Questions Answered with More Questions!!

The Da Vinci Code opens at the very popular attraction sight, the Louvre in France. However, what isn't so popular is the museum's curator being demanded to know where the "Holy Grail" is--whatever that may be. This is exactly what happens at the start of the novel. Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre, is demanded this information, and the right when he gives this piece of information away, he is shot and left to die. Right away--questions. What is the Holy Grail and who is the person that wants it? Why do they want it? How did Sauniere know where it was and what's his connection? You already begin to find yourself asking questions.

After this little scene, the reader is introduced to Dan Brown's beloved character, Robert Langdon. Langdon is called to the scene of the shooting at the Louvre, where he is surprised to find the body of Sauniere, not just lying on the floor with his wounds, but naked, and in position of one of Da Vinci's paintings "Vitruvian Man". Next to him lies a code of numbers, as well as something else written. Again--more questions, such as.....what the heck?? Immediately, the reader is drawn in, myself included. I'm not used to too many introductions that leave me so full with questions that I'm actually annoyed!

To add to the massive ammount of questions, an agent who works in cryptology, Sophie Neveu, joins the fun of this murder mystery. As if Langdon wasn't in enough confusion, Sophie tell Langdon to call the embassy, but when he calls the number she had given him, it was, instead, a message warning him that he was in danger. It almost seems like all of these events, happening at the same time, are too much to even consider believable, but I promise that it is! In fact, Dan Brown claims that every bit of content in this novel is true--but there are many skeptics, especially the Catholic Church, who have sought hard to prove him wrong.


As well as analysis to the events just described, and the events following, I will present the real life arguments between Dan Brown and the Catholic Church. It's pretty interesting, and after I post it I'll ask you what you believe more, the Church or Mr. Brown.

Have a nice long weekend!

What, if any, are the realities behind a conspiracy?

To start off this "literary adventure", I'm going to be reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Before we divulve into the novel, I find that it should be made clear that, according to Dan Brown, certain facts and occurences in the story are actually true. Not only has this sparked massive interest in the novel, but it has also caused massive controversy with the Catholic Church, who is also known for its strong disapproval of the Harry Potter series for its "satanic teachings". The thing with Da Vinci Code, however, is that it directly targets the Catholic Church to either be lying, or just completely false. This, of course, was not particularly appealing to the church.Leonardo Da Vinci is most famoulsy known as one of the best artists that ever lived. It's an obvious statement, yes, but what some people may not know is that he was also known for being a prankster. Da Vinci is believed to have left some controversial messages in some of his works, such as The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and the Madonna of the Rocks. These messages are said to be linked to a certain secret--one that has been kept hidden since 1099 by a secret society known as the Priory of Sion (www.danbrown.com), talking about an "unbroken code", which is also claimed to be truth."There exists a chapel in Great Britain that contains a ceiling from which hundreds of stone blocks protrude, jutting down to form a bizarre multi-faceted surface. Each block is carved with a symbol, seemingly at random, creating a cipher of unfathomable proportion. Modern cryptographers have never been able to break this code, and a generous reward is offered to anyone who can decipher the baffling message. In recent years, geological ultrasounds have revealed the startling presence of an enormous subterranean vault hidden beneath the chapel. This vault appears to have no entrance and no exit. To this day, the curators of the chapel have permitted no excavation." ~Dan Brown. Although I, as many other do, find this greatly appealing, most of the reaction towards these kinds of "facts" were pretty negative. I personally love the idea of a secret code on the ceiling of a chapel, but Dan Brown has been accused by others of being a "partner of the Devil", as well as being the devil himself. Whether or not you choose to believe it, all of these statements are true in the world Dan Brown "created", and need to be considered when reading the novel. All places in the book are factual, as Brown states on page one.There's your introduction! I'll have a full introduction of the first few chapters tomorrow--where I can promise a naked, dead body and plenty of secrets. Delicious!!

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Where do you stand on conspiracies? Are most of them fake, or do you believe in some of what they reveal?