If on a winter's night a traveler Gender Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

Now you are man and wife, Reader and Reader. A great double bed receives your parallel readings. (22.1)

Congratulations! You're married! Yep—in the book's final scene, you discover that you and Ludmilla have gotten married. Your marriage symbolizes that you've come to accept Ludmilla's open-minded approach to reading as better than your "normal" approach, and this acceptance has made you and Ludmilla into "Reader and Reader."

Up to this point, the story has always referred to you as the Reader and Ludmilla as the Other Reader. The phrasing of this final scene, though, demonstrates that you and Ludmilla have become equal, and that rather than having two distinct styles of reading, your approaches to books are parallel. Your education as a reader is complete, and Calvino finally allows you to enjoy a sense of closure in your story, uniting you with the woman you love.