Guest Blogger - Sophie H.

As I am sitting here wondering what to write about, all that comes to mind is the massive amounts of papers we have been grading in class. At the time it was a huge pain but after the fact, I think it helped everyone see what the people who grade AP essays are actually looking for. When we wrote our first essay about the hero’s journey and Beowulf, I honestly had no idea what Ms. Arko was looking for. Automatically I thought okay just make it long and you will get a good grade. Wrong. To my and many others surprise, in AP essays length has nothing to do with it. Content and organization are much more important. So now that we are grading papers, I can finally see why. The first shocking thing was that the graders award you for what you do well. Many of the papers we graded were not that well written, but had outstanding organization so they got a better score. The graders are not the harsh, mean spirited people they are believed to be. Another thing I realized is how easy it is to misunderstand the prompt. In class, when Ms. Arko asked us how many parts there were to a certain prompt, everyone got it completely wrong. You have to completely dissect the question that is asked. If you don’t do this and don’t answer the prompt completely, you are on the fast track to getting no higher than a three on your essay. Another shocker for me was how fast forty minutes really goes by. On Monday when we wrote the in class essay, we got extra time and I still barely finished my essay. Considering the time you get it surprises me how it is even possible to write a perfect essay and get a nine. How can you do that when most of our class barely finished? The final thing I think is interesting is how off the class was when we compared how we each scored the packet of essays. I know we aren’t English teachers, but could that much variation go into scoring based on which AP grader you get to score your essay? I sure hope not. So overall, I have realized that an AP writing test is way harder then it seems.

Guest Blogger - Tom F.

So in Dante, Ms. Arko made a whole big deal about the symbol three. Three is here, three is there, three is everywhere, right? What does it have to do with anything? Cool, Lucifer has three heads, there are three beasts that symbolize three character traits, there are three rings in the seventh circle. Is this supposed to mean something that just I did not understand? Pride, envy and greed are the three traits that the beasts symbolize. These traits are used continuously throughout the story. They show up in all the circles of hell, but in the end of “The Inferno” none of it gets tied back together. What is the point of these three beasts and symbols? You would think in the ninth and final circle the number three or the traits of the three beasts would come into play somewhere, but it does not. The final circle is Lucifer and his three heads chomping on the three worst sinners while the other traitors are frozen in the ice. Again, what is the point of these symbols? There is no support for these symbols through the whole story; they just keep popping up in random circles, like we are supposed to know what they are talking about. We were told that the symbol three had something to do with god and hell and the whole afterlife deal. But we never learned this in class or we could have figured this out on our own. Who did not spark note the whole story anyway? It was hard enough just to understand the story, and all these “symbols” that do not mean anything made it that much more difficult to comprehend. So I ask you again, what is the point of three and how does it tie the story together?

Guest Blogger - Melissa D.

Hello all. Well this is my first blog and I was struggling for a while trying to exactly figure out what to write about and a came across the idea of talking about exactly what we have been doing in class lately, grading of true AP essays. We are given several examples of good and bad essays that are given on the AP test to get the AP credit. I am finally starting to see how much little things really affect the meaning and quality of a paper. I also never realized how easy it is to misread a simple question or even the passage given. In other papers I saw a lot of misspellings and crossed out parts, I then discovered that just because these papers had these basic mistakes, it did not affect the overall grade of the essay. Of course if the paper is not legible then that’s a whole other story. I believe that was my struggle when answering prompts in this class and also in previous classes was not answering the prompt. The prompts always seem to have a little bit of a hidden question that I never seemed to notice until being taught exactly what to look for and seeing the mistakes others made. After reading others responses, I became more aware of my mistakes and learned how to write an accurate and efficient AP response essay. I even was more aware of the things people are looking for when reading these essays and noticed more mistakes I commonly make. I also realized that a paper does not have to be long in order to make it good and just because you have text support doesn’t mean you are answering all the parts to the question. Today in class we got another prompt although this time we had forty minutes to read and respond to it. After all the practice we did in class, I went into the class room confident and ready. I truly believe I did a lot better than my first Beowulf essay, at least I hope so. This prompt also seemed a lot easier to answer because I knew what to do and how to do it. I have to admit, when we were told to read all those responses and grade them, I thought it was kind of silly, but I guess teachers actually give us homework for a reason.

