Extra Reading Diary: Grimm (Ashliman) Unit

The Elves section from the Grimm (Ashliman) unit was my favorite from the first half. It had a happy ending which was a very nice surprise considering it is a Grimm fairy tale. This unit in general was as dark as I was expecting it to be, but I was not expecting to have a story that was so cheerful and without and conflict. The story had such and simple and pleasant plot.  The old man was blessed tremendously by the elves and he was so thankful too! He never forgot where his fortune came from, and when he realized that the elves had nothing, he and his wife returned the blessings to the elves. I am really curious about the elves, and I wonder what their motive was to help in the first place. I would like to think that they saw the situation the man was in, and just wanted to help without anything in return. I just liked the picture of love this little story created. I do not know if I am reading into this too deep, but I feel that this is how the world should be. We should look to bless others and always remember who has blessed us, and constantly be thankful and charitable.

(Image from The Illustrator Agency)

Reading Diary B: Dante's Inferno

For the latter half of this reading unit I found it fitting to right about the Satan section of Dante's Inferno. The unit is about him experiencing Hell and you cannot obtain the true gravity without seeing Satan himself. I found it extremely interesting that Satan was stuck in ice. The rest of Hell involved fire intense heat, yet Satan was half frozen. I am very intrigued on why they are different. I also found in weird that Brutus and Cassius were both in the mouth of Satan, I completely understood why Judas was. Unlike Judas who betrayed Jesus for money, Brutus and Cassius betrayed Cesar because they thought it was for the best of the people. I just would not put them on the same level of evil as Judas. Their punishment was just horrific as well! I could not imagine constantly being chewed and grinded on for eternity. The pain and pressure that would constantly be there is far beyond comprehending, well most of the pain Dante mentions in beyond comprehending really. I also found it creepy when Dante said he felt in-between life and death. That really stresses the imagination big time! How can you imagine something like that? This was a really interesting and good unit to read for sure.

(Image from Wikipedia)

Reading Diary A: Dante's Inferno

I chose to read Dante’sInferno for my reading unit, and I am so glad I decided to! I have always heard that it was an amazing peace, and I knew that it was about Dante describing his experience in Hell; however, this has been my favorite unit, and I now want to read all of Dante’s Inferno. The section in the first half that stuck out the most was The Gates of Hell and Charon. The writing over the entrance immediately gave me chills. How terrible it would be to see writing like that and still have to go through. Later on the section mentions people willing to cross over, I just could not imagine that. Those people literally lost all hope and there was never going to be any hope of a better circumstance. The images of their faces soaked in blood and tears, and then to be eaten by worms, that is something I won’t be able to forget. This section was so dark, and it definitely set the stage for everything that followed in the later sections.

(Image from WikiArt)