Blog Post 7: What's your Question? We got ANSWERS.

1.What is the significance of the different Italian towns and cities referenced by various sinners in many of the chapters in the inferno? Such as Count Ugolino and Pisa in Canto XXXIII and many others who have discussed the troubles of their cities or who have given Dante messages to go back with.

2.Why does the book make the journey back to earth such a quick one? What was Dante's point in doing this?

3. Why did Judas and Caiaphas not receive the same or at least a somewhat similar punishment? Both were enemies of Jesus, but Judas received the worst punishment while Caiaphas received a pretty gruesome, yet "better" consequence.

4. What was the overall significance of the number 3 in the comedy?

5. After returning to earth, do you actually believe that Dante will fulfill all of the promises that he made to the sinners in hell? Such as being remembered or checking on family.

Blog Post 6: FREE YOUR MIND- The Rest Will Follow

We start off in Canto XXII where Dante and Virgil are in the circle of the barrators, those who have abandoned ship. In this Canto we are introduced to Malacoda and the Malebranch, in which Dante is absolutely terrified of. The sinners in this level are forced to remain submerged under the boiling concoction known as the pitch. After discovering Dante and Virgil, Malacoda sends ten of the Malebranch to make sure that new sinner has come up for air from the pitch and to accompany Dante and Virgil. While doing so two of the barrators lead the demons on small chase that results in two of the demons being trapped in the pitch. Dante and Virgil flee before the Malebranch notice. At this point Dante and Virgil are in hiding and Virgil is nonchalant towards Dante's cowardliness, until Dante notices the Malbranch charging toward them. The two quickly flee to the lower level that is home to the hypocrites. This part of the book was personally my favorite because it has very deep biblical roots and required a tad bit of research to understand. In this level Dante and Virgil recognize a man who has been crucified and is forced to being walked on for the rest of eternity. This man is Jewish High Priest, Joseph Caiaphas. In the bible Caiaphas was seen as Jesus' biggest enemy and was ultimately responsible for the death of Jesus. This is so ironic because not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but now Caiaphas has to live the rest of eternity being crucified and trampled on. I think that this punishment is not only ironic, but also perfect for a hypocrite like Caiaphas.

Blog Post 5: Keep it One- "hunnit" - Don't be no FRAUD!

I honestly think it is pretty funny and ironic that Dante encounters so many people in hell in which he is familiar with. It is also pretty funny and ironic that we only come across different famous historical or mythological characters within hell. I believe that many of the people Dante comes across asked to be remembered to others when he returns from the pit possibly for personal benefactors or because of a deeper plot to the story. As we discussed in class, I believe that it is highly unlikely that Dante will return from the pit as some sort of plot twist. It could symbolize some sort of false promising or deeper meaning if Dante does not return and does not complete these requests. I thought the random encounter on page 155 was very weird, but it was some sort of request as well. Paduan says "I often hear them thunder in my ears, shouting, 'Now let the sovereign cavalier, the one who'll bring the purse with the goats, come!'" (Alighieri. Canto XVII. 155). Geryon is a peculiar creature to me because it is described as a serpent, but it also describes it as having shoulders and paws with a human face. In some ways it makes no sense, but in different ways you can see how it perpetuates fraud. The creatures is formed from so many aspects that it doesn't seem so realistic which is fraudulent in a way. Dante opens Canto VXIII with a description of Malebolge. This the circle of basic fraud and in during this Canto I sense a bunch of shade from Dante towards the pope and other corrupt clergyman. In Canto XX we are introduced to all of our diviners, magicians, and astrologers who all pretty go against the basic forms of religion for entertainment, beliefs, or personal gain. This is punishment for that form of fraud. The souls in that circle are forced to endure walking backwards and being unable to see forward.

Blog Post 4: Ain't Nothin' but a Sin Thing

In Canto VIII Dante reflects by saying "there seemed to be weight until I boarded." (Alighieri 69. VIII. 27). I believe that Dante is hinting at the inhabitants of this level of hell who are loaded on the boat as well as passengers. This Canto takes place in the fifth circle of hell where the wrathful and the sullen reside. My interpretation of this is that Dante is pretty much referring to these inhabitants or passengers as empty. I think he is saying that the boat seemed weightless because everyone is either very light or empty. It could possibly be referencing the lack of a soul or maybe even the lack of beliefs, morals, values, etc. Seems a little shady to me, but I wouldn't doubt it too quickly. In Canto IX Erichto makes a statement mentioning dead clay. In this chapter Dante and Virgil fight there way into the city of Dis. It takes a while for them to gain entry but there are just a ton of tombs full of more inhabitants of hell. I think maybe Erichto is referring to the tombs which were of stone or clay material. In the book, usury is acknowledged as a sin. Usury is the act of lending money at high rates of interest. I see this as a sin because those who commit usury aren't necessarily concerned with lending out of the goodness of there hearts, but rather for their own personal continuous gain until the debt is payed. I can definitely see how this could be frowned upon. The main issue is that it is not very sincere whatsoever. I think that the punishment of boiling sinners who have committed acts of violence is a rightful punishment and it's actually pretty ironic too. To boil those who have shed blood  in blood is pretty ironic. On page 115 of the book Dante is given an explanation of why the souls are trapped within the trees by one of the branches itself. It pretty much talks about how they did not value life enough so they had to value what they had left in stumps. They stumps tells how he would change his outcome if he knew it would be that way.

