Role Of Gluttony In Modern Society

After reading the extensive “The New Face of Hunger” (Tracie McMillan), my eyes became more open to the overall issue of hunger, faced by many people today. In a few words, I was absolutely shocked by the true meaning and examples provided of what exactly food insecurity is. Honestly speaking, when I hear the word “hunger” I think of a human who has no food, living on the streets. “The New Face of hunger” brought to my attention that food insecurity is much more than simply having no food. In fact, “In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat” (The New Face of Hunger). Not only was I able to see the harsh

The sin Gluttony does not pertain only to food, it is the “desire to consume more than that which one requires” (Shannon). Therefore, it can be too much of sex, clothes, alcohol, toys, etc. The Franklin gluttonous, he liked to eat and drink copious amounts. He would always have cake for breakfast and his house was never out of

Now that it is clear why the Wrathful are in a lower circle then the Hoarders and Wasters, I would like to back up to circle three and look at the Gluttons. The reason for this is because the previous question was answered so it automatically brings up the question: Why is hoarding and wasting a more horrible sin than being gluttonous? A glutton is one who has an uncontrollable appetite and deliberately converts food into a sort of god, or at least an object of worship. So now in Hell he is punished by being forced to eat filth and mud, instead of the extravagant food and drink that he/she is used to in life. Here is what Dante saw upon entering the third circle; "Huge hailstones, dirty water, and black snow pour from the dismal air to putrefy the putrid slush that waits for them below"(Dante, Canto 6 line 10-12). The reason that this sin is not as bad as hoarding and wasting is that gluttons misused the natural products of the world, which for Dante, was not as bad as the sinners in the next circle who have no respect for the manmade objects of the world, such as money and property. The reason that it is not as bad as the Wrathful is the same reason that I gave for the Hoarders and Wasters; the sin they commit

Dante gives a picture perfect example of their torment. It was said that, “And as they scrubbed and clawed themselves, their nails / drew down the scabs the way a knife scrapes bream / or some other fish with even larger scales” (Alighieri XXIX.82-84). The impression that Dante gives forces the reader into picturing the sinners drag their dirty nails into their prickly, scabbed skin, so rapidly and intense, that he compares it to a knife grating the scales of a fish. Dante also uses visual imagery to describe the lives of the gluttons. Since the gluttons spent their lives consuming massive amounts of food and drink, they represented themselves as garbage. Therefore, they were treated as such in Hell. The reader is able to visualize the punishment of a glutton through Dante’s vivid expression: “Huge hailstones, dirty water, and black snow / pour from the dismal air to putrefy / the putrid slush that waits for them below” (Alighieri VI.10-12). The reader can obviously picture the clean ground beneath all of the disgusting dirt, mold, mud, and rancid slush. Dante also puts the image of the rotting gluttons that lie under this filthy mess into the reader’s mind. Each realm contains something different, and Dante clearly proves to give the sense of a different image every time.

 One of Dante’s most ingenious punishments are those for the avaricious and the prodigal. The avaricious sinners are those who were miserly on earth, and the prodigal were squanderers. Dante’s punishment for

The theme of equilibrium between reason and faith is one of the core messages of Inferno and it is essential in conveying the main idea of the Divine Comedy and of the pilgrim’s journey that the exploitation of intellect and the misuse of will is the cause of sin, and that through faith, those who are morally lost find their salvation in God. In Inferno Dante makes it clear that he greatly values knowledge and reason in a way that is more characteristic to the Renaissance rather than of his own Medieval time. However, throughout this first book, the author reminds the audience of the Christian nature of his poem as he uses the stories of the sinners he encounters to stress the idea that without faith, the intellect is not sufficient to achieve divine salvation and that the misuse of reason can often lead to terrible sins.

From Dante's perspective, crimes of passion or desire are the least abhorrent and consequently deserve minimal punishment in comparison to what he believes are the more serious offenses. These sinners, the carnal, the gluttonous, the hoarders and wasters, along with the wrathful and

During the first week of class, four readings were assigned. One of the readings, “Food and Eating: Some Persisting Questions,” by Sidney Mintz, discusses the paradoxes of food. Although food seems like a straightforward concept, it is actually extremely complicated. According to Mintz, there are five paradoxes, including: the importance of food to one’s survival, yet we take it for granted, how people stick to their foodways, but are willing to change, whether the government should allow people to freely choose food or if they should protect the people through regulations, the difference in food meanings according to gender, and the morality of eating certain foods. All of these paradoxes give people questions to think about, making this an extremely philosophical look at food studies. It also mentions that food must be viewed through the cultural context that it is in, which became important in “The Old and New World Exchange”, by Mintz, and “Maize as a Culinary Mystery”, by Stanley Brandes. These discuss the diffusion of foods after 1492 in different ways. The Mintz reading gives an overview of all of the foods spread from the Americas to the Old World, and vice-a-versa, but does not go terribly in depth on the social changes and effects of specific foods. Brandes focuses on the cultural impact of specifically maize on the European diet, noticing that most Western Europeans shunned it. He studies the cultural implications of this, concluding that maize was not accepted

