Previous
The Child
Ryzak is the leader of Tomis who shares his dwelling with Ovid. The stern and powerful Ryzak makes Ovid feel weak by comparison. Although Ovid initially thinks that Ryzak will eventually execute him, since he is technically Ovid’s captor, he grows to see Ryzak as the closest friend he has ever had. Ryzak teaches Ovid skills like how to ride a horse without a saddle and how to honor the dead, and his stories reveal the way the villagers’ language shapes their perception of the world around them. Although Ryzak does not understand Ovid’s interest in the Child, Ryzak helps bring the boy back to Tomis and protects him from the old woman (Ryzak’s mother), who is immediately hostile toward the Child. However, when the Child comes down with a fever that passes to Ryzak’s grandson Lullo, all of the villagers (including Ryzak) suspects that the Child brought a demon with him into Tomis. After Lullo recovers, Ryzak is stricken with a mysterious illness that causes him to spasm and growl like an animal. The old woman finds teeth marks on Ryzak’s wrist which she claims proves that a demon entered his body. After Ryzak falls into a coma, the elders of the village beat him to death so that his spirit will leave his body in a violent state, and thus be more difficult for other demons to take control of.
Ryzak / The Headman / The Old Man Quotes in An Imaginary Life
The An Imaginary Life quotes below are all either spoken by Ryzak / The Headman / The Old Man or refer to Ryzak / The Headman / The Old Man. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2 Quotes
My life has been so frivolous. Brought up to believe in my own nerves, in restlessness, variety, change; educated entirely out of books, living always in a state of soft security, able to pamper myself, to drift about in a cloud of tender feelings, and with comfortable notions of my own intelligence, sociability, kindness, good breeding; moved by nothing I couldn’t give a name to, believing in nothing I couldn’t see.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Ovid compares his own weakness with Ryzak’s tough demeanor and hard features, and reflects on how different their lives must have been. This moment marks the beginning of Ovid’s recognition of his own frivolity, how wasted and sheltered his life has been thus far. Ovid’s statement that he disbelieved anything he could not name or see comes at the end of his long list of self-criticisms. This suggests that his skepticism, like his arrogance or physical weakness, is born out of a sheltered life. In the safe confines of Roman civilization, Ovid was never challenged with anything he could not Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas deb
The old man’s stories are fabulous beyond anything I have retold from the Greeks; but savage, a form of extravagant play that explains nothing, but speaks straight out of the nightmare landscape of this place and my dream journeys across it […] I begin to see briefly, in snatches, how this old man, my friend, might see the world. It is astonishing. Bare, cruel, terrible, comic.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
As Ovid learn the villagers’ language, he realizes that it’s entirely different than Latin. The villagers’ language is more direct, even crude, and simply presents the world as it is. Ovid’s observation that their folklore “explains nothing” suggests that unlike Latin, which tends to analyze and critique, the village language simply observes reality and accepts it. Even though the villagers believe in spirits, their language and worldview does not seek grander meaning to the world beyond its simple realities of life and death. This lack of analysis parallels Tomis’s lack of agriculture or cultivation. While the Latin language cultivates ideas Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas
Get the entire An Imaginary Life LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Ryzak / The Headman / The Old Man Character Timeline in An Imaginary Life
The timeline below shows where the character Ryzak / The Headman / The Old Man appears in An Imaginary Life. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...areas built above, where families huddle together for entire winters. He lives with the village headman and the headman’s elderly mother, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Ovid thinks these people are “barbarian[s],” but...
(full context)
Chapter 2
Ovid sits with the headman and his family in the main room of their hut. The headman’s mother never joins...
(full context)
Ovid thinks of the headman as “old,” but realizes they are probably the same age, not quite 50. He tries...
(full context)
...curds for breakfast. Hunters armed with bows, as well as the village shaman, arrive. The headman then arrives and greets each man, woman, and child in turn. They begin their ceremony,...
