The past week, my literature circle group had finished reading our book, The Lost Symbol by author Dan Brown. We mainly discussed the questions and thoughts that remained after finishing the book, and we also touched on the strong sense of symbolism included in the storyline and some strong examples of imagery.
Because our group had just finished up reading the last couple chapters of our book, most of the discussion that was generated was centralized upon our feelings towards how all of the different characters and plots eventually tied together and intertwined nearing the end of the book. As a group, we felt that once Mal'akh had died in the Temple Room as a result of the Temple's glass panel being smashed by the CIA's helicopter, the rest of the book was an explanation the different layers of symbolism within and between the noetic science and Masonic legends, with not very much plot left to it. Although the story told was vivid and captivating, the long lead-up to Mal'akh asking Peter to sacrifice him within a short span of text in the book felt like an abrupt end to the long and dark night that had been unwinding for the past 450 pages. To be blunt, the ending seemed quite anti-climatic in respect to the deep and intense lead-up. Discovering the 'truth' behind it all almost felt like it should have been more dramatic, or something more exciting or even more twisted should have happened, such as Mal'akh staying alive, or the secret Masonic initiation video becoming leaked. Though it was a sigh of relief and quite interesting to see how the different symbols interacted with scientific meanings and religious contexts, for myself as a reader, left me thinking just, "oh. that's all?!".
One symbolic theme that we recognized to be ongoing within the book was the 'leap of faith' metaphor. This metaphor is first brought in on page 45, where Katherine is entering Pod 5 at the first time with Peter. "'Peter?' she called. 'Leap of Faith,' he called back." It's obvious that firstly, Peter is talking about a literal leap of faith; a step into the pitch-black darkness. Though, once you look into the layers of the context this metaphor is used in, you realize that Peter is asking her to take a leap of faith in the belief and work of her noetic scientific theories. It was difficult for Katherine to take her step into the Pod, her leap of faith. Though once she did, she had realized and discovered the true potential of her science. The second time that this metaphor is used is after Katherine had explained to Robert why she believed the miracles that the Bible told stories of. As they spoke, "[he] was pensive. 'It's an inspiring way to see the world Katherine, but for me, it just feels like an impossible leap of faith.'" (p. 502). It's difficult for Langdon to understand or take the step to believe in the miracles contained in the Bible's stories, or to understand the power and potential of noetic science, because of his understanding of history and the way things are, rather than the way that things can potentially be, with the powers that man's mind can behold. A leap of faith is one that can be taken in fear or with confidence. Through her science and research, Katherine has believed in the religious aspect of faith and miracles, unlike Langdon, (yet). The leap of faith is the understanding and belief or religion, or things that we fear or don't know of, such as God, or the powers of the mind.
This past week, we also discussed and worked on the imagery worksheet. The quotes that we found were in relation to the theme of our book, which I believe is resolving darkness and chaos. One perfect quote which explains the resolution is where they say, "it is always darkest before the dawn," (p.328). The imagery and literal interpertation of this quote shows you light, and a certain amount of light being projected. It paints a picture that after a dark period of time, a beautiful and bright scene follows, as the amount of light increases and becomes more visible. Interpreting this quote, its really telling the reader that after all the bad, the good will appear; it's just necessary to go through the suffering first. As the quote "order in chaos" keeps re-appearing within the text of the book as well, it connects to the same symbolism being represented in this quote, both saying that order will always emerge. The wording of this quote, "it is always darkest before dawn", also exposes some more depth to the layers represented. By using the suffix "-est" to the word "dark", Dan Brown is showing the reader that it is not only dark, it is the darkest it can get; it's the worst it could be, but after it all, the beauty will emerge. In relation to the theme of the book, I believe that it reflects the nature of the characters' objectives: to go through the suffering to experience the reward that will come afterwards. For Mal'akh, the endurance would be to manipulate others, murder, and threaten... all for one central purpose; his sacrifice, and transformation. For the other characters, the obstacles that they must go through and survive are all experienced in the hopes of life and success, after all their troubles. "Darkest before the dawn" is also a direct portrayal of the setting of the novel, as all the events take place within the span of one night, and before the morning light. The chaos occurs during the night, and at dawn is when all the hardships endured by the characters becomes settled and at peace.
