Chapters 8 - 9 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 8

Carlo stays in the widow's house three weeks waiting for another place, while the summer is at its height. Carlo watches the weather and the townspeople, describing them in relaxed tones. He notes that the townspeople think there is something satanic about goats, but it has nothing to do with Christianity. Animals just have spiritual powers - the goat is the symbol of the ancient "satyr." Carlo begins to make his way to the cemetery on a walk. He spends a great deal of time here and falls asleep.

Carlo wakes up to an old man speaking to him, a man almost ninety, with no teeth, whose appearance is timeless and whose face looks like a "dried-up apple." Carlo begins to have a conversation with the man, but the man is near incomprehensible, and Carlo is never sure...