Brother I’m Dying (BID) and Haiti

by | Mar 13, 2018 | Essays

Complete a research portfolio based on Brother I’m Dying (BID) and Haiti.
Explore BID and/or Haiti through some topic/theme/major/meta-major.
Review the “Points of Entry” document to either choose a topic related to your intended meta-major or to spark your creativity while you create your own topic. Remember – Mr. Hobson must approve all topics.

Find examples or some aspect of a topic/theme/major/meta-major represented in BID and conducting research about that topic/theme/major/meta-major and how it relates to Haitian culture, etc. For example, a Human Services major might explore the impact of religion/Voodoo or Christianity on BID and Haitian culture while a science meta-major might explore the history of deforestation that has occurred in Haiti and how that might have affected a community like Bel-Aire in BID and even America. Some basic questions to ask yourself after you have chosen a topic/theme/major/meta-major and start doing your research are:
– How is this topic/theme/major/meta-major represented, mentioned, referenced, or historicized in the text, BID?
– What have experts in the given field said about the topic/theme/major/meta-major and Haiti?
– How does this information gleaned from the primary text, BID and secondary sources help you and potentially others to understand Haitian culture, immigrant culture, American Othering, and humanity in general?
– What did you learn? Does this research challenge the thoughts that you had prior?
– Does any of your research reveal opposition to any power structure or sphere of influence? (capitalism, colorism, racism, industrialization, leadership, etc…)
– What is your opinion or thesis?

This portfolio should be written in APA format unless otherwise stated by Mr. Hobson. The research portfolio should include the following items:
• Research Portfolio Outline (1-2 pages)
• Annotated Bibliography (2-3 pages)
• Research Paper (4-6 pages)
• Works Cited Page (1-2 pages)

Advice
Please make sure that you have read Brother I’m Dying. Then, revisit the text by specifically looking for aspects, moments, and chapters directly and indirectly related to your topic/theme/major/meta-major.

Reminders
The paper should be typed and include the following:
• A good title
• At least five-to-six secondary sources from the IRSC database.
• APA style to cite texts and provide information on your sources.
• Times New Roman size font 12.

 

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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