My Application Essay

The Prompt:
You are hosting a brunch for historical, literary, or other disreputable persons (think: Mad Hatter's Tea Party). What is your menu? Who are your guests? In answering this question, imagine a scenario: We want some exposition, serious or silly, we would accept some dialogue, and we are willing to trust you to respond in such a way that your brain power, your imagination, your sense of taste, and your capacity to tell a story reveal something true about you.

The Essay:

In preparation for a brunch honoring the head members of Pandemonium featured in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, I would plan to invite, in addition to those of the Pandemonium, Death, Sin, God, the archangel Michael, Zeus, Hera, Hades, and Demeter. The lives of the demons of Pandemonium have been forlorn since they were cast out of heaven for a fallacious rebellion against God who they saw as the wrong-doer. The particular demons I plan to invite, and I deem the head members of Pandemonium, are Satan, Mammon, Moloch, Beelzebub, and Belial. I feel that they are deserving of at least a nice meal honoring their valiant attempts for purifying the heavens. Satan is dubbed leader of Pandemonium, and symbolizes both wrath and vengeance. He holds an eternal grudge against God since he sees his exile as wrongful. Mammon is a demon of greed, and asked that they make use of their plight and look at it for the best; in opposition to this, Moloch desires all out warfare against heaven which caused their initial downfall. Beelzebub suggests the tainted of God’s newest creation, mankind, and Belial says that they should bide their time for a better time to strike. Satan agrees with Beelzebub, and tries to break apart mankind. Both Death and Sin would be invited for the purpose of trying to alleviate some tension between Satan, the head demon of Pandemonium, and them. In some sense, Sin is Satan’s daughter. She arose from Satan’s head akin to Athena arising from Zeus’s head. Differentiating from the classical myth, Sin was impregnated with Satan’s child without Satan even knowing Sin, and she gave birth to Death. Due to this complex situation, tension has built between the three characters, and Death developed an Oedipus complex. God is invited so to clear up any and all grudges held against him; this is to avoid any destructive ramifications from the actions of all the other characters. However Michael is invited to protect God if necessary, and to represent the cast of angels left in Heaven. The four Greek Pantheon gods are invited for the purpose of discussing issues of allowing Christianity to become a dominant faith in the society. Zeus is picked for this brunch in particular since he can be juxtaposed beside God in a sense, and can understand Satan’s plight in a sense. Hera is invited since she is Zeus’s wife and because she can be seen as one exemplifying moral conduct, even though she endless attempts vengeance against Aeneas. Hades is invited since he can be seen as a foil to Satan, and thus can understand his plight. He also inhabits Hell beside the rest of Pandemonium, though it is at a transition phase between the two at the time of Paradise Lost. Demeter is invited for the purpose of making sure the food is at its peak and works well for the gods. Also, in consideration, many aspects of Paradise Lost were based off actions from Greek and Roman mythology; a third reasoning arises from the fact that these gods were the predecessors of many of the aspects that the characters have.

So as to avoid any sort of embarrassment, I would ask Demeter to help me prepare the menu that would be served at the brunch. The first idea I would suggest to Demeter as to making for the brunch would be various small pastries with different flavors of icing and filling. This would include such things as cherry tarts with a frosting comprised of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. This would bring about a savory blend of tastes that would excite even the palettes of gods. Muffins are a dish which all peoples since their first creation have enjoyed and savored. They would make a great addition to the brunch and can be seen as a staple for brunches. To some people, the quality of the muffins produced by a bakery defines how good the bakery truly is. Because of this point, this would make a great discussion piece between the deities at the tables and may be able to bring the people closer together. The final delicacy that would be included at this event would be ambrosia since it is the bread of gods. This would have to be included as Demeter herself would be making the food for the crowd. In legend, it was held that this food would make the eater immortal and happy. This, as with many of the food choices, would bring together those attending the brunch. The baked goods would go along with a variety of fine teas and coffees so as to calm the guests and allow for an atmosphere filled with kindness towards each other. Heavier consideration would have to be used when choosing the wine for the brunch, as deities are always portrayed drinking wines at every meal. It is hard to condone drinking at such an early hour as brunch time, but pleasing the gods is a hard task on its own without taking in morality. Additionally, many of the guests do not consider the morals that humans hold as applicable to them. With so much work put into the meal, Demeter would then ensure that the brunch would be well publicized so that all the guests would be anxious for the day. Also, the meal would contain all the necessary pieces for a healthy breakfast as the entire supply of foodstuffs would be from Demeter’s own kitchen.

As another preparatory matter, I would rent a large field far away from any residential areas so as to protect innocent bystanders from harm’s way and to ward off any unwanted guests that would join the festivities and cause trouble such as Loki of Norse mythology. Loki is the god of trickery, and he causes a host of unwanted events to occur whenever he goes. If he were to appear that the brunch, all out chaos would ensue.

Tables would be set up in a large U-shaped fashion with gaps in between separate table since food would be placed on movable islands in the center of the formation. This would provide room to eat and retrieve food without causing large conflict between the guests. A seating chart would be pre-arranged so to minimize any problems between guests especially between Satan and God, Death and Satan, and Hades and Zeus. In addition, several particular people would be placed near each other so as to incite conversation and build bonds between Christian figures and the classical pagan gods. This would include putting Satan beside Hades to discuss the renovations to the underworld which Satan wants to introduce—expressly Pandemonium. Additionally, Zeus would sit beside God to discuss matters of ruling. Discussion between the guests and me would be held in a podium manner in which I would discuss topics and the guests would discuss amongst themselves their thoughts and possibly speak to the entire crowd on their opinions. These topics would include, but not be limited to: current economic status and plans to further business; the rising rate of divorces in America and in the last few decades around the world; and the separation of church and state including its values and repercussions. The discussion would then end with a nice game of miniature golf so as try to lighten the spite between the members of the guest list.