As I was reading the inferno, I tried to put myself in the shoes of Dante. Although I am not as old as Dante was when he wrote this work (middle age), I do feel as if sometimes I am lost in which direction I need to take with my life. In the beginning of the work, Dante is lost in a dark wood, not knowing which direction to take, before Virgil comes to attempt to show him the way. In order to show him the way, it has been decided that he needs to see the terrors of hell, and also pass through purgatory and eventually paradiso. In the first levels of hell, Dante is totally dependent on Virgil, he cannot make any decisions on his own, including moral ones. It is as if he is a child having to be taught the difference between right and wrong. As they get deeper and deeper into hell, Dante begins to realize/learn that the sinners should not be sympathized with for the sins they have committed against God are detestable.
One part that I found extremely interesting was when Vanni Fucci, who is in the seventh pouch of the eight circle for robbing a sacristy. This is a sin that is theoretically like stealing from God. Although this is a sin that is terrible as a reader I sympathize and say that Fucci could have had a reason he needed to steal, such as feeding his family or having money to survive. Is this one sin the reason he in hell? His character may be sympathized with right until the point that he curses heaven with an obscene guesture towards heaven. This shows that he is not sorry for his actions and although he is being tortured in hell, he would rather be there than in heaven which he despises. This one soul gives the reader in to the mind set of those in hell...do they all curse heaven, do they all not wish to take back the actions that put them there?
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