\u201cWritten on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulations of a lifetime gather there\u2026 I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn\u2019t know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book.\u201d (89)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Louise has the reading hands that can translate the code that is written on the narrator\u2019s body, which as the narrator informs us is a difficult task considering she informs us as readers that she closes herself off to people who could decipher her code. Louise not only translates the code of the narrator, but \u201ctranslated me into her own book,\u201d made the narrator\u2019s story a part of her story. The passage is beautifully linked to the narrator\u2019s own life and career as a translator; the narrator can translate Russian, but the Louise can translate and understand the narrator.<\/p>\n
Louise seems to have a profound transformational effect on the narrator\u2019s outlook on life, love and relationships throughout the text, but is explicitly clear in this passage. I think this passage remarks on some of the previous stories of the narrator\u2019s past relationship, all of which involved a partner which failed to translate the \u201csecret code\u201d written on their body. The passage shows that Louise was the first of the narrator\u2019s partners to translate them, understand them, and bring them \u201cinto her own book.\u201d I think that the narrator\u2019s obsession with Louise throughout the remainder of this book can be explained by this passage, that the code that allows them to love unconditionally (especially important, considering Louise is still married at the time,) and is eventually able to measure the love they felt for Louise by losing her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWritten on the body is a secret code only visible in certain lights; the accumulations of a lifetime gather there\u2026 I like to keep my body rolled up away from prying eyes. Never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn\u2019t know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her … Continue reading “She has translated me”: The “Secret Code” of The Narrator<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2538,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}