Famous Last Words for Week 13

This week was a complete blur, and it took me a minute to remember what unit I even read this week. This week, I did Dante's Inferno, and it genuinely creeped me out. However, the essay I wrote over justice in tale was easy to write considering Hell is a place where sinners go to pay for the sins they committed on earth. Divine Justice is the central theme in the unit, so writing about justice was a breeze. Lately, I've been focusing more and more on justice in the stories I've read, and it's been interesting to see how different time periods and cultures dealt with the concept. I've noticed that a lot of tales from the distant past make it a point to show that justice goes along closely with revenge, which is something I find interesting because in other instances, such as examples from the New Testament, justice is something that people allow God to deal with. Dante's Inferno seemed to mix divine justice with personal revenge, as in the case of Count Ugolino, who got to spend eternity eating the man that starved him to death.

Voting for the best Storybooks and Portfolios this week was so difficult! Everyone has put so much time and effort into their projects, and I felt like everyone did an equally awesome job. It's been so nice seeing people use their creative talents to create such diverse projects. Here I am, having a hard time thinking of storytelling ideas sometimes, and there are people in the class that hit the mark week after week with some solid storytelling.

Today was the anniversary of the bombing in Oklahoma City. I happened to be downtown today for one of my internships, and I saw so many people interacting with one another and the memorial itself. It's heartwarming to live in such a close and strong community.

(OKC Memorial)

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Essay: Crime and Justice in Dante's Inferno

Dante's Inferno deals almost completely with crime and justice. Dante's walk through the circles of Hell shows that different circles deal differently with punishing sinners for the sins they committed while on earth. The justice that all of the sinners faced was basically the opposite of whatever it was that they had done wrong while they were living.

For example, the churchmen described in Cerberus and Plutus were said to have been so avaricious and indecisive that their eternal punishment was to roll giant weights across a circle and collide with others before making it to the other side. Even if justice hadn't been served to them when they were on earth, they were paying for their evil deeds by suffering in this manner for eternity. Divine Justice is referenced to in this part of the unit, because Divine Justice is responsible for the punishment that the sinners must endure for their past deeds.

(Cerberus, a punisher in Hell)

Justice is served more and more severely as the circles of Hell deepen. One of the first circles that Dante visits is Limbo. In this part of Hell, people are simply made to dwell there because, although they were people of worth, they weren't baptized and therefore couldn't be saved. Since they weren't saved or didn't worship God correctly, they are made to live without hope and are overwhelmed by a desire to get the afterlife that they will never get.

One of the most twisted examples of justice can be found in Ugolino. Count Ugolino made a pact with Archbishop Ruggieri, but then the Archbishop betrayed him and imprisoned the Count and his children. Since no food was given, everyone began to starve, and eventually Ugolino's children began to offer themselves as food to their starving father. When Dante sees Ugolino in Hell, he sees that justice has been served in an awful way. Since Ruggieri starved Ugolino during their time on earth, he has become eternal food for Ugolino in the afterlife.

Reading Diary B: Dante's Inferno

The second half of the Dante's Inferno unit was not an easy read. There was so much suffering and anguish in the later tales! This is understandable given the location of the traveler and his guide, but I had to read something happy after finishing this unit because it was just a little too depressing to dwell on.

As with the first half, the amount of detail and imagery provided in the second half of the unit was astounding. It made me feel like I was going along on the journey, which is good from the literary sense but creepy because I would never like to go on such a journey. The descriptions of the characters in The Giants was particularly chilling. I made the mistake of reading this late at night, and it creeped me out quite a bit. The giants all seem like beings with whom I would never want to interact, which is why it surprised me that Dante wanted to look at one in particular. Also, I thought it was interesting that the giant responsible for the different languages was here and tried to communicate in his gibberish. This detail gave me goosebumps.

(Terrifying Giants)

Ugolino was even more unsettling to read about. Everything about his life and fate in the afterlife is sickening, particularly the fact that he had to spend the rest of eternity eating the one who starved him to death. If fans of horror movies would only read Dante's Inferno, they would be satisfied with how horrifying and unnerving it actually is.

Reading Diary A: Dante's Inferno

This week, I chose the Dante's Inferno unit. I have wanted to read the tale for the longest time, but the length and difficult wording was always something that discouraged me. That, and the already humongous pile of books on my bedside table. I was excited to see that this was one of the options offered, and I dove in.

The rich descriptions were some of the first things I noticed. This is particularly apparent in the first story, Dante and Virgil. Right away, I was captivated by the poetic writing. Even though it was translated into modern English prose, I think that the translator did a wonderful job making sure that the poetic nature of the tale was maintained throughout the work. The description of Virgil by Dante was extremely rewarding to read. Dante introduced Virgil so very generously and made him come into the story seamlessly.

I also have to say that all of the illustrations in this unit have made the reading so much more enjoyable. I like how detailed and otherworldly all of the images are. I particularly liked the image from The Gate of Hell and Charon because it helped me envision the scene so much more fully. The writing on the entrance that was described in the writing appeared in a fairy tale-like way in the illustration, and I thought that made the story so much more otherworldly than it already is. It also helps that the illustration is by William Blake, whom I have researched recently for my museum internship. I'm excited to keep reading this unit and seeing the story unfold further.

(The Gate of Hell)