“The Da Vinci Code” – By Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code ia 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown.

Setting:

The setting impacts the plot because the story heavily relies on the culture, lore, and history in Europe. This story took place in the early 2000's. It started out in Paris, France, but the characters end up going to London, England and Rosslyn's Chapel in Scotland. The Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Codes:

Growing up, Brown's father would give him coded messages, symbolic ciphers, and crypts, leading the way to what was hidden.

Religion:

Brown was raised in an Episcopalian household. There are many references to different religious cults, scriptures, and artwork in Brown's novels. Especially Leonardo DaVinci's works.

Main Characters:

1)    Robert Langdon :  Robert Langdon is a professor from Harvard. He is in Paris to give a presentation. He is very brave. An example of this is when they are in the Templar church and he tells the antagonist he would rather break their only clue to Jacques's puzzle than let the antagonist take or kill Sophie. He is also very intelligent. He is a Harvard professor after all. 

2)    Sophie Neveu: works Sopie Neveu is a cytologist from the Paris Judicial Police. She is very good at solving puzzles. Her grandfather, Jacques Sauniere, had her do lots of crossword puzzles along with lots of other kinds of puzzles. She is good at hiding her true feelings and thoughts. She was very sad at some points in the book, but she didn't show her emotion until about three fourths of the way through the book!

3)    Sir Lee Teabing:  Sir Leigh Teabing is a wealthy historian. He is extremely interested with the Holy Grail and has done TONS of research into the topic. He can think very quick on his feet. He displayed this talent when the trio landed in Britain. He thought up a very quick plan to keep them all safe.

Themes, Motifs and Symbols:

One major theme is this book is: Trust your instincts. The book talks a lot about religion and spirituality. While it neither pushed you to believe the religion nor pull away from it, it did give you a lot of food for thought. Also, quite a few of the situations the characters end up in require them to trust their instincts. Individual's view the world based on the beliefs and pressures placed by society.Some believe that men are greater than women.  Each individual has a changing opinion about what is right and wrong. The Da Vinci Code  displays the theme through the idea of the sacred feminine.

The intelligence of Women: women are underestimated: Fache calls Sophie a "female cryptologist" while expressing his doubts about her ability to evade Interpole.  Truth: Able to e.g. save Langdon from arrest. Other women are similarly underestimated.

Art:  Art can tell stories that history tends to obscure

Robert Langdon is awoken in the middle of the night by a police officer. He is told he needs to go with him to The Louvre Museum because they are investigating the murder of the curator Jacques Sauniere and the police chief has requested Robert's presence. When he arrives he is introduced to Chief Buez Fache who asks Robert, a symbolist, if he can get any symbolism out of what Jacques had done to himself in his final moments. A few minutes later they are approached by Sophie Neveu a crytologist who has decoded the codes Jacques has left. She also claims to bring a message from the U.S. embassy for Robert. Really her message was that the police thought Robert had murder the curator and she believed he was innocent.