Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Title of the book: Angels and Demons
Author: Dan Brown
Year original book was published: 2000
Four words to describe the author: Cosmopolitan, Witty, Articulate, Sophisticated
Characters in the book:
The Hassassin: Strong, Merciless
Commander Olivetti: Disciplined, Stubborn
The Camerlengo/Janus: Deceitful, Powerful
Cardinal Mortati: Fortunate, Patient
Robert Langdon: Clever, Cautious
Leonardo Vetra: Humanitarian, Loving
Victoria Vetra: Gorgeous, Dangerous
Maximilian Kohler: Cold, Ruthless
Setting of the book: This novel takes place during present times, but has several historical facts dating back several hundred years. The setting takes place from Harvard University in Massachusettes to Rome, Italy where Vatican City is located. The story takes place from underground tunnel systems and secret society dungeons and lairs, to the inside of famous architectual feats such as the Vatican Archives.
Was the setting very important or not so important to the events of the story? Yes, the setting was absolutely crucial for this novels plot and storyline. With the entire story devoted to the Catholicism and its root of power, Vatican City had to be the setting for this exciting novel. Without Vatican City and Rome in our story, the most critical details would have been forgotten. Without factual settings and places to help build and construct the thrilling and action packed scenes, the reader would have difficulty following along with this fast pace trek.
What is the main conflict in the book? There were three major conflicts in this novel, all of equal importance to the stories plot. With the Anti-Matter device threatening to blow up Vatican City and half of Rome, the Illuminati Hassassin kidnapping cardinals, leaving them for dead on the eve of “conclave,” and trying to keep everything from the public gives this book mulitiple conflicts.
How was this conflict resolved? The conflict is resolved when Robert and Victoria are no longer able to save anymore Cardinals lives, but follow the suspected Hassassin. When they reach him, Victoria is captured and Commander Olivetti is murdered. When Robert follows the Hassassin and frees Victoria, killing the Hassassin in the process, they return to Vatican City and the Camerlengo. With the Camerlengo’s help, they are are able to locate the Anti-Matter device and...
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...d eye, has now gone missing.
Vittoria and Robert travel to the Vatican in an attempt to help find the canister (before it…explodes!) and bring all things dark into the illumination, so-to-speak. They get to The Vatican just in the nick of time- it is about to be closed since the papal election is about to start- but they do get in. The horror of it is-should the anti-matter canister explode, the entire upper echelon of the Catholic Church would be wiped out in an instant. Brown’s conjecture here is that so would a lot of the wealth of the Catholic Church, because all those rumored “treasures of the Vatican” would be vaporized in the fireball. And then, with the deaths of a lot of Catholic Church leaders gathered in Europe, and the erasure of a lot of the Catholic Church’s money, it would he only a matter of hours before the church would all fall apart like a big house of cards, and then, presumably, would all the Protestant and Independent churches all come tumbling down, and Christianity would Be No More. Meanwhile, back at the Rancho-de-Vaticano, helped by the Swiss Guard, Robert and Vittoria do their best to solve the riddles and right the wrongs…before it is too late.
The killer angels is a world acclaimed novel that was written by an author known as Michael Shaara. In the year 1975, it was granted the Pulitzer Prize for creative writing. It gives us in details the occurrences of the four days in the Battle of Gettysburg. This was during the American Civil War that occurred in the year 1863. At this time, troops that comprised of both the Union and Confederacy were at war in town called Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. This is a piece of story that is driven by disposition and narrated from the point of view of various heroes (Hartwig, 1996).
Lynda Barry’s One Hundred Demons is based on the idea of drawing a “demon.” It is an assortment of seventeen short comics, containing themes of Barry’s childhood. Barry got the idea of drawing demons from a painting practice used by a Japanese monk from the sixteenth century, who painted demons on a hand-scroll (Barry 9). By making the decision to paint them in the form of comics, the demons come out in what she calls an autobifictionalography (Barry 4). The autobifictionalography tells the many stories of Lynda Barry’s childhood and teenage years through part autobiography and part fiction. Barry was often unaccepted; she has very few friends and got involved with sex and drugs at a young age (Barry 71). The relationship with her mother was very weak, but she had a very strong bond with her grandmother (“Lynda Barry”). To combine fact and fiction in her memoir is something you don’t see often. I consider Lynda Barry to be not only an author; but a story teller, artist, and very unique individual as well. Many books we read are very easy to predict; they tell a true story, mystery, adventure or maybe even a biography. Lynda Barry’s One Hundred Demons is a memoir of some truth facts and some made up ideas. When writing a memoir many authors give facts on what has happened in their life good or bad. Although Barry states many factual events in her life, she also states many fictitious events. Lynda Barry presents fact and fiction throughout her memoir in a very responsible manner. She has presented it in a way that reflects her way of life or the events she believes will happen throughout her life time.