Another imagery-stimulating quote came from after Robert Langdon had been drowned by Mal'akh, and he felt he were dead. Once Sato found him though, they quickly took him out of the tank he was in, and suddenly, "he felt like a child being born from a womb," (p.414). This quote really makes you picture what it would be like coming out from complete darkness, to opening your eyes and seeing a completely new world before you. This quote represents going from dark to the light, from stillness to life. To embrace the world, and to change environments. Since Langdon was being trapped and felt like he was drowning, he believed he was dead, and the realization of being alive again and breathing are was like being reborn. In relation to the theme of our novel, it connects strongly to the 'order in chaos' and finding a way through the darkness. It also highlights the theme of despair and manipulation, as Langdon strongly believed he was dead and felt like it was the end, yet it really wasn't. Again, this scenario reassures us that Mal'akh is an opportunist, because of his acts of manipulation. Langdon feeling like he was being re-born also connects to the symbolism and importance of second chances that others have received, such as Mal'akh's multiple 'deaths' and near-death experiences through the different pivotal events that had occurred in his life. The second chance, and re-birth also represents the spiritual aspect discussed throughout the book, of the works of noetic science, 'man becoming like God', and the many spiritual transformations that Mal'akh had embraced. A connection from this quote and theme to the world would be Jesus' resurrection in the Bible; as he had endured death, but overcome it, and became re-born. It also connects to the believers and followers of Jesus Christ, as it is their belief that once they accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, they are 're-born' in Christ, and live by the sacrifice of his blood.
The past week, our group did not generate much discussion because of the fact we had all finished reading the novel by last week. Though, we did discuss our thoughts and opinions on the way that the book had wrapped up, we did not go much into analysis other than what I had mentioned earlier, about our disappointment in the final events. Despite of the lack of discussion the past week, last week got into discussions about imagery analysis, where all of us contributed our ideas, examples, and connections we could make to the task at hand. We all listened to each other well, and input our ideas and views on the representations of the text itself when mentioning specific events that had occurred in our novel. Overall thoughout the past two weeks, in the time that our group did spend discussing and analyzing the novel, we did quite well in pulling out specific examples to fit the theme, and also in working well together by listening, asking questions, and inclusive participation. The past unit, I believe that Katie, Stephen, and Yuki and I all worked well together as a group, by coming to class prepared and ready to discuss, and by thoughtfully listening to each other's opinions. Although we were somewhat disappointed by the ending, overall, we were very impressed and pleased with The Lost Symbol.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Lit Circles Journal: Week 3
This week, my literature circle group had finished reading our book, The Lost Symbol by author Dan Brown. We mainly discussed the questions and thoughts that remained after finishing the book, and we also touched on the strong sense of symbolism included in the storyline and some strong examples of imagery.
Because our group had just finished up reading the last couple chapters of our book, most of the discussion that was generated was centralized upon our feelings towards how all of the different characters and plots eventually tied together and intertwined nearing the end of the book. As a group, we felt that once Mal'akh had died in the Temple Room as a result of the Temple's glass panel being smashed by the CIA's helicopter, the rest of the book was an explanation the different layers of symbolism within and between the noetic science and Masonic legends, with not very much plot left to it. Although the story told was vivid and captivating, the long lead-up to Mal'akh asking Peter to sacrifice him within a short span of text in the book felt like an abrupt end to the long and dark night that had been unwinding for the past 450 pages. To be blunt, the ending seemed quite anti-climatic in respect to the deep and intense lead-up. Discovering the 'truth' behind it all almost felt like it should have been more dramatic, or something more exciting or even more twisted should have happened, such as Mal'akh staying alive, or the secret Masonic initiation video becoming leaked. Though it was a sigh of relief and quite interesting to see how the different symbols interacted with scientific meanings and religious contexts, for myself as a reader, left me thinking just, "oh".
One symbolic theme that we recognized to be ongoing within the book was the 'leap of faith' metaphor. This metaphor is first brought in on page 45, where Katherine is entering Pod 5 at the first time with Peter. "'Peter?' she called. 'Leap of Faith,' he called back." It's obvious that firstly, Peter is talking about a literal leap of faith; a step into the pitch-black darkness. Though, once you look into the layers of the context this metaphor is used in, you realize that Peter is asking her to take a leap of faith in the belief and work of her noetic scientific theories. It was difficult for Katherine to take her step into the Pod, her leap of faith. Though once she did, she had realized and discovered the true potential of her science. The second time that this metaphor is used is after Katherine had explained to Robert why she believed the miracles that the Bible told stories of. As they spoke, "[he] was pensive. 'It's an inspiring way to see the world Katherine, but for me, it just feels like an impossible leap of faith.'" It's difficult for Langdon to understand or take the step to believe in the miracles contained in the Bible's stories, or to understand the power and potential of noetic science, because of his understanding of history and the way things are, rather than the way that things can potentially be, with the powers that man's mind can behold. A leap of faith is one that can be taken in fear or with confidence. Through her science and research, Katherine has believed in the religious aspect of faith and miracles, unlike Langdon, (yet). The leap of faith is the understanding and belief or religion, or things that we fear or don't know of, such as God, or the powers of the mind.
