hope for her own future.

Bantini has his own fan, a woman with damaged skin. Without the love of her husband, she devoted herself to the worship of Bantini. Bantini was always hesitant to accept feelings, and he approached this woman more to experience life and to write novels. In the woman's room, the bright bedroom with the amusement park visible through the window, Bantini released his enthusiasm; by the sea, on the soft sand, Bantini found the feeling of being respected and even admired—— It was also his original intention to devote himself to writing, which was recognized and affirmed. The earthquake took the woman away and brought him back to life in the dream.


The pain of the skin gave birth to new novels, Bantini came and went, and the publication of the novel gave him savings. He returned to Camilla, and the two lived together on the beach away from the hustle and bustle. Camilla reads literally, Bantini's career has not gone further. He did not pursue, but did what he liked. His dreams were more beautiful than reality, and he was his own hope and grave.

Beautiful love always encounters a cruel reality, Camilla is sick. Like Lamy, she suffers from tuberculosis. The pain was unbearable and she took cocaine to relieve it. The relief was only temporary, and life gradually died... Standing in front of Camilla’s tombstone, Bantini had mixed feelings and could only take their common puppy Willie to leave this sad place. , Continue to write.

A long time later, he returned to the desolate cemetery with his novel, but the tombstone was missing.
I only know that there is a beloved person buried near a small house, and good memories are buried. That book was rescued by Camilla from his wastebasket. Without Camilla's advice, this book would not have been written, nor would I find out why the two fell in love so much.

The two immigrants have suffered some kind of unfair treatment, both suffered cold eyes and insults, and both long for one day to become prosperous, and both hope to obtain equal rights to pursue happiness. That is what Camilla recites over and over again, the declaration on the pursuit of happiness, and the idea of ​​establishing the United States.

Feelings stop at reason, just like Camilla’s books that Camilla can’t read or even put on her tombstone. Where is the true pursuit of equality and happiness? No one seems to know, and no one can give an answer.

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Extended Reading

Ask the Dust quotes

  • Camilla: You call me beautiful at home, then you are ashamed to be seen with me in public. You are ashamed of beauty you recognize that no one else does. You are ashamed to love me!

  • Arturo Bandini: What does happiness mean to you Camilla?

    Camilla: That you can fall in love with whoever you want to, and not feel ashamed of it.