As Dante explores the Second Circle of Hell, he is horrified by the punishments that the sinners must suffer through. When he hears the story of Francesca and Paolo’s lustful actions, Dante relates deeply to their stuggles because he reflects on his own sins and believes he may be cast to a similar fate in the afterlife. Dante reacts to the story when he says, “I fainted, as if I had met my death. / And then I fell as a dead body falls” (5.142-143). Dante faints from compassion for the two sinners’ pitiful story. Dante struggles to grasp the wrongdoing these people have participated in to be placed in Hell because he continues to search for the noble qualities in everyone. On the one hand, Dante believes God’s punishment for the lustful sinners, relentless winds and storms, is unethical. On the other hand, this belief is naive because it is known that all of God’s punishments are just. The lustful are condemned to an eternity in Hell because they did not care about their actions on Earth, so the raging storm that torments them is not concerned with what is in its path. Dante is not only attempting to discover the possible consequences of his own actions, but also learning to trust in God’s judgement.

What causes trouble in this world simply comes down to human nature, really, who’s on top. In this eternal fight to the pinnacle of the societal pyramid, there are bound to be those that suffer more than others. Dante Divine Comedy brings into question: “Which life should I care about more, the one on Earth or the one in the afterlife?” For those who may not believe in Heaven or Hell (an ever increasing number today) the choice is quite easy. In effect, Dante condemns anyone that he feels violates this “divine” order of sanctity (those that prefer the Earth life) by putting them in different circles of Hell. The different sins in Inferno are divided into those of pleasure/ambition, and those of intention to harm. Both are evident in the corruption of society with the former focusing on “improving” oneself at the expense of the individual and the latter “improving” oneself at the expense of others. Take the gluttons for example. People such as Ciacco indulged too much in lively pleasures such as

Addiction is a dependence on a substance in which the affected individual feels powerless to stop. Millions of Americans have addictions to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and even to behaviors such as compulsive gambling and shopping. Recent studies suggest that millions of Americans are addicted to food, as well.

Often when we set out to journey in ourselves, we come to places that surprise us with their strangeness. Expecting to see what is straightforward and acceptable, we suddenly run across the exceptions. Just as we as self‹examiners might encounter our inner demons, so does Dante the writer as he sets out to walk through his Inferno. Dante explains his universe - in terms physical, political, and spiritual - in the Divine Comedy. He also gives his readers a glimpse into his own perception of what constitutes sin. By portraying characters in specific ways, Dante the writer can shape what Dante the pilgrim feels about each sinner. Also, the reader can look deeper in the text and examine the

In Dante Alighieri’s poem, The Divine Comedy, Dante’s quest to find Beatrice symbolizes the importance of allowing love to be ones guide to divine understanding, for this is the only action which is completely controlled by God. Dante argues that although we have desires for sinful actions, humans have the ability to control these desires and decide our own fate. Furthermore, he argues that even if humans commit sin in life, if they will redemption before being sent to hell, they have the opportunity to purify themselves of purgatory. Thus, for Dante, choice is an ever present and vital part of life, and therefore, fate does not exist. But love for Dante is different. Dante argues that love cannot be controlled or chosen. There is no

​Food plays an important role in our daily life. Without food, we cannot survive. Food gives us all the required nutrients that our body needs in order to perform activities in our daily life. People usually find it difficult when choosing the right and effective diet for themselves. Its easy to get overwhelmed with all the dieting advice you get. Do you have to try out every type of diets without obtaining any result? Some people are unaware about how to have a proper diet and with those misleading advice, they may have to stop consuming the food they love, cutting down some portions and calories. Some people do survive this, nevertheless majority of people find it restrictive. In order to have a proper diet, the below information will give an idea about how nutrients plays a significant role in a proper diet. What helps the people to get a proper diet are the three types of diets involved, which are divided into three categories; balanced diet, diabetic diet and fitness diet.

In America, we are constantly surrounded by abundance. Food is a prevalent waste item in the United States. Most people do not think about the resources it took to produce, transport, and prepare the food they throw away. Our food waste is not actually just trash; it is the key to human survival. Ordinary consumers can change the future with one small action: to stop wasting food. Actions at the individual level can decrease food waste and feed those in need. Twenty five percent of purchased food is thrown away. (TED) Often this is because food has spoiled, but it can be for other reasons such as oversupply, misread labels, or individual consumer shopping and eating habits. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf