Outside Reading - Week 4, Post A

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

VOCAB
-Baphomet (318)- An idol or symbolical figure which the Templars were accused of using in their mysterious rites
-vellum (323)- calfskin, lambskin, kidskin, etc., treated for use as a writing surface
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
1. " 'No more false than that of a mathematical cryptographer who believes in the imaginary number 'i' because it helps her break codes' "(342). This is an analogy. Langdon is comparing religious allegory in music to the use of imaginary numbers. He relates the situations to each other as a basis for comparison.
2. " 'We had the correct Pope on our second hit. Alexander.' He paused. 'A Pope' "(392). This is a pun/play on words. Langdon previously thought that by Pope, Jacques was referring to a Holy Father. Truly he was being tricky and referring to Alexander Pope; a different kind of Pope.
3. "Sophie felt as if she were being hurtled through space with no idea where she would land" (304). This is a simile, comparing Sophie's feeling to the sensation of cluelessly being flung through the blackness of space.
QUOTE
"an ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll/and helps us keep her scatter'd family whole/a headstone praised by Templars is the key/and atbash will reveal the truth to thee" (302). This is a riddle that was secretly encrypted into a box deep in a safely guarded vault. It resonates with me because it is in iambic pentameter, which we recently learned was used in formal proclamations, indicating that this riddle is of great symbolic importance.
THEME
Always keep your guard up because you never know what could be coming your way or when there is a turn of events.