This past week, we also discussed and worked on the imagery worksheet. The quotes that we found were in relation to the theme of our book, which I believe is resolving darkness and chaos. One perfect quote which explains the resolution is where they say, "it is always darkest before the dawn," (p.328). The imagery and literal interpertation of this quote shows you light, and a certain amount of light being projected. It paints a picture that after a dark period of time, a beautiful and bright scene follows, as the amount of light increases and becomes more visible. Interpreting this quote, its really telling the reader that after all the bad, the good will appear; it's just necessary to go through the suffering first. As the quote "order in chaos" keeps re-appearing within the text of the book as well, it connects to the same symbolism being represented in this quote, both saying that order will always emerge. The wording of this quote, "it is always darkest before dawn", also exposes some more depth to the layers represented. By using the suffix "-est" to the word "dark", Dan Brown is showing the reader that it is not only dark, it is the darkest it can get; it's the worst it could be, but after it all, the beauty will emerge. In relation to the theme of the book, I believe that it reflects the nature of the characters' objectives: to go through the suffering to experience the reward that will come afterwards. For Mal'akh, the endurance would be to manipulate others, murder, and threaten... all for one central purpose; his sacrifice, and transformation. For the other characters, the obstacles that they must go through and survive are all experienced in the hopes of life and success, after all their troubles. "Darkest before the dawn" is also a direct portrayal of the setting of the novel, as all the events take place within the span of one night, and before the morning light. The chaos occurs during the night, and at dawn is when all the hardships endured by the characters becomes settled and at peace.
Another imagery-stimulating quote came from after Robert Langdon had been drowned by Mal'akh, and he felt he were dead. Once Sato found him though, they quickly took him out of the tank he was in, and suddenly, "he felt like a child being born from a womb," (p.414). This quote really makes you picture what it would be like coming out from complete darkness, to opening your eyes and seeing a completely new world before you. This quote represents going from dark to the light, from stillness to life. To embrace the world, and to change environments. Since Langdon was being trapped and felt like he was drowning, he believed he was dead, and the realization of being alive again and breathing are was like being reborn. In relation to the theme of our novel, it connects strongly to the 'order in chaos' and finding a way through the darkness. It also highlights the theme of despair and manipulation, as Langdon strongly believed he was dead and felt like it was the end, yet it really wasn't. Again, this scenario reassures us that Mal'akh is an opportunist, because of his acts of manipulation. Langdon feeling like he was being re-born also connects to the symbolism and importance of second chances that others have received, such as Mal'akh's multiple 'deaths' and near-death experiences through the different pivotal events that had occurred in his life. The second chance, and re-birth also represents the spiritual aspect discussed throughout the book, of the works of noetic science, 'man becoming like God', and the many spiritual transformations that Mal'akh had embraced. A connection from this quote and theme to the world would be Jesus' resurrection in the Bible; as he had endured death, but overcome it, and became re-born. It also connects to the believers and followers of Jesus Christ, as it is their belief that once they accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, they are 're-born' in Christ, and live by the sacrifice of his blood.
This week, our group actually did not discuss that in-depth, since Katie and Yuki were away. On Monday, we got into the imagery analysis, where much discussion and examples were generated. We all listened to each other well, and input our ideas and views on the representations of the text itself when mentioning specific events that had occurred in our novel. On Wednesday, I had completed the book and Stephen and I mainly talked about the ending, and how everything unfolded, (as I mentioned in the second paragraph). On Friday, we did not have that much discussion, since we watched another Lit Circle group's movie. Overall though, in the time that we did spend discussing and analyzing the novel as a group, we did quite well in pulling out specific examples to fit the theme, and also in working well together by listening, asking questions, and inclusive participation.
Because our group had just finished up reading the last couple chapters of our book, most of the discussion that was generated was centralized upon our feelings towards how all of the different characters and plots eventually tied together and intertwined nearing the end of the book. As a group, we felt that once Mal'akh had died in the Temple Room as a result of the Temple's glass panel being smashed by the CIA's helicopter, the rest of the book was an explanation the different layers of symbolism within and between the noetic science and Masonic legends, with not very much plot left to it. Although the story told was vivid and captivating, the long lead-up to Mal'akh asking Peter to sacrifice him within a short span of text in the book felt like an abrupt end to the long and dark night that had been unwinding for the past 450 pages. To be blunt, the ending seemed quite anti-climatic in respect to the deep and intense lead-up. Discovering the 'truth' behind it all almost felt like it should have been more dramatic, or something more exciting or even more twisted should have happened, such as Mal'akh staying alive, or the secret Masonic initiation video becoming leaked. Though it was a sigh of relief and quite interesting to see how the different symbols interacted with scientific meanings and religious contexts, for myself as a reader, left me thinking just, "oh".
