Experience

In my experience in reading East of Eden, Calvino’s multiplicity quality is a thread that weaves together major works of modernism and post modernism explaining that there are no limitations to realizations, representations, relationships and ending.

John Steinbeck is the narrator but he is privy to all of the characters and he also knows extensive knowledge of the personalities and family histories of each character. There is little restriction and even the random thoughts of characters are shared. This gives equal importance to characters and gives the reader insight to multiple perspectives and various accounts of events.

Design

Visualizing a design for multiple using Mcnab’s principles was difficult but I think the number eight best captures the narrative and omnipresent quality. The number eight, according to Mcnab, on its side is the symbol for infinity. Infinity expresses coming full circle to express the whole, much like Calvino’s quality for multiplicity. Infinity represents the repetition and total of numbers but without an end.

This idea can be compared to the job of an author to include all the necessary parts to complete a story that by nature is limitless with possibility.

Analogy

The best analogy to use to describe Multiplicity is the infinity logo. For all the reasons mentioned above the infinity symbol expresses the idea of connecting to multiple parts to make up the whole. Each part is unique and individual, like the characters in a book but together they form together to create the overall story and goal of the work.

Emblem

The emblem that visualizes Multiple based on a feature found within East of Eden is the Salinas Valley. Through this blog you can see that the valley has great significance on both the characters and their plots but the valley acts as a all encompassing force that dictates the lives of all who live there and its future is often parallel to the future of the valley’s residents.

Like the infinity symbol, all the parts of the valley, different in each area and farm, all form together in the circle of life that is both harsh and rewarding to the characters of East of Eden.

Experience

Calvino’s quality of visibility is expressed in two ways. The one that starts with the word and arrives at the visual image (reading) and the one the starts with the visual image and arrives at a verbal expression (writing) The style of East of Eden is a marriage of vivid imagery of the Salinas Valley where Steinbeck writes words to express mental images and the human condition of good and evil that is already present in reader’s minds.

            This is the idea that Steinbeck used imagination to convey the sights, sounds, colors, and smells of the Salinas Valley to the reader because the Valley is not something that people will inherently know. On the other hand, by telling the stories of two families living in the valley Steinbeck relays the story of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel from Genesis, a story that resonates with all people.

 

Design

A proposal I have for visualizing Visible in East of Eden is through the number five. Mcnab explains that five defines an element so rare that it can’t be seen or felt but is pervasive in everything created and everything we do. Calvino’s idea of visibility and imagination through imagery, analogy and characters is perfectly connected to the magical and aliveness of the number five. 

Analogy

Calvino’s quality Visible is similar to the visualization of the Children’s Miracle Network logo. The logo is a red and yellow hot air balloon with five stripes and because pentagonal symmetry is embodied in many signature life forms such as fingers, senses, etc, the number is associated with life and the human spirit.

            The mystical properties of the number five mixed with the hopeful imagery of a hot air balloon blend perfectly with the human aspect of the Children’s Miracle Network.