How would you interpret this sentence?
Asheville is also under siege, quarantined because of the polio. The city is a graveyard.
I can imagine you here, Frida, limp-skipping through the streets to have a laugh at all this fear. You’ve already had the polio, you have your leg to show for it, your billowing woe and passion that can’t be chased indoors for anything. It’s a gift to survive death, isn’t it? It puts us outside the fray. How strange, that I include myself, I wonder now what I mean. What was my childhood disease? Love, I suppose. I was susceptible to contracting great love, suffering the chills and delirium of that pox. But it seems I am safe now, unlikely to contract it again. The advantages of immunity are plain. People contort themselves around the terror of being alone, making any compromise against that. It’s a great freedom to give up on love, and get on with everything else.How would you interpret this sentence: How strange, that I include myself, I wonder now what I mean?
Thanks! And this excerpt is taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Question

How would you interpret this sentence?
Asheville is also under siege, quarantined because of the polio. The city is a graveyard.
I can imagine you here, Frida, limp-skipping through the streets to have a laugh at all this fear. You’ve already had the polio, you have your leg to show for it, your billowing woe and passion that can’t be chased indoors for anything. It’s a gift to survive death, isn’t it? It puts us outside the fray. How strange, that I include myself, I wonder now what I mean. What was my childhood disease? Love, I suppose. I was susceptible to contracting great love, suffering the chills and delirium of that pox. But it seems I am safe now, unlikely to contract it again. The advantages of immunity are plain. People contort themselves around the terror of being alone, making any compromise against that. It’s a great freedom to give up on love, and get on with everything else.How would you interpret this sentence: How strange, that I include myself, I wonder now what I mean?
Thanks! And this excerpt is taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Answer

So the author is talking about how Frida had Polio as a child but lived through it.  
"Its a gift to survive death, isn't it?" ----  The author is saying that escaping death is a gift, perhaps because it gives the survivor a different outlook/appreciation for life.
"It puts US outside the fray."--- now the author is talking about Frida and including himself by using 'us'.
"How strange, that I include myself, I wonder now what I mean" ---- The author is wondering why he included himself in the sentence before this one.  The author did not not survive death, he did not have Polio or some other condition that almost killed him.  So why did he say that "it puts US outside the fray"?   
This question is answered in the following sentences.

Answers · 1

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