In a study conducted by Hickey, he discovered that out of thirty-four female serial killers, almost one in two had a male accomplice committing murders with them (Holmes et al., 1991). He also revealed that 97% were white and the average age the women started committing murders was thirty-three (Holmes et al., 1991). Women serial killers differ from men in that most women kill for material gain, such as money or insurance benefits, and they usually commit murder with pills or poison. Stephen Holmes, Ronald Holmes, and Eric Hickey developed a typology for female serial killers similar to the one developed by Holmes and Holmes, discussed earlier. They begin with visionary serial killers, who are compelled by some force, such as God, or spirits, to commit murders. The second type is the comfort killer, who usually kills acquaintances and does so for a material gain, money or real estate (Holmes et al., 1991). The third category is hedonistic female serial killers, which is similar to the earlier typology in that the offender connects murder with sexual gratification. This is the least represented category for female offenders, but evidence for this type of killer can be seen in the case of Carol Bundy (Holmes et al., 1991). Bundy allegedly helped her husband kidnap, murder, and decapitate the
With a new century approaching, Bruce Weigl's twelfth collection of poetry, After the Others, calls us to stand on the millennium's indeterminate edge. This book, opening with the last four lines of Milton's "Paradise Lost," parallels our departure from this century with Adam's fearful exit from Eden, beyond which is "all abyss, / Eternity, whose end no eye can reach" ("Paradise Lost"). Weigl posits that we stand at the century's uncertain gate naked, cold, and greedy; he refers often to a looming future, to give our collapsing present more urgency. We've forgotten, he says, how to love and live simply, how to write honestly and well.
The personification of sadomasochistic ideals in the novel comes from Martin Vanger, head of the Vanger companies and, unknown to everyone, a serial rapist and murderer. For example, Vanger may very well have felt that his father, Gottfried Vanger, by raping him as a child, had forced him to not only become the man he became, but to accept his “fate.” Stekel and Brink also explained why many serial sadomasochists kill their victims, something he labeled the death clause. The death clause explained the idea of “the parapathic amalgamation of death and normal intercourse” (Stekel and Brink 2: 246). That is, that the algolagnic behavior is so ingrained into their mind, that they can only derive normal sexual pleasure through the ultimate pain one can inflict, death. The death clause is something that Vanger seemed to very much experience, and it would explain not only his torture chamber, but why he killed almost every girl he raped.
Vronsky, Peter. Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters. New York: Berkley, 2007. Print.
Serial killers commonly attack a single target at a time one on one. There also tends to be no or very little relation between the person being killed and the killer (murder 1). “The nature of this drive has been heavily debated, but there is a consensus on some points (Anderson 1).” Many researchers have noted sexual behavior in the murder.
The novel has several concurrent subplots interweaving the lives of different characters; eventually all the characters are brought together and the subplots resolved in the conclusion. The unraveling of the mystery requires the solution to a series of brainteasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is closely connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei.
Sometimes I think about how America’s founding father’s intended to guarantee everyone a free education; not a professional education, but the basics anyone needs in to be accepted in society. Unfortunately, I think the standards have changed. College is now just as necessary as high school. Does that mean it should be free? This has been a quiet issue going around in America among our youth because they the financing of college. Lowered, yes. Free, no. College is a privilege, not a luxury. It is only mandatory to get a high school education for most basic jobs that should be able to let you survive on your own. Today in our world, parents put a huge emphasis on college and its benefits but no one is willing to lower the price or allow a full ride as in high school. Society wants us to go to school but they continue to raise the price which doesn’t make any sense.
Alexander Stowe is a twin, his brother is Aaron Stowe. Alex is an Unwanted, Aaron is a Wanted, and their parents are Necessaries. Alex is creative in a world where you can’t even see the entire sky, and military is the dream job for everyone and anyone. He should have been eliminated, just like all the unwanteds should have been. He instead comes upon Artimè, where he trains as a magical warrior- after a while. When he was still in basic training, and his friends were not, he got upset, he wants to be the leader, the one everyone looks up to.
Serial killing is rampant in the U.S. According to estimates in a recent study conducted by the FBI, there have been about 400 serial killers in the U.S. in the last century, with the total number of murder victims ranging from 2,525 to 3,860 . Various experts in the field have suggested that there may be anywhere from 50 to as many as 300 serial killers active at the same time, although there is no clear evidence supporting this . Certainly, an estimate of 300 active serial killers seems at odds with the FBI’s estimate of 400 over the entire previous century. But an estimated 80% of the serial killers in the past century have emerged since 1950. For whatever reason, serial killing is clearly on the rise, with the term itself coined only since the mid-1970’s, so perhaps 300 active serial killers at one time could be unfortunately possible. The number of serial killing in the U.S. is staggering.
“Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose I. Authors Background Stephen Ambrose was born in 1936 and grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town where his father received the M.D. At the University of Wisconsin, he started as a pre-med, but inspired by a great professor he changed his major to History. After getting his M.A. degree at Louisiana State University, he returned to the University of Wisconsin to complete a Ph.D. Ambrose began teaching at the University of New Orleans. He started as a Civil War historian but changed to political history after President Eisenhower asked him to become his biographer. Since then, Ambrose has written more than twenty books. Among his best sellers are D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Undaunted Courage and Nothing Like It in the World.
Bossy, J., Rome and the Elizabethan Catholics: a Question of Geography, Historical Journal, vol 6, 1964.
Throughout the novel, secrets are revealed that pose great threats to the credibility of Catholicism and the modern day church. In his article, “Breaking the Code”, Maurice Timothy Reidy states, “Completely turned my opinion of the Bible and the Catholic Church upside down.” In this article, Reidy explains the influence The Da Vinci Code has over people’s views of Christianity. The doubt Dan Brown’s novel instilled in people created an uproar from the church. In Joseph King’s article, “Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code Spawns New Religion” he explains, “The Roman Catholic Church denounced the ‘lies’ propagated by Brown.” After the book’s release, the Catholic Church quickly jumped to the defense of their religion and spread the word that Dan Brown’s novel was nothing but propaganda and lies trying to weaken Roman Catholicism.