Guest Blogger - Eura C.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Today was the date of the weekly allusions quiz and as always, I put off studying for it until the lunch period before AP Lit. Usually this means that I cram in various names, symbols, and places of origin while trying to finish eating. However, this means that I often do not have the time to sit down and think about how prevalent each and every allusion is in today’s society, even though all of them were told or written down centuries of years ago. As I sat here trying to decide whether or not I should write another reflection on the Inferno, or something about AP test essay grading (which is what we’ve been doing in class lately), my mind wandered back to one particular allusion that had struck me earlier as interesting: the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The more I pondered, the more I realized that today’s society greatly parallel’s John’s prophecy.
Although this forecast found in the book of Revelations may seem overly dire, a breakdown of the allusion proves that we may seem to be in a sort of apocalypse of our own at the moment. One of the horsemen, War, can be applied to today very easily especially with the war in Iraq and horrendous hate crimes occurring in Africa. The political climate is growing tenser and countries are feeling the pressure to create dangerous nuclear weapons to defend themselves. Unfortunately, it isn’t too farfetched to assume that the arms race will result in nuclear war and eventually, destruction of the planet.
The next horseman is that of famine. Although the United States is considered a rich country, there are still many families suffering from starvation. Third world countries in South America and Africa are especially hit hard by droughts and poverty. In Zimbabwe nearly 6 million of the population will be needing food aid (Fleshman 1). Millions more in various parts of Africa are dealing with severe food shortages. This conflict may seem far off on another planet and unimportant to our daily lives but we must think of our fellow brothers and sisters for we are all the same race.
Plague is the following horseman. I could go the easy way and simply mention H1N1, but there are other diseases out there that could threaten humanity. Since 1981, 25 million people have died from AIDS with 2.7 million more being affected in 2007 alone (http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm). The scary thing? The numbers are only increasing every year. The common flu itself is also a major threat; 1 billion new cases are reported annually and 300,000-500,000 deaths occur every year (http://www.flufacts.com/impact/statistics.aspx).
The horseman of death sort of sums up all the other horsemen. He represents the strongest force against mankind. All the horsemen together are symbolic of destruction and the end of the world. Well take a look at what we are doing to our Earth, and the idea of an Armageddon brought on by war, famine, disease, and death does not seem too far off.

Guest Blogger - Maddy F.

Hi there. In my blogging for today I thought I would talk about the last few cantos. It's only been about a week since we finished the cantos so let's hope that everyone hasn't completely forgotten everything about this lovely poem. So first of all, did anyone else find it ironic that the deepest parts of hell were covered in ice? I certainly did, the first thought that came to my mind was the saying "when hell freezes over". So that's that. Secondly, maybe I’m just some sick masochistic lion like Edward Cullen – x) - but I was expecting way more brutal punishments for the deepest circles of hell. To refresh everyone’s memories the ninth circle is split into four regions. The inhabitants of this circle are all traitors, either against their kin, country, or God. In each of the four regions, the sinners are somehow immersed in ice. I mean yea, no one wants to be submerged in ice, but I thought that some of the earlier circles had punishments that were of equal value to those in the ninth circle of hell. For example, in the seventh “pouch” of the eighth circle where there are serpents running around that either bite the spirits to exchange forms with them or in some cases, squeeze the spirits so tight that the spirit and the serpent become combined, sounds pretty terrible to me. Or even in the first ring of circle seven where the blasphemers are condemned to lay on burning sand and have fire raining down on them constantly, so that they are burning from top to bottom. Granted yes, they’re not submerged in the flames, it seems like just the opposite of what is going on in the ninth circle. I was expecting more from the ninth circle I guess, maybe something along the lines of cutting your own limbs off with a weed wacker, having to eat them, and then somehow having this process be repeated over and over for forever. Something like that, but hey, what do I know? Any who, that’s just my thoughts on the last couple of Cantos, have a good weekend everyone! J

Guest Blogger - Michael B.

