Da Vinci Code- Quarter # 3

Novel Summary Sheet ~Quartering the Text ~

Your name: Hanna Schmidt                                    Quarter # 3

Novel Name: The Da Vinci Code

Author’s last name: Brown

 1. Skeletal plot (Point form only- keep this short but insightful):

- Sophie and Robert stay up talking to Sir Leigh Teabing about the Grail and their search for it

– The police find out where Sophie and Robert are located and immediately head to the house

– Sir Teabing finds out Robert being framed for murder

– Silas tries to steal the 'keystone' from Robert and Sophie while at Sir Teabings house- Robert is knocked out, and then Silas is knocked out

-The police show up and Teabing helps them escape to London by way of his private jet, then helps them escape a second time from the police in London

- The police find some questionable things in Leigh Teabing's house that make one think he isn't as innocent as we once thought.

Conflict or “tension” eg. person vs person, or (internal) person vs self; Is this important to the novel’s theme or purpose? Circle one and explain:

yes

Explanation: There is definitely a lot of tension in the novel, and it is extremely important to the novels theme. The tension between Robert and the police- even though they aren't face to face- is present, and creates an atmosphere of terror, and injustice. This atmosphere helps to define the theme of the novel because it adds that element of terror, you feel that at any moment Robert might be captured, and the whole mission will go down the tubes.

 

2. Setting (When & where does various parts of your novel take place-how are theses places important to the character or the theme of your work?):

This part of the novel takes place in Leigh Teabing's house, his plane, and there are various scenes of the police at the Swiss Bank. These locations are extremely important to the character/ theme of the novel because a lot of character development occurs in these locations, and extremely important parts of the plot also occur there. For example, while at Leigh Teabing’s house we learn more about Sophie's past, and she starts to wonder if she is one of Christ's descendents- giving us more insight into why Jacques Sauniere might have been murdered. A lot of the plot also happens in these locations, which makes it a significant place. We learn a lot of the Holy Grail's history, and the characters end up unlocking the keystone.

 

3. Characters (Know your character types and why this is important to your novel! (Eg. Are they round/flat-why?/static/dynamic-why?) How many characters do you meet in this quarter or do you find more about their personalities? #?

We don't meet any new characters in this quarter, but we do end up learning more about the existing character's personalities. After Teabing attacks Silas we learn that even he is a cripple he actually is really cunning and strong. We also learn that Teabing might not be quite as innocent as we thought he was, he had a list of all the Priory of Sion Grand Masters found in his house by the police. This is a rather suspicious occurrence, why would he have this list in his house? Even though he is interested in the Holy Grail it still is rather odd! Teabing is a very dynamic character because we are learning new things about him all the time, and it changes our view of him, he is a very different person than I initially thought he was. Sophie and Robert are very round characters because we learn so much about them and their past, which also helps us predict what they might do in the future. Silas is the 4^th character in this quarter, we don’t really learn new things about him, but his actions allow us to realize even more now, that he is a very round character, we learn about him and his beliefs all the time, and we learn how far he will go to get what he ‘needs’.

 

                

 

4. Point Of View~ Circle one!: 1st person    3rd person/limited   omniscient   or    omniscient  

§   Why do you think the writer chose this point of view to develop plot character or themes?

The story is from the omniscient point of view. I believe that this point of view is best because we get to learn all of the characters thoughts and feelings. We are able to understand what thoughts are behind what actions. For example; why Silas does what he does, and why Leigh Teabing is helping Robert and Sophie. In general it adds to the tension in the story because we sometimes know someone’s thoughts or someone is talking, but we do not know who it is. Overall this point of view helps in character and plot development, because we understand the process of the characters development, and we know what happened for the plot to be where it is, and what each character’s reaction is.

5.Notables on writer’s style and structure!

§   Are there similes or metaphors?
The mention of the word ‘blood’ is definitely a metaphor in this story, they talk about bloodlines and “Holy Blood”- these reference to blood are metaphors for truth. For example Jacques Sauniere uses his blood to draw a pentacle (a symbol of the church covering things up)- Sophie then sees a drop of this blood leftover, and begins to realize the truth.

§   Visual or other imagery? Record a quote:

“As the vehicle lurched onto and overgrown pathway, almost immediately the trees overhead blotted out the moonlight.” (Pg. 283)

§   Is there unusual vocabulary or diction? Record a quote:

“He seemed to be heading toward a jagged silhouette of wooded land in the distance” (Pg. 283)

§   Is the novel structured with a particular idea?
A recurring idea in this novel is art, the art museum, the use of art to disguise the truth, the use of art to explain the Holy Grail- “Sophie glanced at the art book before her, eager to move on and see the Da Vinci painting of the Holy Grail.” (Pg. 234)

§   Is there dialogue & is it realistic?
“On shaky legs, Aringarosa walked to the cockpit. “I need to change destinations.” The pilot glanced over his shoulder and laughed. “You’re joking right?” (Pg. 313)

 

6. Themes: Record words and topics related to themes contained and developed in your novel:

- language- secrets being discovered within words and phrases

- Art- secrets being hidden within paintings
- dark secrets

- symbols- holy grail, blood, etc.

- women- recognizing intelligence and power

- faith/ religion

Personal Response to this quarter: what you thought or felt, related to, did not relate to; how universal is the experience that your protagonist goes through?

This quarter was really interesting, I enjoyed how although it was a very informative quarter (gave us the full story of the holy grail, caught up with the rest of the story, and informed us of a lot of things that were happening) it was also really exciting, and not at all boring like one might expect! A lot of things happen, and you get the feeling that everything is about to be wrapped up, but things are not over yet (nearing the climax!). The author made this quarter really interesting, even though most of it was really just the characters talking, by making what the characters were talking about really interesting, and one really just gets incredibly interested in the topic. I felt that I could not really relate to a lot of the topics because a lot of it is about religion, and I do not know a lot about this. But then again, this is what made it incredibly interesting because I learned a lot about religious symbols. This quarter is definitely one of my favorites so far because it didn’t focus on the violent side of the character’s journey so much as the intellectual/educational side! It definitely made the experience the character’s are experiencing more relatable, it brought it closer to home because we are now able to understand the story so much better!