The Path to the Spiders Nests by Italo Calvino

p The Path to the Spiders Nests by Italo Calvino

Calvino writes not how big men act under big circumstances , but how small men act big under small circumstances . The category of humanity most affected during war times is children . They do not know what does the war actually mean , and have vague ideas , as to its unavoidable capacity to bring enormous suffering to those who are not directly involved in war , how an ordinary soldier becomes a tyrant in the ghastly circumstances of killing and revenge-killings destroy everything for the sake

of historic grudge . The reason is buried miles deep , and the soldiers develop a strange demonic feeling that whatever they do is correct . Cruelty becomes the way of life and benevolence an exception - under such grim circumstances , Calvino carves out a story , of a young boy Pin , caught up in the web of helpless circumstances and yet he tries to maintain balance between his boyhood and his association with adults with beastly tendencies . Surprisingly for Pin , their devilish tendencies and rough dealings vanish into thin air . To him they speak gently and affectionately

Imagination-wise , the authors mostly cross the moon and beat the stars The wise saying in Sanskrit (an oriental language ) goes , Kalaya tasmaiah namah (Oh , Time ! I surrender to you ) A writer is conditioned by time , and the circumstances prevailing then deeply impact his writings . The latent feelings of the various characters of the story and eventually the plot of the story itself are products of time . The Path to the Spiders Nests falls into this genre

The life of every human being , from the cradle to the grave and from the womb to the tomb , is an unwritten epic , and the sum-of that individual . Calvino describes the life of young Pin , who is always in a dilemma he wishes to be the part of the band of boys of his age and also to develop rapport of equality with men much older to him He takes the boys of his age to task as he considers them novices for their lack of knowledge of adult issues and adults for their late night activities . Nothing happens with choice for Pin . He is part of the Italian resistance during World War II . He encounters strange characters there , finds it difficult to retain his own identity amidst their wayward ways , and yet he has to adjust to circumstances thrust upon him What were those people ? The scene is not the one that you see in a finely directed war-movie . He lives with the lice-infested peasant Marxists to the hyper-intelligent young co-leader ' Whereas the Generals have to tackle the big issues like winning or losing the war and cease-fire , the common soldier has to take care the small issues affecting their day to day lives , most of them highly unpleasant under the prolonged war conditions

Pin is the creator and victim of his own circumstances . He steals a pistol from a Nazi soldier and subsequently arrested . One thing he had...