So Dark the Con of Man

[Richard Stone]

Richard walked into his classroom and placed his briefcase on the floor under his desk and began to set the laptop up so that the power point slides would be ready to go as soon as he would need them. He was eager to continue teaching the students about the things behind Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, and hoped that the students had at least read some of the book in their spare time.

Once that was done, he walked over to the white board and across the top wrote: So Dark the Con of Man, and then the seven riddles he had given the students for homework in this last class, as they would begin this one by answering them:

-	Riddle	Answer
I.	The beginning of eternity, The end of time and space, The beginning of every end, And the end of every place. -The Guess Book (c. 1820)	Letter E
II.	There is one that has a head without an eye, And there’s one that has an eye without a head. You may find the answer if you try; And when all is said, Half the answer hangs upon a thread. -Christina Rossetti	Pins and Needles
III.	We are little airy Creatures, All of diff’rent Voice and Features, One of us in Glass is set, One of us you’ll find in Jet, T’other you may see in Tin, And the fourth a Box within, If the fifth you should pursue It can never fly from you. -Jonathan Swift	Vowels
IV.	At the back of every Igloo, And the middle of the Moon, Always running around in Loops you’ll find me, If you look inside the Room. What am I?	oo
V.	Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters. -J.R.R. Tolkien	Wind
VI.	Alive without breath, As cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, All in mail, never clinking. -J.R.R. Tolkien	Fish
VII.	He has no feet, yet travels far; literate, but no scholar he; no mouth, yet he clearly speaks. If you know him, you are wise. -Subhasitaratnabhandagara (Sanskrit riddle poem)	A Letter

He then stepped away from the board and greeted the students as they entered the room.

When the tardy bell had sounded, he started class. "Good morning everyone." Yes, he knew that his greeting was pretty old school, but he liked it. "We're going to start the class by answering the riddles you copied down for homework. this way you can check the answer you have and correct it if you slipped up, or fill it in if you found yourself hitting a wall." He stepped up to the board and faced the class again, pen poised to jot down the answers as the students called them out as he nodded in the direction of the raised hands.

Roll Call:
Gretchen Holmes
Rose Hoff

Athena Achilles
@running7
Danielle Green
Miranda Florin
Tyler Reynolds

[Athena Achilles]

Athena straighten the clothes she was wearing as she walked toward the English classroom. Since discovering the idea that her parents could still be alive, it had opened a few more possibilities for the future, though it also left a dirty taste in her mouth at the same time. What if, before she was eighteen, her parents suddenly decided they wanted back into her life? She didn't know the legalities of parental rights with abandonment, which she would need to look into. She held her copy of the book against her chest as she walked down the hall and into the classroom. Her mind a million miles away from the class she was supposed to be sitting in.

She took a deep breath and banished all thoughts of the newspaper article out of her head, getting into the zone of classwork. Placing the book down, she pulled the folder she needed for the class out of her bag, along with her pens and glanced up at the board. The title made her smile, but she opened her folder to the homework section and placed her pen on the page until class started. Until then, she opened the book and continued reading from where she had left off.

When class started, she smiled with Mr Stone said that they were going to start by completing the riddles. Raising her hand into the air, she dropped it again when the teacher nodded at her. "We are little airy Creatures, All of diff’rent Voice and Features, One of us in Glass is set, One of us you’ll find in Jet, T’other you may see in Tin, And the fourth a Box within, If the fifth you should pursue, It can never fly from you. They are vowels." She knew that she hadn't given the answer for the first one, but the third was her favourite, so that's the one she chose to give the answer for.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda waved at a couple of friends as she passed them in the corridor, all heading to their respective classes, then walked into the English classroom, grinning at the teacher, "Hey Mr. Stone!" Thing were going well at the vet clinic, Zag was getting more and more used to her, at least, who could blame her for being happy? She chose a seat at the edge of the front row, pulling out the notebook in which she had done her homework, before pulling out the book they had been reading in and out of class. She was getting along at a decent pace, she thought, although it had been limited to mainly at night, or while waiting for classes to start, such as was now the case.

However, when the class did start, she replaced her bookmark in its new position and turned her attention to the teacher, waiting for Athena to do the one that she had chosen before she simply started at the beginning, reading from her copied version, "The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place." After a moment's pause, she reported her answer, "It would have to be the letter 'E'."

[Danielle Green]

Yes, English was finally here. Hurrying down the hallway to the class, Danny took each step purposefully as she reached the door. There were only two students in the classroom but she knew more would arrive shortly. Taking a seat and unpacking her book and notebook onto her desk, Danielle began reading her book again. She got so far and then Mr. Stone began class. Many more students had arrived which went unnoticed as she read, but she sat up in her seat and waited for Miranda and Athena to chose and answer a riddle.

Danielle already knew which one she would answer and hoped that the only two girls didn't get to it before she did. Luckily they didn't and so she raised her hand quickly. With the acknowledgement of Mr. Stone she spoke. "Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters. The answer is Wind." It made sense, but it wasn't so easy it just came to the mind, riddles made you think, they made you expand you thinking. Listening to the other students answer the riddles she knew most of the answers and just waited to see if others got the same answer she did.