Blog Post 3: HELL-o? It's Me.

In Canto III we are set Limbo or purgatory, which is home to those who "lived without praise." This is where all individuals who did not practice their faith to the best of their abilities are sent. This includes lack of faith and not receiving baptism. Dante is bothered and terrified by the shreeks of those trapped in limbo. Dante sees that all of those trapped in limbo are naked and being attacked by horseflies and wasps. In Canto VI Dante and Virgil strike up a conversation with Cerberus who poses the question "recall me, if you can; for you, before I was unmade, were made." (Alighieri, 53) Personally I was lost when reading the question and didn't understand it at all really. I would like to assume that this is where Dante was lost within the chapter. Being that this text is a bit more complicated than others, my interpretation is likely to be incorrect. In Canto VII the inhabitants of that level are immersed in mud. Again, I had a bit of trouble interpreting this canto so I'm not sure about the comparison being asked about. This text has many differences from traditional Christian and baptist roots. The biggest indication of this for me was the implementation of Cerberus, a Greek mythological character, into the text. The Greek hero Aeneas and others are also brought into the text. Throughout these chapters there's a mention of progressively going lower into the different depths of hell, but I have not noticed other references. 

Blog Post 2: Writing about Literature.

Overall, all the pages for the notes assigned contained something that was useful. Right from the beginning our reading explained to us that there were two major purposes for written assignments and laid them out in detail. As students, we typically complain when given a paper to type or maybe even the blogs we do and we question "what's even the point of this?" Well the textbook tells us once and for all! The most useful thing I found in the textbook was the "Four kinds of papers you might write" section that walked through each of the four types of papers (which I'm sure we'll be assigned very soon) and explained to us the purpose, how to successfully complete it, and steps to making it nearly perfect in a way. We learn that the paper is not always for us, the writers, but instead for the readers. So when writing we must forget sometimes about some of our own aspects and gear it towards those reading our papers. 

Being that we do take our notes out of official literature textbooks, we see that the citations and internal quotations are perfect. To perfect these things ourselves is just a matter of time and observation. It just takes a bit of patience to go back and read from the textbook for reference or to look online. It will eventually just take time to memorize and adjust to citing and quoting works. 

The only thing in which I'm fearful of when it comes to writing papers is length and accuracy. I eventually make my papers long enough but once I stretch out information I tend to get off track or repetitive. I want to fix that and I believe that I can manage to fix that this year through the information I attained from the textbook and refreshers of the things I learned in my previous year of English. I'm very hopeful for my success this year in AP English and the knowledge and experience I hope to gain as well. 

Blog Post 1: Creative Therapy

For my creative therapy project I want to go in a different route and piece apart different events and talk about how I overcame my past in a positive way in its whole entirety. 

1. I've had my fair share of "bad" experiences that have all taught me different lessons. Last year I talked about my step father passing away right before my eyes but that was just one of the things that has made me who I am today. I've gone through so much and I have so much to share. Before living in my house behind Carolina place mall I slept on my grandmother's roach infested living room floor for about 3-4 years, this was something I was ashamed of in my middle school years, no one knew or could tell, but it humbled me. As teenagers we've all had our fair share of arguments with our parents but I was once thrown into the snow in nothing but shorts and a tshirt by my mother, which resulted in me moving in with my father. I've seen my father cry numerous times over ordeals with his ex girlfriend or about my little who we haven't seen in years because her mother refuses to let us see her. I haven't always been as fortunate as others and I've seen many times in which some important things weren't paid on time. My last thing I'm going to talk about is my brother. On October 10th, 2015 my little brother by the name of Calvin Washington was born way too early and due to poor care he only lived for about 2 hours. I didn't tell anyone about what happened honestly because I just didn't feel like talking about it. There's honestly a lot that I don't tell people... Things people would never know.

2. Sometimes I lost hope... I lost a brother and a stepfather. My dad's girlfriend left us after Christmas. I lost so much honestly. Occasionally I lose myself mentally too. 

3. Of course my initial reaction isn't always the best, and I don't cry often. I've gone through voids of loneliness and sadness, I've been angry, I've been hurt.

4. This past summer I went on a lake retreat and I learned about being proactive and basically not stressing the inevitable. The lake retreat changed my perception of the world. That lesson will probably stick with me forever. Everything that I've gone, I've finally embraced and just moved forward. 

5. With each story comes different experiences. I've learned to keep pushing forward and be proactive, put yourself first although it may be tough, patience is a virtue, be careful with those you acquaint yourself with, and be careful who you put trust in. 

I hope this post was somewhat enlightening, I don't hope to gain pity from it, but instead understanding and relief.