One symbolic theme that we recognized to be ongoing within the book was the 'leap of faith' metaphor. This metaphor is first brought in on page 45, where Katherine is entering Pod 5 at the first time with Peter. "'Peter?' she called. 'Leap of Faith,' he called back." It's obvious that firstly, Peter is talking about a literal leap of faith; a step into the pitch-black darkness. Though, once you look into the layers of the context this metaphor is used in, you realize that Peter is asking her to take a leap of faith in the belief and work of her noetic scientific theories. It was difficult for Katherine to take her step into the Pod, her leap of faith. Though once she did, she had realized and discovered the true potential of her science. The second time that this metaphor is used is after Katherine had explained to Robert why she believed the miracles that the Bible told stories of. As they spoke, "[he] was pensive. 'It's an inspiring way to see the world Katherine, but for me, it just feels like an impossible leap of faith.'" It's difficult for Langdon to understand or take the step to believe in the miracles contained in the Bible's stories, or to understand the power and potential of noetic science, because of his understanding of history and the way things are, rather than the way that things can potentially be, with the powers that man's mind can behold. A leap of faith is one that can be taken in fear or with confidence. Through her science and research, Katherine has believed in the religious aspect of faith and miracles, unlike Langdon, (yet). The leap of faith is the understanding and belief or religion, or things that we fear or don't know of, such as God, or the powers of the mind.
This past week, we also discussed and worked on the imagery worksheet. The quotes that we found were in relation to the theme of our book, which I believe is resolving darkness and chaos. One perfect quote which explains the resolution is where they say, "it is always darkest before the dawn," (p.328). The imagery and literal interpertation of this quote shows you light, and a certain amount of light being projected. It paints a picture that after a dark period of time, a beautiful and bright scene follows, as the amount of light increases and becomes more visible. Interpreting this quote, its really telling the reader that after all the bad, the good will appear; it's just necessary to go through the suffering first. As the quote "order in chaos" keeps re-appearing within the text of the book as well, it connects to the same symbolism being represented in this quote, both saying that order will always emerge. The wording of this quote, "it is always darkest before dawn", also exposes some more depth to the layers represented. By using the suffix "-est" to the word "dark", Dan Brown is showing the reader that it is not only dark, it is the darkest it can get; it's the worst it could be, but after it all, the beauty will emerge. In relation to the theme of the book, I believe that it reflects the nature of the characters' objectives: to go through the suffering to experience the reward that will come afterwards. For Mal'akh, the endurance would be to manipulate others, murder, and threaten... all for one central purpose; his sacrifice, and transformation. For the other characters, the obstacles that they must go through and survive are all experienced in the hopes of life and success, after all their troubles. "Darkest before the dawn" is also a direct portrayal of the setting of the novel, as all the events take place within the span of one night, and before the morning light. The chaos occurs during the night, and at dawn is when all the hardships endured by the characters becomes settled and at peace.
Another imagery-stimulating quote came from after Robert Langdon had been drowned by Mal'akh, and he felt he were dead. Once Sato found him though, they quickly took him out of the tank he was in, and suddenly, "he felt like a child being born from a womb," (p.414). This quote really makes you picture what it would be like coming out from complete darkness, to opening your eyes and seeing a completely new world before you. This quote represents going from dark to the light, from stillness to life. To embrace the world, and to change environments. Since Langdon was being trapped and felt like he was drowning, he believed he was dead, and the realization of being alive again and breathing are was like being reborn. In relation to the theme of our novel, it connects strongly to the 'order in chaos' and finding a way through the darkness. It also highlights the theme of despair and manipulation, as Langdon strongly believed he was dead and felt like it was the end, yet it really wasn't. Again, this scenario reassures us that Mal'akh is an opportunist, because of his acts of manipulation. Langdon feeling like he was being re-born also connects to the symbolism and importance of second chances that others have received, such as Mal'akh's multiple 'deaths' and near-death experiences through the different pivotal events that had occurred in his life. The second chance, and re-birth also represents the spiritual aspect discussed throughout the book, of the works of noetic science, 'man becoming like God', and the many spiritual transformations that Mal'akh had embraced. A connection from this quote and theme to the world would be Jesus' resurrection in the Bible; as he had endured death, but overcome it, and became re-born. It also connects to the believers and followers of Jesus Christ, as it is their belief that once they accept Jesus as their personal Saviour, they are 're-born' in Christ, and live by the sacrifice of his blood.
This week, our group actually did not discuss that in-depth, since Katie and Yuki were away. On Monday, we got into the imagery analysis, where much discussion and examples were generated. We all listened to each other well, and input our ideas and views on the representations of the text itself when mentioning specific events that had occurred in our novel. On Wednesday, I had completed the book and Stephen and I mainly talked about the ending, and how everything unfolded, (as I mentioned in the second paragraph). On Friday, we did not have that much discussion, since we watched another Lit Circle group's movie. Overall though, in the time that we did spend discussing and analyzing the novel as a group, we did quite well in pulling out specific examples to fit the theme, and also in working well together by listening, asking questions, and inclusive participation.
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