Node.js url.parse() and pathname property

I'm reading a getting started book on node.js called The Node Beginner Book and in the code below (given in the book) I don't understand the significance of the pathname property hanging off the parse method. So I would like to know what it is doing. The documentation for this method is not clear to me

var pathname = url.parse(request.url).pathname;

var http = require("http");
var url = require("url");
function start(route, handle) {
function onRequest(request, response) {
var pathname = url.parse(request.url).pathname;         // I don't understand the pathname property
console.log("Request for " + pathname + " received.");
route(handle, pathname);
response.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "text/plain"});
response.write("Hello World");
response.end();
}

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