Reading Journal: Sundiata Epic of Old Mali

What was interesting to me in Sundiata Epic of Old Mali was the role of opposite attraction. When the King was looking for a wife, he was told to choose the ugliest and the outcast out of all the women. For example, “you will find a very ugly maid uglier than you can imagine sitting apart…It is her you must choose” (The Buffalo Woman, Page 8). The reason for this was because they believed that opposite attraction can create powerful offsprings for the future. In other words, the powerful offsprings they create can eventually take the King’s place when he cannot anymore and become King. This was interesting to me because I would expect the King to want the best looking wife to be with him and have children with, but in this case they believed opposite attraction dominates in creating greatness.

Another aspect that I noticed in Sundiata Epic of Old Mali was the role of destiny throughout the story. Sundiata gets called to action by the impact of Destiny, because his mother Sogolon drove him to exile and this was because of the purpose of destiny. For instance, “you will return to reign when you are a man, for it is an Mali that your destiny must be fulfilled” (Exile, Page 19). In addition, family and history also play a role in this because for family his mother was the one who drove him to exile, and for history because this roots back to his father being King. However, this all cumulates from the idea of destiny and their belief of this element. In other words, without the belief of destiny, there won’t be the belief that someone specific should be King. Also, everything always goes back to destiny and its purpose. Destiny was necessary in order for this hero narrative to be complete because according to the characters in the story, destiny is what leads an individual to become King. The characters believe that destiny has the power to create something, if its meant to be…

Reading Journal: Dante Inferno

One of the parts that really caught my attention in Dante Inferno was the imagery/symbolism that was involved in the last chapter. The last chapter reveals the darkest division of Hell called Judecca, and it conveys Satan with the most significant sinners of history. These sinners included Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Judas was there because he betrayed Jesus Christ. Brutus and Cassius was there because they murdered Julius Caesar. What was interesting was how they were positioned on Satan’s body. In Chapter 34 of Dante’s Inferno, Dante states his observations by “each mouth devoured a sinner clenched within” (Canto 34, Line 55). More specificially, Brutus and Cassius were placed on the left and right side of Satan’s mouth, while Judas was placed on the center of Satan’s mouth. Another aspect of this is that Brutus and Cassius were positioned with their head out of Satan’s mouth, but Judas was placed with his feet out of Satan’s mouth. This means that Brutus and Cassius legs were being constantly chewed by Satan, and Judas head was being constantly chewed by Satan. In other words, Judas was feeling the most crucial pain compared to Brutus and Cassius, since his head was the one receiving the most pain rather than his legs. This is because Judas committed an even bigger sin of betrayal than Brutus and Cassius. This was interesting to me because the placement of the lowest part of hell symbolized the place where the greatest sinners were incorporated in. Not only that, but each placement in Satan’s mouth had a specific reasoning with imagery involved.

Something I noticed was that the biggest sinners were all involved in betrayal  in some sort of way. This indicates that betrayal is basically one of the biggest sins or if not the biggest sin that an individual is capable of committing. Another aspect that I noticed is that the use of Satan’s body to depict a placement of the sinners, reminds me of the Rig Veda specifically the Hymn of Man how it each part of his body is connected to some part of the Earth. To compare, a part of Satan’s body placed the sinners into a specific position to represent their sins in the world of Hell. Similarly, in the Rig Veda, each body part of the Hymn of Man represented an element of Earth and how it all came into existence by his body, in regards to the real world. This was interesting because as I read the symbolism and imagery of this part of Dante inferno, the symbolism and Imagery of Rig Veda Hymn of Man also came to mind to analyze their similarities in depicting these parts of the story.