Marco Polo’s Personality-In the Travels of Marco Polo

Prompt: In the Travels of Marco Polo, the author describes various nations, lands, people, cultures, and fantastic phenomena, but his descriptions ultimately tell us a great deal about his personality and understanding of the world. For this response, I would like you to choose 1 or 2 places Marco Polo describes and explore not only what he sees, but what his descriptions suggest about him as a viewer. What sorts of things is he looking for and does he talk about? What language does he use to talk about them? What does he include and not include? What (sometimes subtle) criteria does he seem to apply to his subjects? What do these opinions suggest is important to him or that he values?

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