Comparing Dante The Pilgrim And Terry The Pigeon

Comparison between Dante the Pilgrim and Terry the Pigeon

1. Terry Malloy’s journey is reminiscent of Dante’s in the way that they are seeking redemption by freedom. Dante is seeking God, and therefore redemption and freedom of his sins, he gains that redemption and an understanding of sin by travel through Hell and then Purgatory. Terry’s redemption is more on a personal and emotional level. His journey is measured by the weight of his conscience. By the end he is unable to withstand his guilt over the deaths he’s witnessed and confesses. He is redeemed when he tells the court all he knows about Johnny Friendly’s misdeeds and corruption. His redemption is fulfilled when beaten to a pulp, he regains his ground and leads the workmen back to

work, leaving Friendly alone and powerless on the docks.
2. Edie Boyle and Father Barry act as Beatrice and Virgil respectively. Although Beatrice is only in the inferno a short time, she is still a point of light, guidance, and beauty for Dante. In the same respect, Edie is a physical representation of Terry’s conscience. As his feeling grow and become more passionate towards her, so does his need to do right by her. This involves confessing that he had a hand in killing her brother. This was a big moment for Terry in the process of him “coming clean” and relieving himself of the pressure from Friendly and his mob. The same way that knowing that Beatrice is looking out for him and waiting for Dante in heaven. It is an incentive to continue on and make the right choices or actions.
Father Barry resembles Virgil because he is a constant encourager and source of guidance for Terry. There is one point specifically where Terry is confessing to Father Barry about setting Doyle up and he tells the Father “If I spill, my life ain't worth a nickel” and Father Barry responds with, “And how much is your soul worth if you don't?” (On the Waterfront). In this moment Father Barry is trying to point out that Terry has put his trust in the wrong people, and the only way to relieve himself of his guilt is to protest and tell the court what Friendly and his mob has been doing. Father Barry reasons that while this is not an easy path, it is the way that will lead to Terry’s redemption. This is one moment that exemplifies the Guidance and encouragement that Father Barry provides that is similar to Virgil’s mentoring of Dante.
3. I would place them in the 7th circle. This because, more than the other sins, their crime is violence. In the Inferno during canto XII is where Dante and Virgil enter the 7th circle. There it is told to them by one of the centaurs that these people suffer because “[They] are the Tyrants who dealt in bloodshed and plundered wealth” (lines 104, 105). Johnny Friendly and mob were the tyrants of the town. They used violence and murder as a means to control the people. They punished and murdered those like Doyle, Nolan, and even Charlie when they went against the mob. Johnny Friendly and his mob belong in the 7th circle because they used anger and violence to manipulate the people in order to gain wealth and social standing.
4.

He learns that Love is sacrificing one’s self. In the beginning of his night spent with Edie they are sitting in the bar and they go back and forth about her philosophy that everyone should care for each other and his philosophy is to “Do it to him before he does it to you” (On the Waterfront). This moment is important to Terry’s character because it shows the tremendous growth he went through during the rest of the movie. In the end as he confronts Friendly, and the picks himself up as an example for the other workmen, Terry sets the example. He was able to keep walking up the pier and towards the job as an example for the other workmen there. He did that for his brother, Edie, the others who were murdered, for the rest of the workmen, his selfless act proving his philosophy had changed. He loved Edie, and he had loved his brother, standing up against Friendly was his sacrifice to make and a physical action of his love for them.

5. The worst sin in the inferno is betrayal of one’s closest friends and/or family. This is seen in the end of the Inferno, in Canto XXXIV where Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius are written as being forever tormented and in pain by the gnashing of Satan’s teeth in his three jaws. The three men’s crime is that they all betrayed family their closest friends (who were like family) (lines 61-69,

Dante).
The sin of kin betrayal or almost betrayal can be seen in two separate occasions with two different outcomes. The first scene is when both Malloy brothers are in the taxicab on the way to see Friendly’s hit man. Charlie pulls a pistol on Terry, at the same time both threatening and pleading with Terry not to confess about the murders Friendly’s mob had committed. When the full weight of pointing the gun at his brother hits Charlie, he puts down the gun and after a coming to terms between the brothers, Charlie gives Terry the gun and tells him to leave, saying he will give Friendly an excuse as to why he is missing. In that moment he does not betray his blood brother Terry, but betrays his closest and most trusted “friend” Johnny Friendly. The betrayal of Friendly costs Charlie his life.