Kwoth's Scope Sparknotes

While the plots in the stories “Kwoth’s Rope” by Frances Carden and “ The Distance of the Moon” by Italo Calvino are extremely different, “Kwoth’s Rope” is based on the legend of the Nuer people of South Sudan, a chief who wished to live forever and was given his wish by the God Kwoth, who gave the village a rope to his heaven, where people live forever. While “The Distance of the Moon” spins a tale about how the Moon used to be close to the Earth, and people would climb upon the Moon and collect her milk, eventually the tides pushed the Moon away. Although these magical tales appear extremely different in nature, one connection they share is that the magical realms within them (Kwoth’s eternal paradise and the Moon’s providing surface) create a rift between the main characters and their desired lovers.

But now, with the rope, all those things mean nothing.” (Carden 121). While Machar actively longs for Yaya, he refuses to climb the rope, as perhaps he feels the rope makes all the time he sacrificed for his position meaningless. While Machar actively despises the magic taking his lover from him, the protagonist from “The Distance of the Moon”, who is never given a name, understands his lover's desire for the magic, the protagonist longs for the love of the captain's wife, Mrs.Vhd Vhd, although Mrs. Vhd Vhd is in love with “The Deaf One” who cannot return her feelings as his love is the Moon. Due to The Deaf One’s love for the Moon, Mrs. Vhd Vhd is determined to become the Moon. The protagonist states, “No. I had lost; a hopeless