[Deleted]

Caroline didn't really favor any academic classes and so she didn't look forward to them but she attended them anyways. Making her way down the hallway she saw all the little groups that weren't hers. The cheerleaders also stuck together until it came to classes, then most of them dispersed to different ones. Caroline sometimes thought of taking less intellectual classes in order to be with her friends, but her family wouldn't approve of it. Entering the class most of the students were there and Caroline just took a seat. She enjoyed solving riddles for the most part and so she took pride in this part of her homework. She had worked hard to solve them and so was happy with her work.

Once class started she listened to Mr. Stone. She had answered most of them except for the second to last one, she had ideas but didn't know if they were right, she had her ideas written down as answers, but if she had a choice wasn't going to give the answer for that one. Luckily she didn't have to and picked another one, "There is one that has a head without an eye, and there’s one that has an eye without a head. You may find the answer if you try; and when all is said, half the answer hangs upon a thread. The answer is pins and needles." She stated matter-of-factly.

[Tyler Reynolds]

Tyler bounced down the hallway, almost literally. He was looking forward to his English class and so he made a point to arrive on time this class. He entered the classroom and took a seat along with his classmates. He read over the riddles again to see if he missed anything, but he didn't think he did. They were at times challenging but once he figured them out he didn't understand how he couldn't have had the answer sooner. He pulled out a pen just incase his genius brain was wrong, which was rare, but not impossible.

Waiting for class to start he looked around and sat back in his seat. Most of the other students were either reading or finishing up answering the riddles. Once Mr. Stone started class Tyler listened to everyone's answer and checking his, he was right of course. Seeing as though no one wanted to go next he figured he would. "Alive without breath, as cold as death; never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail, never clinking. The answer is a fish." He stated and answered the question just like the other students did, he felt as though that was the hardest riddle to solve and there he had done it.

[Richard Stone]

Richard turned back around once he finished writing the final answer on the board, more than pleased with the students' work, and the fact that they didn't call the answers out in order, as that would have just been boring.

He capped the pen and walked over to his desk where he picked up his very well-worn and loved copy of The Di Vinci Code and opened the laptop, clicking the button to wake up the power point, which would work on a slideshow as he spoke. "One of the important codes in the novel involves Da Vinci's paintings Madonna on the Rocks and the Last Supper. The two power points included in this lesson will help your students understand the paintings and the conclusions Brown makes in his novel.

Within Dan Brown’s novel, two paintings are used in order to help solve the final mystery behind the code that led to murder. Although the Mona Lisa is the first painting readers encounter, two of Da Vinci’s other works are much more important when it comes to the plot of the novel. Spend a class period with your students discussing each of these paintings and see if they arrive at the same conclusions that Brown draws in his fine work of fiction.

Madonna of the Rocks was painted by Da Vinci to hang behind the altar of a church. He was asked to create a painting that featured the Virgin Mary, the Angel Uriel, Saint John the Baptist as a child and the Baby Jesus as a child. Da Vinci met these requirements, but when the painting arrived at the church, the nuns were angry and horrified! Why?" He raised his eyebrows as he looked around the room. "You can answer that question in your notebook." He quickly wrote on the board:

Why were the nuns angry when Di Vinic arrived at the church with his painting Madonna of the Rocks?

"There's no right or wrong answer here, I just want your opinion on the matter.

"And then The Last Supper was a fresco painted by Da Vinci. The term fresco means it was painted on an outside wall and was exposed to outside weather conditions. It was painted on the wall of a church and for years and years, became more and more obscured by dirt and weather conditions. When it was finally cleaned, what was discovered gave Dan Brown the main plotline of his novel.

The painting depicts Christ and His apostles at the moment when he announces that someone will betray him. The apostles are depicted as angry and argumentative with each other. Jesus is depicted as calm and serene. So, what is about this painting that had the church in an uproar when Brown’s novel was published? It all has to do with who Brown says was in attendance at this fateful dinner party." On the board he wrote the question down about the second painting:

So, what is about this painting that had the church in an uproar when Brown’s novel was published?

"You can either answer those questions now, and do more reading for homework, or leave those questions for after class and read for the rest of the lesson."

[Athena Achilles]

Athena ticked off each of the riddles she had completed for the assigned homework, pleased that she had got them correct. There again though, she loved puzzles and illusions and riddles were really just written puzzles.

She turned her attention to the board as Mr Stone started the lesson, she jotted down notes about each of the paintings as the man spoke and with what was given from the power point. She had never thought of herself as being religious, though she liked the way that Di Vinci had taken the Catholic religion and twisted it in his paintings. Beautiful paintings that had outraged the church, the latter more so than the former once the book had been published.

She carefully wrote the two questions out, one per page, in her notebook, deciding that she could work on them once classes were over for the day, and spend the rest of English reading more of the book. She had found herself trapped into the storyline, pulled into the world of Dan Brown's novel, even though she tried not to read it too quickly and find herself ahead of the class. She opened the book to the page she had marked with plaited wool. Books were sacred, and even borrowed ones didn't deserve to be dog-eared or mistreated. Though she couldn't wait for the copy of the book that she had ordered to arrive.