Let it be

           "Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else." 

           Signund Freud, explains this theory quite well. He introduces the ideologies of the subconscious and how dreams are made up of all the ideas that lie in this region of the brain. However, what differs Freud from Calvino is the capability of dreams altering reality. 

You are not the creator of the cities–the cities have created you.

           Throughout the chapter "Cities and Desires–5," Calvino describes the city of Zobeide. It is a city made up of a dream. Those who live there have had the same dream, thus they constructed this site my memory. 

          "They saw a woman running at night through an unknown city; she was seen from behind, with long hair, and she was naked. They dreamed of pursuing her. As they twisted and turned, each of them lost her. After the dream they set out in search of that city; they never found it, but they found one another....None of them, asleep or awake, ever saw the woman again. The cities streets were streets where they went to work every day, with no link any more to the dream chase. Which, for the matter, had long been forgotten." (Pg. 45) 

           Although the inhabitants of Zobeide designed the city so perfectly to be able to find the naked woman, their design was too accurate that the result was perfect. In the dream, the city had certain streets, buildings, and characters. However, the plot of the dream involved the chase of a naked woman who always escaped. The people who shared this dream, never had the chance to retrieve this woman. Once they built the city and gave it life, just like the dream, the woman never appeared. This could only signify that their planifications and designs tessellated perfectly to the dream. The woman was never to be found. After years of waiting for the naked woman to appear, the citizens simply forgot. 

           Dreams and fears are elements of who we are and of our future. Calvino explains through his expedition that life is about experiences, not about the destination. No matter how much we want our future to change, the universe will assure lessons will be learned and experiences will be experienced. No matter how much we want the past to change, and even if we had the possibility to take another path, in some way destiny will accomplish its purpose.

"The first to arrive could not understand what drew these people to Zobeide, this ugly city, this trap." (pg. 46) 

Is Zobeide a trap for women or for the citizens, meaning us. Has such intensive planning to change the outcome of the dream, made us slaves of this desire? If your past defined you then you have fallen in the trap. 

       The desire for change is the ego pursuing a future that is impossible. Throughout chapter three, Calvino intends to portray how forced change is manipulating G-ds plans of your life. For instance, in Cities & Signs –4, Calvino expresses how every human wished another world, a justice world. By establishing the metaphor of languages and objects "Of all the changes of languages a travler in distant lands must face, none equals that which awaits him in the city of Hypatia, because the change regards not words, but things. He elaborates this desire from practically the whole human race by stating that G-d is blamed for the "lack of change in things." 

        In addition, in Thin Cities– 3, Calvino describes a city whose buildings had inner structures, but are never built. This reminds me of my mother's explanation for the many divorces of today. She says that relationships are begun mostly without a "base." In other words, couples aren't friends before they become couples. Establishing a serious relationship (mainly sexual) before having constructed the bases first, apparently leads to break-ups. This connects to the topic of this chapter: Change, for no change is beneficial if the actions taken are inmoral. Just like couples who proceed to different stages of the relationship whilst skipping steps, changes that have no goals or responsible planifications lead to destruction. Nevertheless,Calvino also explains during Trading Cities–2, that risks  and never taking action leads to regret and unaccomplished dreams, and no fears triumphed over. 

Change can be part of the expedition. Change undone is regretful. Change with irresponsibility is consequential.