Canadians look down on the United States and consider it Hell. They are right to do so. Canada is to the United States what, in Dante's scheme, Limbo is to Hell.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Layton uses Dante's Inferno to suggest that while the US is hell, Canada is merely its adjacent purgatory.
- In plain terms
- Canada is to the US what limbo is to hell in Dante's view.
- What can you take from it?
- Use mythological frameworks to critique nations.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is Canada really limbo?
- How do we judge nations?
Another view
The comparison relies on religious concepts that may not resonate universally.
More from Irving Layton
If poetry is like an orgasm, an academic can be likened to someone who studies the passion-stains on the bedsheets.
Permalink to quote #1 God is indeed dead. He died of self-horror when He saw the creature He had made in His own image.
Permalink to quote #3 When you argue with your inferiors, you convince them of only one thing: they are as clever as you.
Permalink to quote #4
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