Tone, The Inferno, Canterbury Tales, Grendel, Allusions. What a mix of stuff. Well seeing as the Inferno/Canterbury Tales/Grendel test recently happened might as well talk about one of those. I would discuss some of the intricacies of tone, or maybe syntax and diction, maybe even roll them all into a wonderful English topic of style. However, that would most likely result in everyone reading this to fall asleep, stop reading, or shoot themselves (which would be a sin). To get on with some actual thought, I will just go off the topic of shooting yourself, otherwise known as suicide, or the sin that will land you in the second ring of the seventh circle of hell. I personally find this ring to be very interesting, it would seem logical that the sins go from one extreme to another, in other words from what affects the least number of people to the greatest. Considering there are three rings, using the logic of extremes, which I probably made up and have no idea if it really exists or not, the first ring should really be against one’s self. This sin is confined to one person; it could be within one’s own home for example. Then, increasing the number of people affected, the second ring would be against one’s neighbor. This sin could conceivably affect many people, whether from only one house or many, nonetheless it would not be confined to yourself, which would require a greater punishment. Finally, the third ring would be against god. Again, a higher number ring, indicating a greater punishment for committing the same sin (violence, because I don’t believe I have actually mentioned what sin this is) and affecting more people. One could commit an act seen as violence towards god and this could affect all of the followers of that one religion. For example, if I said (and I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS, it is merely an example, as are the other two examples, please no one start hating me please J) all Mormons are stupid, I’m guessing the majority of Mormons would not be very happy with me. Another example would be if I said the Pope should die and the Vatican City be burned to the ground, Roman Catholics would have a serious problem with that statement. A final example of an act against god and how it could affect many, many people, if I were to say that all Christians are wrong and there truly is no god, and you are all believing in a made-up fictitious lie, I would probably have about a third of the people in the world hating me (http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm). Again, these are examples to illustrate my point, not what my actual feelings or beliefs are. Well I am now well beyond that 300-400 word goal, currently I am at 482 as of the word at the end of this sentence. So, I will end this post and get back to writing my essay, but that was just a little thought I had about The Inferno with respect to the seventh ring.

Guest Blogger - Karissa B.

Simony, Sullenness, and Sorcery, Oh my! For each of these sins there is a just punishment in Hell, according to Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. In hell, there is a punishment for every sin imaginable. Whether it’s something as sinful as graft, or something as damnable as treachery, each has its rightful place. Its common sense that Hell is where souls go to be punished after death for the sin(s) they’ve committed while living. However, I find the idea of “Hell” slightly contradictory to what is believed about God. If God forgives everyone, then why does Hell exist in the first place? Or better yet, does Hell exist at all? It’s also a common belief that God only forgives those who are truly sorry for their sins. In the Divine Comedy it’s mentioned that a few souls have tried to absolve themselves from sin before actually committing the sin. So, because they have tried to absolve themselves from sin before sinning, does that make them less sorry for committing the sin? I suppose it all boils down to moral standards. Even with calculating in moral standards, the argument can be made for the sinners and the repenters. It starts with defining what moral standards are exactly. Perhaps one person believes that committing simony isn’t actually a sin. They believe that taking whatever means necessary to secure a status or a title is fair and shows dedication and persistence. But say someone else believes exactly the opposite of that. They believe that simony is a sin and buying or selling to achieve status shows laziness since the status is being bought and not earned. Who’s right? Is it just for the person who believes simony is not a sin to go to Hell when in their mind they haven’t sinned at all? Because people have different beliefs and ideas, is Hell really a fair and just punishment?

Guest Blogger - Brie B.

