Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part B

For the second half of the Dante's Inferno unit, I found "The Giants" story to be the most interesting. This one stood out because of the mention of Nimrod. He was responsible for the construction of the tower of Babel. I learned more about the tower of Babel than I have before, so I thought that was cool. I did not realize Nimrod was giant sized which was why he was with the other giants. In the second half of this unit, I found it odd that mythical creatures were included in the nine circles of Hell. Examples of the mythical creatures found are centaurs, minotaurs, and, of course, giants.

I think the description of Nimrod was pretty fascinating. First off, we are informed he is a giant which is not clear at first because of the dark conditions. He was compared to a tower which I think is ironic since he decided to build a the tower of Babel. In addition to this sin, he only speaks gibberish. His head is also compared to the size of a pine cone which would not have made much since if there was not an explanation in the author's note. Since the note had a link to a picture of the pine cone, it was much easier to visualize how big Nimrod's head actually was in the story.

Bringing in mythical creatures like giants is such a cool way to make stories larger than life, literally. In my writing, I would really like to be able to bring in magical creatures. This would take some planning because a world has to be created where a creature like this makes sense. Otherwise, the magical creature would stick out like a sore thumb. Descriptions like in this story really help the reader truly imagine and see the immense scope of the creature. The more descriptive I can be in my writing, the easier it will be for my readers to understand how my creatures look like in terms of the story.

Bibliography

The Giants, Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Image Information: Giants by Gustave Dore, Wikimedia

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part A

For this week's choice from European literature, I chose Dante's Inferno for the unit to read. I have often heard of Dante's Inferno and the many circles of Hell, but I have never gone to read through the story. This led me to choosing this unit out of curiosity. The idea of Fallen Angels has always intrigued me, so the title of this chunk of the story immediately stuck out to me.

In this story, the setting is immediately set as they approach a castle that is radiating red light. We soon learn that this redness is from the eternal fires from down in Hell. This creates an eerie setting as the main character is guided close to the city of Dis. Painted in our description, we see that the castle is surrounded by a moat and the walls are made of thick iron. Thousands of fallen angels inhabit this place. I think this detail is important because mentioning the fact that angels and not humans live in this place help add to the suspense being created by the scene.

The next part of this tale is the main character and his guide getting stopped by the angels. They are not allowed to enter this fortress. Since they were stopped by the angels, this adds to the ominous feeling that the reader observes coming from these beings. Why were they the first to question why these two travelers were wanting access? I think it is odd that they got stopped trying to enter this place. I think that entering should have been a much easier objective whereas leaving could have been the more difficult part of their journey.

The guide did his best to talk his way through the guards, but this was all to no avail. All of these elements of confusion and mysterious characters add to the unsettling vibe that is created.

Bibliography

The Fallen Angels, Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Image Information: Fallen Angel, Wikimedia

Week 14 Lab: TVTropes

The story lab that I did this week was to explore TVTropes. Initially, when I got to the site, I was confused by where I was supposed to go on the site and what I was supposed to look for while there. After a few minutes of looking around, I finally found the tropes that were spoken about. I realized that in every story, there is usually a trope that is used to further along the plot of a story. A few of my favorite tropes that I found on this site were the death glare, beware the nice ones, and a love triangle.

I think the death glare is really funny if used in a comical setting. When I saw death glare as a trope, I initially though of April from Parks and Rec. She is constantly giving out death glares and trying to be intimidating. Sometimes it works, but most of the time, I think it loses its effectiveness which I think is funny.

Another trope that I enjoy in stories is beware the nice ones. I like this one because I think this comes as such a surprise. Often, the watchers do not expect such a nice character to blow up. Honestly, this usually is not the fault of the nice character. They are often pushed too far, and all the emotions they have been suppressing while trying to stay nice come out all at once. I think I kind of relate to these characters, so I appreciate when this problem is brought to light. Hopefully, people get out of this trope that they should not push people past their limits.

The final trope that I always fall for is the love triangle. Love triangles just create so much drama, and I always end up picking a side. This is almost like a game in the story, and I end up rooting for my favorite character out of the two vying for the main character's love. I usually go for the good guy in the story, but often in these dramas, there is often good and bad to each person.


Image Information: TV, Pixabay