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How Does Canto Characterize Dante's Inferno

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TAKE MY WORD FOR IT (THE THREE MOST SIGNIFICANT TEXTS OF THE SEMESTER) “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, then you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” (Bedlamanddaisies) Haraku Murakami perfectly phrases the importance of literature and reading. In today’s society, many of the people have began to believe that reading is a waste of time and the only benefit it can bring is some hours passed. Therefore, many Americans do not read anything other that what is required of them, and once they graduate from schooling, the amount they read from there on out is even less. The horror behind this fact, is not that they will never be able to enjoy the wonders of literature and the reading of it, but that neither will …show more content…

In Dante’s Inferno, Canto I deals with the overall allegory of the book. Dante the poet writes about Dante the pilgrim waking up in a forest. This forest is far from the rest of civilization and, as far as he can tell, Dante is completely alone. Upon first analysis, the allegory seems to symbolize the physical separation of life from society. Dante dances between the beaches of waking up in hell, and the forest of isolation. However, upon further readings, it is easy to see that Canto I truly stands for the representation of a mid-life crisis. While everyone is aware that Inferno, is about those who burn in hell, I believe that Canto I provides the possibility for a self reflection as well (Thuleen). Here, Dante works with the idea of being indefinitely separated from one group indefinitely. For the sinners in hell, it is God that Dante speaks of when he creates the image of seperation. For Dante the Pilgrim, it is the mountain that leads to Heaven that he is forever separated from. For Dante the poet, it is quite literally the rest of society that he is separated from, referencing his exile

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