Hi everybody out there in Mrs. Arko’s blog! Today, we will be talking about Dante’s Inferno and my many theories and opinions of it. I have a theory about Dante’s Inferno, that more than likely is wrong, but here it goes. Well, in retrospect, I have many different theories about the Divine Comedy Dante’s Inferno, but if I jabbered on about all of the other theories I have I would waste a lot of your and my time. Also I’d probably go well over the four hundred word limit. My first theory is that the threes have to do with the whole 666 thing like a previous writer on this blog had mentioned before. It’s almost like a very amusing piece of flair from facebook.com which says 333 only half evil. (Sorry to any people who did not find that amusing) My second theory is also about the threes. In my mind I connected the threes with the circles of Hell. The reason for this is for the reason that there are nine circles of Hell; well, if you look at it from a mathematical point of view, you can divide the nine by three. Also nine is the third multiple of three. One of my opinions about Dante’s Inferno is that basically everybody is going to Hell. Everyone on Earth has to have committed at least one sin if not many. So it seems to me how could there even be anyone in heaven. They even make it sound like unborn children and children that died young enough not to be baptized automatically go to Hell, along with people that never got the chance to learn about God. Now I am unsure about you but in my eyes that is a really unfair thing to do. If one so innocent as a child that has not committed any sins can go to Hell than there is no hope for anyone to go to Heaven. That is one of my opinions to Dante’s Inferno. My apologies if I have insulted anyone (although I thought my blog was pretty tame) I just wanted to be sure that if I have offended anyone that you (the reader) will let me know what I could change, not only so I don’t insult anyone on my next blog but also so it can help my writing techniques. Thank you, and have a nice day.

Guest Blogger - Jen A.

Some say that while Dante was wondering in the woods before he left on his journey, he was contemplating committing suicide. Does going on this journey change his opinion of how he views the world and how he looks at his own life?
Could the reason of this whole story be to change the way Dante looks at his life? To see that it has meaning and committing suicide would only lead to eternal suffering? In some of the rings, Dante talks about how he feels pity for the men and women but maybe he was really thinking about how much his life meant and learning what mistakes not to make before he makes them. Historians think the Inferno may represent the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is. They say the three beasts represent the three types of sin and the types of sin also represent the three main divisions of Hell (circles 1-5 = self indulgent sins; circles 6 and 7 = violent sins; circles 8 and 9 = malicious sins).
Another question I thought of while reading the Inferno was why would the Devil and his “helpers” be so willing to let a living person through the gates and get a tour of Hell?
In Cantos 8, Dante and Virgil are denied entrance to the city of Dis. This was the only time in the Inferno they were not granted permission to enter. In other cantos they only had to say that their journey “is the will of Heaven” they are allowed to continue. It seems to me as though they should not have been allowed to enter because their journey was the will of Heaven. I am not 100% positive but I do not think that if someone went to Heaven and it was the will of Hell they would be allowed to enter. The two places are total opposites and in other stories (like the Bible) it seems as though the Devil would not like God sending people to take tours thorough Hell but I guess I could be wrong there.
So, if you have a logical answer as to why you think that the creatures in Hell would be so willing to let someone in on a journey from Heaven or if you have any opinions on if you think they views of Dante changed/ are changing let me know.

Guest Blogger - Ben A.

While reading The Inferno a great number of questions came to mind, among them are: did Dante forget to mention the scholars in the castle were forced to read The Inferno over and over again for eternity? Will we see the Wife of Bath in hell? Why would there be a pope in hell?
I believe the answer to my first question, were the inhabitants of Limbo forced to try to read through The Inferno? is a yes. While I do not feel that the punishment for those whose only sin was not being baptized should be very severe I feel as if just sitting in a castle is not a punishment likely to be found in hell. I believe that a very just, and logical, punishment for those who devoted their lives to literature and the arts would be to read the most complicated book known to man for eternity. The only reason Dante didn’t include this little tidbit of information in his book is the fact that it would not be good at all for sales if people found out that the very book they were about to purchase was being used as a punishment in hell.
The answer to my second question, will we see the Wife of Bath in hell? I found a bit ironic. Being that lust was the second circle in hell and the Wife of Bath did not appear there the answer to my question is quite simply: no. My question may seem a bit random but considering how much effort Dante put forth to include famous scholars, people, and mythological creatures it almost seemed odd that a character from a book written by the father of English literature would be left out. Despite the fact the Wife of Bath was left out I think the people that Dante did chose to include are quite important. So far, it seems as if Dante has been trying to write a non-fictional piece of literature meant to warn people about eternal damnation. By including persona that most people would have known at the time The Inferno was published Dante is able to put into perspective the type of sin and lifestyle one must lead in order to be sent to that particular circle of hell. For instance if Dante had said he came across David Letterman in the second circle of hell, that would make made complete sense to everyone today and everyone would know why Letterman ended up there. (By the way, I don’t have anything against Letterman, I’m just using him as an example.)
To answer my third question I had to do some research. Dante putting Pope Anastasius is another reference to a previous writer. Pope Anastasius II was pope during a time when the eastern and western church were not getting along, and trying to settle things down Anastasius said “We do not want disagreement among the churches any more.” And was willing to try just about anything to make a compromise. Because he was trying to make a compromise people started raising arguments trying to keep the church orthodox. While in the midst of the quarrel Anastasius died and it was taken as a sign from God that Anastasius was wrong. After this, as according to http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_anastasiusii.htm, the author of the Liber Pontificalis criticized him and thus Dante followed suit and placed him in hell.

