Small World- Part Four/Five

First I would like to say that I hope I am correct in assuming that part four refers to parts four and five, seeing as this is the last scheduled day to discuss the work.

Seeing as the characters resolutions are all fairly transparent, I would like to just write about my observations in these last parts. I will begin by saying that I think this book was a great choice to wrap up the course. It presents themes that we have been discussing all semester, such as the nature of desire, the glorification of a love interest, and the theme of quest. I really like the way that Lodge used the concept of twins to illustrate Persse's lack of true love for Angelica. By having two women who are physically identical, it illustrates the concept of an image of love very nicely. I see this as being similar to the concept of sign-signified. If a person is presented with two identical signs that have different significances, such as the word screen, it is easy to determine which significance is in reference by analyzing the context in which the word is used. In the novel, the twins served as identical signs with radically different significances, but Persse did not have the context of actually knowing Angelica that would have allowed him to determine which was which.