Characters in Angels & Demons

This purpose of this blog is to give a brief overview of all main characters.The main characters are:

• Robert Langdon: The protagonist is a professor of symbology at Harvard University. He is described as always wearing chino pants, a turtleneck sweater and a tweed coat. He was first flown to CERN to investigate Leonardo Vetra's murder; this is where he meets Vittoria and they both travel to Italy to save the Vatican. Lastly, upon further research, Robert's last name is a tribute to John Langdon who created all the ambigrams for Angels and Demons.
• Leonardo Vetra:  A scientist at CERN and an ex priest. He steadily worked on bringing together science and religion (people of both backgrounds despise each other). He was working on the antimatter, when the Hassassin  tortured, branded and killed him.
• Vittoria Vetra: Adopted daughter of Leonardo and a scientist at CERN. She helped to create antimatter with Leonardo, utilizing her background in biology and physics. 
• Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca: The "Camerlengo", papal chamberlain or assistant during the election for the next Pope. Upon reading, one learns the Camerlengo is the killer of the pope who turns out to be his biological father. He also created the Illuminati ruse, calling himself "Janus" to the Hassassin. Janus was code for the two-faced Roman god for beginning and end. 
• Commander Olivetti: The commandant of the Swiss Guard, who at first opposes Robert because he is skeptic about antimatter, Illuminati etc. After talking with the Hassassin by phone, he gains confidence that there is a threat and begins leading the team of guards to find the antimatter. He gets killed by the Hassassin in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. 
• Hassassin: A hired killer by the Carmlengo (Janus) who has no problem murdering or killing people. His justification is that his deeds are for the better for the church. Throughout the story, he murders Leonardo Vetra, the Preferiti (4 most likely cardinals to become pope) and Commander Olivetti. He dies from falling to his death and breaking his back on a pile of cannonballs.
• Maximilian Kohler: The director of CERN who has paralysis. He has a state of the art wheelchair with a built-in computer, telephone, video camera, and a gun. He contacts Langdon to help him find the killer Leonardo Vetra. He blames the Church for his paralysis, because his very religious parents refused to let him receive medicine.

 All information has came from the book Angels & Demons and a summary from wikipedia.com. Here is a link for the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_%26_Demons#Characters

Post Modernism in Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons was written in 2003, which places it in the center of the postmodernism time period. Some major examples found throughout my novel are:

1. Point of View:  Postmodernism emphasizes a multiplicity of voices, and in Angels & Demons this is clearly visible. Brown shifts between chapters from the protagonist Robert and his mission to find the antimatter and save the Vatican. Then next chapter, has the antagonist Silas setting up the public murders of the cardinals or helping the Illuminati. With Brown doing this, it helped set up more suspense because one knows Roberts full story of what is happening but one only sees bits and pieces of what Silas is doing. It helps give an idea of what will happen next, but then Brown throws a twist in instead which completely shocks the reader.
2. Technology: Technology is everywhere in Angels & Demons, from the opening pages when the next generation x-33 takes Robert from New York City to Switzerland in an hour. Also the antimatter, new technology, was placed under the Vatican and used as a bomb. Even the Vatican, a seemingly old place, is filled with state of the art security systems and bomb defusing equipment.
3. Values: Postmodernism could be said to embody the philosophy "think globally, act locally." This trait can be seen in Maxim Kohler, director of CERN and Commander Olvetti. Both want to keep the antimatter a secret when they find it has be stolen and is being used as a terrorist weapon. Both are thinking locally as to what will be best for the reputation of CERN or the Vatican. Not for the people surrounding the Vatican and would have been decimated if the antimatter wasn't properly disposed of.

MLA Citation: Harper, Sue, Douglas Hilker, and Peter J. Smith. "Pg 453-456." Elements of English 12. Toronto: Harcourt Canada, 2002. Print.

*Note all quotes are taken directly from Pg 453-456 of Elements of English 12 textbook.