Why Hurt Somebody to the Point of Death?

Do you know what makes me mad? Bullying. Bullying single-handedly changes a child’s day every single time he is called a name or shoved or pushed around. Bullying even took lives away from a small town in Ohio. In Mentor, four teenagers killed themselves because of bullying. According to Jared DeFife of Psychology Today, “there seems to be an epidemic of bullying in the country, fueling a spate of suicides,” which saddens and angers me because being a kid is supposed to be the non-stressful and fun part of life, not the scary, sad part.

The teenagers that couldn’t live with the cruelty of life anymore were all treated worse than anybody is in human society. They were called dirty names that no one wants to hear and shoved around like they were some kind of animal. Now imagine going to school and receiving this punishment every day. I wouldn’t want to be myself or be at school if I was them. These bullies pick out the weak that aren’t seen by society as “cool” and destroy their confidence and self-esteem by saying just one or two words. Once these kids have no more confidence of themselves or of other people they can’t live to see the sight of themselves. The saddest part about bullying is the fact that these kids feel like they don’t have anybody to care for them or “back them up” against the bullies. It makes me very angry that these teenagers were hopeless and didn’t have anyone to help them out and stand up to the bully.

Dante would definitely put the bullies in Hell for violence against neighbors but would also put the suicidal teens in Hell for violence against themselves. Dante sees violence as a very bad sin since it is part of lower Hell. Society would agree with Dante if he put the bullies in circle seven but I have trouble seeing the victims also in circle seven. I understand that the victims disgraced God by destroying themselves but the bullies already destroyed most of them. The bullies destroyed their confidence, self-esteem, their reputation, their relationship with friends, and caused way too much stress to handle in life. These kids didn’t want to harm anyone and didn’t want there to be any problems but the bullies decided to ruin their life and what they had taken them so long to achieve. Dante would most likely disagree with me in my statement but he doesn’t take into effect what the trees in circle seven faced for them to kill themselves and how the world can be a very cruel place, especially with bullies lurking around, causing too much trouble. These four teens have a very sad story and the world wishes that they could have changed what happened before it was too late.

For Jared DeFife's story go to: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-shrink-tank/201010/4-teen-suicides-in-ohio-is-bullying-blame

The Wise and Painful Trees

A tree, seen through an archetypal view, is considered to be the essence of life and knowledge. A tree is all knowing and sees many things even if it is mute. Literally, trees can be seen as life because they give oxygen to human beings to live and are considered living themselves. However, the trees in Dante’s Inferno represent regret. The human beings that are stuck in the trees did not want to live and since trees show life, then the humans are still “living”.

A regular tree is not seen as what Dante pictured them as in his Hell. A regular tree is full of color and is very vibrant, showing the happiness in life. Trees are not just colorful but are very wise and no many secrets about the world. There have been many trees of “enlightenment” throughout the world, especially in religion. These “enlightenment” trees have changed the world completely with their knowledge. Dante describes the trees as, “not verdant, but nearly black./ The unhealthy branches, gnarled and warped and tangled,/ bore poison thorns instead of fruit,” creating a sense that these trees were not full of knowledge and life (Alighieri 102). The blackness and lack of color in the trees show that they are full of sorrow and regret. The unhealthy branches and poison thorns show the pain and suffering the trees have been through. The people inside of the trees are running away from their pain when they kill themselves but the trees still have the pain shown in the poison thorns and gnarled branches. Dante was trying to show a contrast between the archetypal trees and the Hell trees.

An archetypal tree also represents growth and the trees Dante encounters are considered dead but still “living” and do not grow. Also the trees Dante sees can only speak if their branches are broken and causes them great pain. In the above paragraph I explain about trees of “enlightenment” such as the tree that Muhammad sat under when God approached him. This tree talked to Muhammad but Muhammad did not break it to be enlightened. But, Dante was encouraged to break a branch off to learn more about Hell. Once Dante breaks off a branch he is surprised by the tree bellowing, “Why do you break me?/ And after blood had darkened all the bowl/ of the wound, it cried again, ‘Why do you tear me?/Is there no pity left in your soul?/” (Alighieri 103). Trees in regular life are trying to grow but in Hell they are not growing at all. They also have to be damaged to express their knowledge and talk to the other trees. The person inside of the tree is showing the pain and regret they have to go through since they damaged their own bodies because they could not overcome the problems in their life. Trees have more importance in Hell since they represent a person and their feelings and emotions. Trees are one of the most used archetypes because they represent such a big subject, life and knowledge. Without life and knowledge the world would not be what it is today.

Dante's Vestibule

The Vestibule of Hell is a place of dread and grief. The people there are locked in misery forever because they could not choose a side in a situation whether it be good or bad. Dante begins the chapter with saying, “I am the way into the city of woe. I am the way to a forsaken people. I am the way into eternal sorrow,” showing that Dante thinks the person accused of the sin had the choice of making the sin or not (18 Dante Alighieri). The opportunists can be considered in modern times as a bystander to someone being bullied and not standing up for the victim. This is shown in America and other democratic countries with a witness not telling the police about a certain crime such as a robbery or murder. Dante was a staunch advocate for the Catholic Church and during the Middle Ages he was a major volunteer to convert Catholics and suppress Protestantism. Dante thought that people that were not converted were sinning just like the opportunists by not picking a side of religion

Dante hates the opportunists and expresses this with their punishment. When Dante reaches the Vestibule he says, “Voices hoarse and shrill and sounds of blows, all intermingled, raised tumult and pandemonium that still whirls on the air forever dirty with it as if a whirlwind sucked at sand,” presenting the reader with a horrific a sight in their mind (19). Could you imagine smelling the filthy air and hearing the screams of people being stung by wasps, eaten by maggots, and whipped by a humongous giant? Dante sums this up in the last quote and passes out at the end because of the amount of pain he has seen. The disgraceful actions in Hell would be overpowering to most people but Dante, again, expresses that the opportunists picked their fate were doomed to Hell.

The Vestibule of Hell is parallel to the modern day country of Myanmar, where a woman who was pro-democratic, and went against the military government of the country was put on house arrest. Suu Kyi, the leader, for seven years was on house arrest because she supported democracy and wanted to give her people a chance to stand up for what they think is right. The Vestibule is similar to Myanmar because the people are controlled and are forced to repeat the same things by a higher power. All though the Vestibule is Dante’s imagination of punishing sinners, Myanmar is a real place where people are treated cruelly just like Suu Kyi.

For the story of Suu Kyi:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40164855/ns/world_news-asia-pacific