Absurdity Review of Related Studies

the basis for a literary study is the study by Debadrita Chakraborty. She uses alienation as the background to study the works of T.S Eliot and Samuel Beckett. She states that “This paper critically examines the fractured existence of humanity, of man’s alienation in a hostile universe and the inevitability of death in a world incapacitated by the devastations of war 80 . She considers T.S Eliot and Samuel Beckett as modernists who survive the horror of World War II. Therefore, their works are able to perfectly depict alienation. She uses view works of both writer and depicts the alienation from each work. Chakraborty states that: Both Eliot and Beckett provide us with a deep insight of the emptiness and despondency of a war devastated world, something that has ruined the human will to live. Motifs of alienation, isolation and desolation run rampant in all of the above analyzed texts portraying the futility of human existence 81 . Based on her analysis, she believes that both writers exhibit the notion of alienation. It pictures through the word selection and the plots that are used in several works from both writers. She, furthermore, argues that both Elliot and Becket are expert critics of life. They picture their sharp critique in their work. Although they do not expose their critique in direct statements, their ideas toward the world are still clearly shown in their work. 80 Debadrita Chakraborty, “Alienation Isolation and the Loss of Identity: Examining the Works of T.S Eliot and Samuel Beckett”, The Criterion An International Journal in English 4.2 April 2013: 1 81 D. Chakraborty, “Alienation Isolation and the Loss of Identity: Examining the Works of T.S Eliot and Samuel Beckett”, The Criterion An International Journal in English, 7 Chakraborty’s work use one theme of existentialism and use it in several works. It is different with my thesis. However, her accurate and meticulous analysis on word choice and plots is a significant contribution to my thesis in the matter of application. This thesis also uses the idea of alienation. Based on the idea of Chakraborty’s work, this thesis is conducted to explore the notion of alienation through words and plots. Since there is no sufficient work that directly related to Dan Brown’s Inferno, this thesis uses other works that exhibit existentialism application on literary work. Although those works are not directly related to the object of this thesis, in the matter of existentialism application, those works give a significant contribution to the analytical formulation of this thesis. Therefore, those works are important to this thesis. 58 CHAPTER III CONTESTING THE ABSURD This chapter discusses how existentialism views Bertrand Zobrist’s life and his suicide which is considered as existential attitude. It, in turns, answers the first and the second questions of this research.

A. The Loneliness of Men

Dante is exiled from Florence due to political clash among political elites. In the time of alienation, he creates The Divine Comedy. His hatred is the rationale of its creation. Dorothy L Sayers states that “The Divine Comedy is an allegory of the Way to God - to that union of our wills with the Universal Will in which every creature finds its true self and its true being” 82 . Dante believes that the men’s morality has diminished into its lowest. Dante believes that most people deserve hell. Dante’s first poem is the Inferno. In this poem, he was led by Virgil, his favorite poet, down to hell. Virgil shows Dante the horror of hell. From his departure, Dante sees horror which he has never seen before. Therefore, Dante asks several questions in order to make this horror come to his sense. During the exile, Dante tries everything in his power to return to Florence. He takes his legal dispute to the court, but since the court is as corrupt as the faction that exiles him from Florence, he fails. This failure is one of the rationales that influence Dante wrote the poem. He is desperate and he thinks that he will never come back to 82 Kathleen Jones, ”Journey For Freedom, Forgiveness and Identity” Master Program in Georgetown University, 1995 1 Florence. Out of his desperation, Dante finds that the only place he can travel is the next life, the paradise. However, in order to be able to visit the “paradise” he needs to pass the beasts, the inferno and the purgatory 83 . Dante’s lines about men with no faith become the opening line in Brown’s Inferno. This line is the one that became the base of the whole story. The antagonist character, Bertrand Zobrist, sees the world through Dante’s eyes. He sees the world as a destructed place where there is no hope and the only way to solve that problem is to make a significant alteration. He is Dante’s biggest fan. Therefore, he uses Dante’s description of Hell as the parameter of the world he lives in. Of the Comedy’s three sections —Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—Inferno was by far the most widely read and memorable. Before Inferno, there is no clear description of hell and its horror. The quality of this work effects most people who read it. Overnight, Inferno becomes the inspiration for other artists, church, and people. After its release, “the Catholic Church enjoyed an enormous uptick in attendance from terrified sinners looking to avoid Dante’s updated version of the underworld” 84 . Dante’s Inferno plays an important role in Zobrist’s life. He uses Dante’s Inferno as his “manual”. Therefore his actions need to be contextualized with the Inferno. Bertrand Zobrist is a scientist and billionaire who devote his life to Dante. His fanaticism appears on several occasions. There are two events that describe him as a 83 John Ciardi, The Inferno; Dante’s Immortal Drama of a Journey Through Hell. New York: Mentor Book, 1982 27 84 J. Ciardi, The Inferno; Dante’s Immortal Drama of a Journey Through Hell, 54