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[ANALYSIS]
Analysis of setting: In the book Inferno, the setting is a massive part of the plot. As the story revolves around Dante Alighieri's famous epic poem, Inferno, and follows Dante's story -- his trek through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Dante's birthplace, Florence, and his love Beatrice (whom he never becomes even remotely involved with), become central themes for the poem Inferno. First, his exile from Florence due to a murder on a bridge, (which resulted in a bloody feud between families) starts him on his "journey" through Inferno, or the underworld. Due to this, Florence is the main setting for Robert Langdon's mad escape from his own government. With Florence as the initial main setting, and the book containing historically accurate facts, the books appeal is accentuated by knowing that these things actually happened and were twisted into the making of a suspenseful, gripping, denouncing-of-Catholicism, (albeit not intentionally, according to the author, Dan Brown) thriller novel.
Analysis of conflict: In the book, the conflict is both internal and external, exhibiting both frequently. Internally, the conflict is mainly within the minds of Robert Langdon, who struggles against amnesia against his normally eidictic memory, the provost, who struggles against his strict protocol and the massive threat he is technically endorsing, and the general mood of the book, where it seems deception is everywhere, and Sienna Brooks is obviously much more than who she says she is. For example, a man named Ferris joined Langdon and Sienna in their journey to stop the chthonic plague that Bertrand Zobrist engineered, and this Ferris seems to be hiding something, as he is acting suspiciously: "Knowing the ring well, [Ferris] immediately grabbed the phone... 'Sorry,' he said, standing up. 'Ailing mother'...[Ferris] locked the restroom door as he took the call. 'Hello?' The voice on the line was grave. 'It's the provost.'" (Brown 284) Ferris seems to be a deceptive figure, acting like a friend, who has connection with intent to impede Langdon, as evidenced by the appearance of the provost.
Externally, the conflict is straightforward and right to the point: Bertand Zobrist, Transhumanist, (a society who believes humans should biogenetically reengineer themselves to survive) created a plague that would do something horrible (I don't want to give it away) which ultimately makes Zobrist go from 'scientific celebrity' to 'public enemy number one' overnight. Zobrist had thoughts of the world becoming overpopulated and becoming a "deadzone", a term for when an ecosystem becomes too full with a species and all the resources burn out, leaving the species completely extinct. Additionally, Zobrist seemed nearly out of his mind when it came to the boundaries of what he would do: "'Any environmental biologist or statistician will tell you that humankind's best chance of long-term survival occurs with a global population of around four billion.' 'Four billion?' Elizabeth fired back. 'We're at seven billion now, so it's a little late for that.' [Zobrist]'s green eyes flashed fire. 'Is it?'" (Brown 105) Zobrist, if given the chance, will attempt to curb the population of the world, from seven to four billion, which is rounded to 1/3, considering he stated that the Black Plague was the best thing to ever happen to the world, because after the 1/3 population decrease, an abundance of food and money was left over, and the Renaissance occurred.
Analysis of a minor character: Vayentha. The "assassin" (this is later disproved, as she was faking the entire thing before she died) was a figure sent by the provost. Vayentha attempted to "shoot" Langdon in the head, and blamed the miss on the coo of a dove. She then is disconnected from the Consortium (the company of the provost) and takes the finding of Langdon in her own hands.
Vayentha, as a member of the Consortium, never had the time for a personal life, nor a relationship, and is essentially wired for her duties full-heartedly. So she tracks Langdon and Sienna to the Corridor in Florence, away from prying eyes, and goes to prove to Langdon that her gun is fake, but Sienna mistakes this for Vayentha actually shooting Langdon, thus Sienna pushes Vayentha to her death.
If Vayentha hadn't died, and she lived to prove her relative innocence, then the book would be much shorter because Vayentha essentially knew all the information that was covered in the first half of the book and the second half would be shortened because Langdon could figure it out much quicker with the knowledge.
Which, if the book was shorter, that would suck. It's a good book.
But, Vayentha died, and the book was longer, more comprehensive, and more intellectual. The plot of the book is much more complex now that everything must be revealed to us as fast as it is revealed to Langdon, suffering from amnesia. If Vayentha had a stronger impact in the book, it would weaken the overall message. Dan Brown did a superb job with this book.
Analysis of conflict: In the book, the conflict is both internal and external, exhibiting both frequently. Internally, the conflict is mainly within the minds of Robert Langdon, who struggles against amnesia against his normally eidictic memory, the provost, who struggles against his strict protocol and the massive threat he is technically endorsing, and the general mood of the book, where it seems deception is everywhere, and Sienna Brooks is obviously much more than who she says she is. For example, a man named Ferris joined Langdon and Sienna in their journey to stop the chthonic plague that Bertrand Zobrist engineered, and this Ferris seems to be hiding something, as he is acting suspiciously: "Knowing the ring well, [Ferris] immediately grabbed the phone... 'Sorry,' he said, standing up. 'Ailing mother'...[Ferris] locked the restroom door as he took the call. 'Hello?' The voice on the line was grave. 'It's the provost.'" (Brown 284) Ferris seems to be a deceptive figure, acting like a friend, who has connection with intent to impede Langdon, as evidenced by the appearance of the provost.
Externally, the conflict is straightforward and right to the point: Bertand Zobrist, Transhumanist, (a society who believes humans should biogenetically reengineer themselves to survive) created a plague that would do something horrible (I don't want to give it away) which ultimately makes Zobrist go from 'scientific celebrity' to 'public enemy number one' overnight. Zobrist had thoughts of the world becoming overpopulated and becoming a "deadzone", a term for when an ecosystem becomes too full with a species and all the resources burn out, leaving the species completely extinct. Additionally, Zobrist seemed nearly out of his mind when it came to the boundaries of what he would do: "'Any environmental biologist or statistician will tell you that humankind's best chance of long-term survival occurs with a global population of around four billion.' 'Four billion?' Elizabeth fired back. 'We're at seven billion now, so it's a little late for that.' [Zobrist]'s green eyes flashed fire. 'Is it?'" (Brown 105) Zobrist, if given the chance, will attempt to curb the population of the world, from seven to four billion, which is rounded to 1/3, considering he stated that the Black Plague was the best thing to ever happen to the world, because after the 1/3 population decrease, an abundance of food and money was left over, and the Renaissance occurred.
Analysis of a minor character: Vayentha. The "assassin" (this is later disproved, as she was faking the entire thing before she died) was a figure sent by the provost. Vayentha attempted to "shoot" Langdon in the head, and blamed the miss on the coo of a dove. She then is disconnected from the Consortium (the company of the provost) and takes the finding of Langdon in her own hands.
Vayentha, as a member of the Consortium, never had the time for a personal life, nor a relationship, and is essentially wired for her duties full-heartedly. So she tracks Langdon and Sienna to the Corridor in Florence, away from prying eyes, and goes to prove to Langdon that her gun is fake, but Sienna mistakes this for Vayentha actually shooting Langdon, thus Sienna pushes Vayentha to her death.
If Vayentha hadn't died, and she lived to prove her relative innocence, then the book would be much shorter because Vayentha essentially knew all the information that was covered in the first half of the book and the second half would be shortened because Langdon could figure it out much quicker with the knowledge.
Which, if the book was shorter, that would suck. It's a good book.
But, Vayentha died, and the book was longer, more comprehensive, and more intellectual. The plot of the book is much more complex now that everything must be revealed to us as fast as it is revealed to Langdon, suffering from amnesia. If Vayentha had a stronger impact in the book, it would weaken the overall message. Dan Brown did a superb job with this book.
This is a video that essentially tries to disprove the possibility of overpopulation:
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