Arms of the Father

Tony Filpi
English 630
Dr. Picicci
7 April 2010

Arms of the Father

One of the aspects of Calvino’s The Secret Path to the Spider’s Nests is Pin’s search for some special friend he can share his secret place with, and while this hope of Pin’s is overtly expressed at several junctures in the story, the type of individual he is seeking remains a vague shadow throughout the text. Rather than some special friend, I propose that this entire text is an exorcise in searching for and defining family; specifically, Pin is searching for a father.

We are first introduced to this idea at the beginning of the text, when Pin describes his life as a child of the alley. His sister is an unconcerned prostitute, and he is rejected by the younger children and those of his own age. The only solace and companionship he can find is in the memory of his father’s arms and the company of the drunks at the local bar. The men of the bar confuse Pin, and he is uncomfortable with the pastimes of these adults: he finds them “harsh like all the sensations men enjoy; smoke, wine, women” (34). His memory of his father isn’t much better, but in this we find the connection to this ultimate redemption.

The description of his father’s hands is brief, but its importance becomes obvious once one pairs it with the arrival of Cousin. He remembers, “being swung in the air in his big bare arms, strong arms marked with black veins” (42). It is this faceless set of arms that Pin is seeking in the men he meets, and though Pin attempts to find a father figure in the men from the bar, Committee, his master, and even possibly the German his sister is sleeping with, it is in the hands of Cousin that he finds acceptance.

Cousin is the most interesting of Pin’s acquaintances. Calvino hamstrings him with a disability, like most of the other characters, but Cousin is able to retain his humanity regardless of his neurosis, a deep hated and distrust of women. This seems particularly significant during the first meeting between him and Pin and the final scene of the novel. Before their first meeting, Pin is abandoned by Red Wolf, and Cousin finds him wondering in the woods. When Cousin questions him, Pin falls back to identifying himself as the brother of The Girl from Long Alley (84). Rather than rejecting Pin, Cousin responds with “ Yes…yes…yes…yes…’” He goes on to hint at his disgust of women by telling Pin that “War’s all the fault of women,” but the significance of this scene is in his acceptance of Pin, even though Pin’s only identity is found though a medium that Cousin despises. His acceptance of Pin is solidified when he offers to carry Pin back to camp, as Pin’s father once carried him, but Pin settles for allowing “The big man [to] take him by the hand” and walk him to camp.

This concept is furthered at the end of the book when the two meet again by chance. Cousin appears to be over his hatred of women and asks to visit Pin’s sister, but when he returns, he tells Pin that he “got disgusted” (184). However, he still maintains his relationship with Pin, and the implication at the end of the story is of a kind of adoption. Pin is able to show Cousin his spiders, and the big man pays attention. The final lines cement the almost magical reunion with a father Pin has never known: “And they walk on, the big man and the child, into the night, amid the fireflies, holding each other by the hand” (185). Pin finally has a face to attach to the “bare arms” and a friend to share his secret place.