What do you mean by "parap"?
Most likely its describing Old Lady Chong"s finger. "Like a dead person, like an old peach I once found in the back of the refrigerator. It should be touch since its describing Old lady Chongs age.
Answer:
In this passage, Willis is expressing that literature is a message from the past telling us about the lives of those before us. We are told that these messages are trying to tell us how we live and how we die based on others experiences. Willis tries to explain this through a concerned, yet passionate tone that urges us, the readers, to learn from the mistakes and the fortunes of the lives of people before us. We can only do this through literature, as it is the gateway to seeing how the world works.