(full context)
...a long pole, which is the customary way to lay a horseman to rest. The headman unshoulders a sack full of grain and leads his riders weaving among the mounds, shouting...
(full context)
As Ovid rides back down the hill, following the headman’s path, he recalls his older brother’s funeral, decades before. On that day, as Ovid rides...
(full context)
...also small human footprints, which shocks Ovid, though none of the others seem surprised. The headman explains, through hand signs, that they first started seeing these footprints two seasons ago. They...
(full context)
...survive such harsh weather. He waits anxiously for spring, when he hopes to convince the headman—whom he now calls Ryzak—to send a search party out for the Child. However, for now...
(full context)
Ovid has now attained enough of Tomis’s language to communicate simple ideas. He presses Ryzak to send a search party out for the Child, Ryzak is reticent, though won’t say...
(full context)
...winter passes into another spring. Ovid understands the “crude tongue” of Tomis now. He teaches Ryzak’s grandson bits of Latin, though the boy takes little interest in it. Ovid listens to...
(full context)
...wonders if the “wild boy” now recognizes his similarity to these strangers in his woods. Ryzak thinks Ovid’s obsession with the Child is foolish, perhaps even dangerous.
(full context)
...development. Ovid feels as if he is being transformed and entering into his new self. Ryzak is now the closest friend Ovid has ever had. He teaches Ovid more about Tomis...
(full context)
Over the winter, Ovid convinces Ryzak to bring the Child back to the village next time they see him. Ryzak asks...
(full context)
...the his “wildness.” When the shaman finishes, the Child sleeps for several days straight while Ryzak carries him back to Tomis, slung across his horse like a deer. The villagers watch...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...sign that the Child has a bestial spirit, and they refuse to come near him. Ryzak’s grandson, Lullo, spreads the rumor that the Child is covered in hair and has hooves....
(full context)
...on the Child, since they will have to share a room with the rest of Ryzak’s family. All year, Ovid and the Child have kept to themselves as much as possible,...
(full context)
Ovid shares his concern with Ryzak, but Ryzak assures him that the women will leave the Child alone. Ovid fears he...
(full context)
Ryzak’s mother, “the old woman,” remains antagonistic toward Ovid and the Child, though she will not...
(full context)
...as if he wants to climb it. He scratches at his own face. Ovid and Ryzak look on, saddened, while Lullo shakes with fear. Ovid feels heavy with guilt and a...
(full context)
Chapter 4
...Child acts hysterical, making animal noises and trying to throw himself out the high window. Ryzak’s mother, the old woman, watches the Child at all hours and seems afraid that he...
(full context)
...clothes off, looking for a mark where the demon entered his body. By the time Ryzak enters, within an hour, Lullo already shows signs of fever. Although Ovid would otherwise be...
(full context)
...Child recovers and grows stronger while Lullo sinks further into his fever dreams, and even Ryzak becomes suspicious of the Child. Ovid fears that the suspicion will turn to violence if...
(full context)
...around a bit and sit with the animals below. In the wake of the fevers, Ryzak lost his control of the household; the old woman now reigns. She claims “her magic”...
(full context)
The old woman orders Ryzak to catch a wild puppy for her to sacrifice at the next full moon. She...
(full context)
...are not permitted, to perform the “offices of the moon,” the embodiment of “women’s power.” Ryzak, sitting with Ovid in the village, seems ill at ease while they are gone. Even...
(full context)
In the morning, Ovid hears raspy breathing. Ryzak fell ill during the night and appears gray. Animal-like growls rise from his throat. The...
(full context)
Ryzak’s mouth foams, and his limbs spasm and contort. Even to Ovid it seems like an...
(full context)
...mind-altering herbs and striking stones against each other, making noise to distract the demons while Ryzak dies. The elders enter and beat Ryzak to death, so that his spirit will be...
(full context)
When Ryzak dies, the ritual ceases, replaced by the long moaning of Ryzak’s mother and daughter-in-law. The...
(full context)
