The Decameron

The Vulnerability and the Humanity of the Characters

The way The Decameron is written really highlights how human the characters are. They are portrayed as people who have come together to protect a human right of theirs.

The brigata members make up a group that have fleed their city of Florence to find a place where they can protect their last bit of humanity- the ability to be happy. Being surrounded by death has caused the society they lived in to breakdown. By fleeing, they weren't really abandoning anyone, but protecting their rights as humans.

Their Refuge

The place that the brigta escapes to is one that is beautiful, a place where the scenery can't be seen in the city. This is a place where they can collect themselves and feel more human after people, and society as a whole, have been worn and torn down by the plague.

The Stories

The stories in The Decameron usually revolve around themes or topics such as love, fate, and resourcefulness.

Safe Haven

The small pastoral area is only a few miles outside the city Florence, and it is a space in which the brigata members have a bridge between their real world and a world that they want to make for themselves.

UCI

UCI can also be a place that is similar to the small place that the brigata members are staying at. It's a place that is somewhat secluded from the rest of the city, but it still has traces of humanity. We have own little world, but there's influences from the outside city.

The Classrooms

The classes at UCI allow students to talk about what is going on in the world without much restriction. People are able to say what they think in an engaging environment. We can have discussions- kind of like the storytelling in The Decameron.

The Park

Aldrich Park is a place with a lot of trees- there's a lot of shade, wind, sun, and birds singing. It's similar to the garden where the brigata members gather and tell stories. It is a place where I go to relax and take in the fresh air- I'm able to sit comfortably, hang out with my friend, and talk.

Both the place of The Decameron and UCI function as a liminal space- they are not completely cut off from society. The servants are still able to go back to the city and get the necessary items in The Decameron, and there's UTC across the street at UCI; but, each is it's own world in a sense. Both places are a place of transitionary periods. The brigata in The Decameron leave to their place and live their as a sort get away from their city filled with the plague- a break from all the death, a place to collect themselves before they have to go back. UCI acts as a place where the students can comfortably prepare themselves and go through the phases of adulthood- living by one's self, being more independent, preparing and getting a job.

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