Inferno's Horror Story

Dante's Inferno Vs. American Horror Story

Dante’s Inferno was one of the most interesting books I read during the class. After much research, I discovered that the creator of American Horror Story related all seasons to Dante’s Inferno. Luckily, I’ve seen every season more than once and quickly caught on to what the creator, Ryan Murphy did.

In season 1 of American Horror Story it is called, “Murder House.” The family who died in the house are trapped in the house and cannot get out. This is much like Limbo. Limbo is the first circle of hell. The second circle of hell is lust. This is related to the season, “hotel.”  There are a lot of sexual allegories in this part of the series.The next circle of hell is gluttony. This is also symbolized in the season, “hotel.” In the poem, the souls of the people eat the filth that comes down from the ceilings. The book calls it, “dirty snow.”The producer used blood, alcohol, and drugs for the characters to consume instead of food. Greed is the fourth circle of hell. It is related to the season, “Freak Show.” One of the main characters, “Elsa,” is obsessed with fame. She desires to keep making more money from the shows in order to make herself more famous. Luckily, they were not forced to smash rocks together like the sinners in the poem, but they all end up dying in the end. The fifth circle is anger. This Is evident that it resembles Roanoke. There is a butcher who runs on rage when people enter the property of the house in Roanoke. In the poem, the angry sinners fought each other on the water. The sixth circle of hell is heresy. There is a large amount of heresy and politics in the season, “Cult.” Circle seven is violence also the season, “apocalypse.” The Eighth circle of hell is fraud. This is easily spotted in the season, “asylum.” The sinners in the book who were frauds summer eternal damnation much like the ones in Briarcliff too. The last circle of hell is treachery. This is related to the season, “coven.” 

Greed, the fourth circle dealt with sinners being punished in two different categories. The ones who hoarded possessions and the ones who spent what they had, they jousted. They use weights as weapons which symbolizes selfish drive. Elsa in the TV deals with greed too. She does whatever it takes to get what she wants. In the end, it results in her death. She did not physically wear a weight, but you can see the burden she carries because of the greed she is consumed with throughout the show. 

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https://www.tvguide.com/news/american-horror-story-dantes-inferno-theory-how-seasons-are-connected/

Symposium VS Boy Scouts

Symposium is one of Plato’s most famous poems. It has many different outlooks on life and different characters that believe different things. The second Eulogy in the poem is Pausania’s speech. Pausania believes there is a heavenly love and a common love. The common love is lust and desire. This kind of love is between human beings. Heavenly love is love of the divine. In this story, this is homosexual love. Wisdom was something valued in this time. The men would have sex with the younger boys in exchange for wisdom. People who are attracted to common love are the ones that are attracted to bodies instead of minds. It is directed towards boys instead of girls in order to avoid “abusive violence.” The poem also talks about the men becoming pregnant. We know that this is not possible, but it was a deeper metaphorical meaning. Regardless, it was odd that men being pregnant was implicated. It makes us questions what the boys thought during the time. Did they believe they were exchanged pleasure and wisdom – or was it done against their own will? Men having sexual relations like this today is forbidden and these people are known as pedophiles. Plato quotes, "He who loves touches not walks in darkness."

There was an article published 9, 2017 about a Boy Scout leader who was accused of sexually abusing boy ‘hundreds of times.’ Christopher Malcom is now in his 30’s, but he was the victim. He claimed that he was being sexually abused for 5 years, starting when he was only 11-years-old. Corcoran, 49, was sentenced in June to seven years in prison for child pornography and at that time was still waiting for the sentence for molesting the boy. Malcom and two unnamed former scouts are suing the Boy Scouts of America. There was a plague of sexual abuse that was going on all around the country at the time and the parents were not warned or advised to take safety precautions. Corcoran pleaded not guilty to the actions, but it ended up being proven that it did in fact happen in which he ended up in prison. Unlike the story, Corcoran knew that he was doing wrong because he denied that he had done it. We do not know his intentions other than that he is messed up in the head. If this was during the time that the poem was written, it would have been totally normal. His intentions also would have been defined as trading sex for wisdom. Corcoran was not seeking to gain any sort of wisdom. Things have changed greatly over time and even reading these poems in the modern days makes us cringe because we could not imagine a man believing that it was acceptable and beneficial to have sex with a boy.

