[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Hi, Richard
I can't agree more (Possession and material value):
the significance of the knapsack is that it is a basic and cheap bag, suggesting the possession of a backpacking traveller, not the luxury end.
The memories as you say are both positive and negative:
Simple and basic, but full of memories, both positive and ngative, the riches of the world and experience, not simply the material value of a ruby.
Whe she opens the knapsack you find: an old spoon but also a walkie-talkie which is not basic. Does it contain both basic and non-basic, good memories, bad memories, prose and peotry. I mean whatever you read you see two opposite poles. When you focus the ruby it disappears.
When discussing it with a lady she said the knapsack and the ruby might symbolize pregnancy and giving birth. There is some allusion to blood in the text. Would you agree with that?