Guest Blogger - Brandon A.

O to my fair maidens. Should thy let thee go on a stroll or keep you in a cage? That is a hard thing to talk about since I already have my head on the chopping block just for saying that line. Women are discussed throughout the book “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer. Women in the book are perceived in many different ways that may be considered valiant or be considered deviated from society. In one aspect of the book in the story The Miller it is discussed of having your true love one hold tight so they may never get away from you. After the Millers story, a lady named Alison or A.K.A The Wife of Bath tells her side of how women should be treated. Her theory is that if the woman is happy the rest of the family is happy. But are both of them true or are they just being belligerent knaves who don’t know what their saying?
In my perspective I think Alison is right in this debate on women’s roles in society. Women are just not tools sent here by God for a man’s pleasure. In biblical terms a woman named Eve was created from the rib of a man named Adam whom was God’s creation. This was because Adam felt lonely and wanted a companion to be with. After the transformation Adam told Eve that she couldn’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge. God sent a message to Adam not to eat from the tree before Eve was created thus; he felt the need to tell her this information. A serpent then approaches Eve and lures her into eating the forbidden fruit on the Tree of Knowledge. She was not happy because her companion Adam never ate the proof. Eve wanted Adam to eat the fruit so he can turn “God-Like” like Eve. After a long discussion, Adam finally gives into Eve and eats the apple. For that brief moment Adam pleases the Eve. All because Eve wasn’t happy how things were in life at that time.
Can a man control his own emotions though, or can he not control his hormones, thoughts and feelings throughout his body?

Guest Blogger - Caitlin A.

Hell. The damnation of man once heaven has rejected him. In every culture there is a different definition of hell. In fact there is a different definition of hell in almost everything. Though a lot of the details are the same. In the Inferno during the first four cantos it gives us yet another idea of hell. It combines the Christian idea of hell and the Greek idea of hell.
The Christian idea of hell is a place where you would be sent to because your sins and faith have been bad enough that you could not get past the gates of heaven. In the Inferno he talks about the gates of St.Peters aka gates of heaven and how he walks past them. I can’t exactly remember if the bible talks about nine levels of hell or not, but I don’ think it ever mentions having multiply levels. Just that it is a fiery inferno where you will pay for your sins. But people are starting to question the translation of the bible and the meaning of hell. According to http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/770193/the_original_christian_view_of_hell.html?cat=38, they say that the words that usually meant hell were translated wrong. When we read words that we thought meant hell they actually mean grave or resting place so not exactly burning inferno of death. This kind of puts a whole different spin on the belief of paying for sins and the existence of hell all together.
Then the Greek idea was incorporated with the river of sticks and Charon. It is mentioned when Dante refuses to go with Charon, Charon says it is all a matter of time you will come with me in one way or another. I don’t know if the number three thing has to do with the Greek idea of hell but it is present in the book. First I think there are the three ladies that are nice and loving and divine, except the one in the very beginning that it was talking about eating him. Then there were the three men that welcomed him into their group of poets and he made number six. I personally think it is directly going to lead to the whole 666 thing and we just got the numbers wrong.
So far this book is confusing with its hellish ways but not too bad in general. Sorry if this article offends anyone it was not my point in doing so; please correct anything that does not add up historically or biblically, I have been wrong before J I am extremely interested in the whole wrong idea of hell thing though so if anyone has any information on that tidbit of information it would be really cool to hear your incite.