Skip to main content

The Long and Winding Road // Jackson Riddle

As a fan of mystery novels, I enjoy how Dante's Inferno begins with Dante waking up with no knowledge of how he got where he is, knowing only that he strayed from what he calls the "True Way". In Canto 1, I found it interesting that upon encountering the leopard, lion and she-wolf, Dante agrees to follow the shade of Virgil through the depths of hell. Virgil promises that once they have passed through some of hell a worthier guide with lead Dante to heaven, but it would seem that journeying through hell would be a more arduous decision than simply overcoming the animals and carrying on, attaining the right path by some other means. By placing the protagonist in the "Dark Wood" with the drive to get onto the "True Way", Dante symbolizes the spiritual journey of humanity. Dante realizes his own humanity and strives to attain greatness before God's eyes, and thus is willing to make the trek through the layers of hell to reach true goodness in heaven. Dante's encounter with the animals that block his path is symbolic of the worldly obstacles that block the path of Christians living an easy life. As Christians we are not called to live easy lives; in fact, Jesus himself says that serving him will not make this life any easier. He says so in 2 Timothy 3:12: "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Just as Dante is forced to make a journey through literal hell to reach goodness and eternity with Christ in heaven, so we must make the choice to follow the narrow path that Jesus promises will be much more challenging but will have everlasting rewards.

Edit: I commented on Clabo and Logan's posts

Comments

  1. ClaboMarch 15, 2021 at 11:43 PM

    I definitely agree with you man. This book so far has a lot of symbolism with what Christian life has looked like throughout time. It shows so much of the things people struggle with that cause them to stumble in their Christian walk.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lovers of Wisdom, Not Power—Lily Caswell

In Book VIII of Plato’s Republic, Socrates talks about the possibility of having a well-governed city. However, he also talks about how that particular form of government is impossible to have. A well-governed city becomes a possibility only if you can discover a better way of life for your future rulers than holding office.” (Plato, p 215) Maybe his version of a better life was for those in office to not be lovers of power, since it would then become a fight among rival lovers. Socrates gets to the point that the only rulers who don’t love power are true philosophers. Philosophers are lovers of wisdom and knowledge and not power, ergo they are the perfect rulers. Absolute power corrupts and power corrupts absolutely, so I’m thinking that maybe the trick to being a good ruler is for you to be a philosophical person who loves wisdom and not power. I commented on Jamie’s and Isabelle’s posts.
4 comments
Read more

How to Make a Clone - Clabo

I found books three and four to be very cringy. I mean, to me the idea of structurally producing good soldiers/guardians through heavy censorship is somewhat inhumane. I feel as if human beings should be allowed to experience every bit of knowledge they can at some point in their lives. To me, it seems as if the guardians are being guarded against information throughout their entire lives so they can solely fulfill the duties they were birthed into.  However, the influence and importance Plato places on poetry and music do make me wonder what it would be like if we had the same values as our military today. What if the United States military invested in the souls of its soldiers and placed within them emotional and intellectual values outside of what they have learned previously. Perhaps the military instills values and principles within soldiers to fulfill the same purpose as the guardians would in Plato's Republic and that is to only be that which the government wants you to be....
5 comments
Read more

Dystopian Origins Uncovered ////// Isabelle Ferguson

  I think that ideas eventually run out of originality and circle back to the original idea. During this week's reading, many of Socrates’ suggestions for a place of perfection reminded me of some novels I’ve read depicting dystopian worlds. Disclaimer: There are spoilers ahead. You have been warned.        To begin, in  The  Giver  by Lois Lowry censorship is a major theme. The novel is centered around a boy who is receiving memories withheld from the population! The government in The Giver is especially careful to censor the memories that may cause strife, anger, fear, sadness, etc. In the adults, this society is cemented. So, the government is especially strict with the youth. Socrates talks about verses to “obliterate” to prevent the descriptions from doing “harm to our future warriors” for the better half of Book III (Plato, page 44). The warriors he speaks of are the youth. He goes on to list the multitude of verses that should be done ...
7 comments
Read more