In today’s time, there are still sexual attractions between men and men. There was a time that it was unheard of but it seems to be a growing popularity which is sad. Hopefully we will not have to ever see a day where it will be acceptable for men to have sex with boys.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-na-boy-scouts-child-sex-abuse-20190515-story.html

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393913295/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Grandma Betty The Peach Tree

“Peach Tree Soft And Tender” is one of my favorite poems from Classic of Poetry. It is based on a tree that endures the seasons of life. It repeats three different times throughout the poem that the tree is soft and tender. This indicates that it is a big part of who she is, her character. The first section of the poem talks about the girl who gets married. She is young and she is happy. The poem says specifically that she is “glowing.” She will be an asset in her home. The second section gives evidence that she has moved onto the next season of her life and is going to become a mother. The poem says that she is plump, ripening fruit. Her branches are growing as time goes on and this is representing her life that she is living well. In the third section there is an indicator she may have grandchildren. Her branches are spread far over her family. We can assume the point is to tell about how well she is tending to her family. Her roots are deep and her heart is big. Family is something that has become more important to her throughout her seasons. Grandma Betty is a well known Instagrammer and internet celebrity. Her great grandson decided to get her into social media because she was liked so much by everyone in the community, he knew that others would love her too if they got the chance to. Grandma Betty was everyone’s grandmother. She was known for preaching a message of love because she wrapped her arms around everyone she came into contact with. In this case, we can say that she spread her branches wide over the community just like the peach tree. Her great grandson shared stories of how well she cared for and mended her family. She always went above and beyond for her kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Grandma Betty had more than 686,000 followers on Instagram and everyone loved her. Unfortunately she passed away at the end of 2018 due to lung cancer. Articles are raving about her life and how well she lived it. I believe we can see a lot of comparison between the peach tree and Grandma Betty. Although we do not see stories about her early life getting married and becoming pregnant, we do see her life lived in the final stage as she spreads her branches over her grandkids and great grandkids and lives her life fully. We can see the resemblance of Grandma Betty being soft and tender just as the tree. The morals are the same in both stories as both of the focuses are passionate about their families and are known as caretakers. In the poem, we do not see the end of the tree’s life. It does not want us to dwell on the tree’s death, but to focus on how well it is thriving. All humans and trees will die at some point, but this is not where the main draw is. Because we are looking into something more modern, we witness the death of Grandma Betty. We can take the lesson away from the poem and use it to focus on how well she lived through the seasons of her life and how wide she spread her branches.

You can find Grandma Betty's instagram at @grandmabetty33

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grandma-betty-dies_n_5646500

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393913295/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

"I wish I were her Nubian maid," VS. Eric Clapton

“I wish I were her Nubian maid” is an Egyptian poem about a boy who is desperate over a woman and desires to be around her regardless of the role he would have to play to do so. He is willing to be her maid so that he can have access to her room. He is willing to be her laundryman so that he can have access to her clothes. He is lustful over her and ends the poem desiring not only her body but also her love. He says that he desires to be her finger that could hold a ring so that he could see her love every day.

The way men desire women have changed. We can see this in Eric Clapton’s song, “Layla.” In this song, Clapton is desperately wanting Layla. In this song, he is referring to Pattie Boyd as Layla. Boyd was married to George Harrison from the Beatles when Clapton wrote and recorded the song. Ultimately, Boyd left her husband and married Clapton several years later.

Both the song and the poem are cries of desperation. Clapton sings, “I’m begging, darling please.” The poem is about the measure he wants to take to be with her. He even says, “I wish I were a laundryman of my beloved’s clothes even if just for a month.” (79) They are both resulting in wanting the girl. In the poem, the boy cannot have the girl. This may be because she does not want him, she is too wealthy for him, or she may not even know about him. This is hard for him because maybe he is not wealthy enough or he is not brave enough to introduce himself to her. Regardless, he is mourning because of it. The reason is not made clear as to why cannot have her, but we know they are not together. In the end, it is not made known if they ended up together in the future. The purpose is a plea.

In the song, “Layla,” it also follows the man not having the girl. Unlike the poem, we know that he cannot have her because she is with someone else. “I tried to give you consolation when your old man had let you down.” This evidence proves that she is in another relationship. Clapton is heartbroken because he wants her, regardless if she is married. He believes that he is better for her and that he can please her and love her better than her current husband. The song does not state that they ended up together but we can find in research that they ended up getting married after the song was released. In both stories, the reason why they cannot have the girl does not affect the desire to pursue the women or damper the affection towards the women. Although the differences in the reasoning is different, they are for the girl’s own good. If the wealthy girl’s family is protecting her from poverty, it is because she deserves to be provided for. Boyd is married. It is for her own good that Clapton cannot be with her because she is bound to a holy covenant with another man. 

Despite the similarities, there are some differences. The tone in the poem is a lot softer than the tone in the song. The poem is more of a quieter plea while the song states that Clapton is on his knees begging the woman. We do not know is the woman in the poem even knows of the boy’s existence. The way men pursue and desire women are much different than they used to be. They will continue to evolve and change as the time and culture changes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393913295/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/63_folder/63_articles/63_clapton.html