Runner-up of the First Annual Symphonos Senior Essay Contest

This year, Pacifica inaugurated the σύμφωνος Essay, the capstone essay of our Senior English Literature program.

The Greek word σύμφωνος (symphonos) describes sounds or voices that agree—sounds brought into harmony. It is formed from the prefix σύν (syn-), meaning “together,” and φωνή (phonē), meaning “voice” or “sound.”

Great literature sounds together. Across vastly different cultures, languages, and historical moments, human voices explore the same enduring dimensions of the human condition: the relationship between language and artistic craft; the mysterious connection between the inner workings of the heart and our embodied, social lives; and the place of the everyday within the eternal.

With this vision in mind, the final essay asks each senior to bring three texts from their Pacifica education into conversation within a single, harmonious essay centered on one word. Each student selects that word—which becomes the essay’s title—as well as the three texts through which it will be explored. 

This year, the Senior English teacher selected a shortlist of four outstanding essays. The essays were then anonymized and submitted to the full English Department for consideration.

We are pleased to announce Sadie Bahnsen as the runner-up of the inaugural σύμφωνος Essay for the 2025–2026 school year. Her winning essay, “Incurvatas,” brings The Great Gatsby, The Odyssey, and Dante's Inferno into conversation.

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Incurvatas

 Our nature, by the corruption of the first sin being so deeply curved in on itself (incurvatus in se) that it not only bends the best gifts of God towards itself and enjoys them, but it also fails to realize that it so wickedly, curvedly, and viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake.

—Martin Luther, Lectures on Romans 

Homo incurvatus in se, a latin phrase coined by St. Augustine, famously used in Martin Luther’s Lectures on Romans in the 16th century, describes the condition of “turning inward on oneself,” where the corrupt desires of the soul cause distorted self-perception and a life oriented apart from God. Being curved inward leads to paralyzing loneliness, which is explored in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Homer’s Odyssey, and Dante’s Inferno. These books reveal the consequences of turning inward when characters place their desire for kleos, false identity, orpower over relationships, with anything beyond themselves. Odysseus’ distorted longing for kleos causes him to lose his men, leading to delayed isolation from his home and wife. Odysseus is able to escape Poseidon's curse by enduring suffering and being turned outward when he finally faces the falsehood of his self-perception. This allows him to become reoriented toward what he truly loves: Ithaca and his wife Penelope. On the contrary, Gatsby is never able to escape his curved condition because he fails to let go of this distorted vision of himself which he projects onto Daisy. His soul is utterly absorbed in the false identity he has built in the West Egg, and his inescapable loneliness and exploitation of Nick is revealed in his tragic ending. Dante’s journey through the Inferno shows the danger of being curved inward, as sinners in each circle of hell become increasingly lonely, distorted, and consumed by their own corrupt desires. The lowest circle of hell reveals Satan as the ultimate example of loneliness, because he fails to orient his soul with worship toward the one true God. When placed alongside each other, these three books reveal that it is possible to escape the condition of being turned inward on oneself, but it requires recognition of reality and alignment with the redemptive truth of God. Encountering the world outside of oneself is the only way to escape loneliness and become excurvatus ad Deum, turned outward and able to love God and others, the way humanity is created to be.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby presents Gatsby as the ultimate representation of a man who is incurvatus in se, fully consumed by the illusion of himself which makes him unable to recognize the truth and escape his loneliness. Jay Gatsby, once called James Gatz, leaves his home in South Dakota in hopes of escaping his true identity and living out his all encompassing dream. Gatsby is curved inward because he lives in disillusionment, throwing lavish parties full of strangers for the pursuit of fulfilling the vision of himself that consumes him: a successful easterner worthy of worship from those around him. One evening following one of Gatsby’s extravagant parties, Nick writes, “A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell. (60).” The emptiness in Gatsby’s home and this image of his complete isolation reveals that he does not host these parties in order to cultivate true community, but rather to maintain a distorted self-perception that he thinks will fulfill him. This exposes his vicious and curved nature, as he does everything primarily for his own gain. Gatsby’s loneliness persists throughout the book as he pursues only what serves his own interest. At the end of the novel, Nick realizes the danger of turning inward on oneself, as he is the only person Gatsby ever maintains relations with to the end. Nick writes “I wanted to get somebody for him. I wanted to go into the room where he lay and reassure him: ‘I’ll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don’t worry. (9.172).” At the end of his life, Nick is the only person who “found [him]self on Gatsby’s side, and alone. (9.172).” Throughout the novel, Nick attempts to help Gatsby escape his inward distortion by encouraging him to detach from his past with Daisy. However, Nick’s love for Gatsby is not reciprocated because Gatsby is entirely consumed by his own distorted longing to “repeat the past.” Because he is turned inward on himself, Gatsby uses Nick purely as a means to reunite with Daisy, just as one who is curved inward "viciously seeks all things, even God, for his own sake.” This suggests that it is impossible for someone who is curved inward to escape loneliness without recognizing the deceitfulness of their selfish desires.

Odysseus must endure suffering and face his loneliness in order to escape the condition of being curved inward after his distorted longing for kleos causes him to lose all his men. Early in his journey, Odysseus’ pride causes him to reveal his name to the Cyclops and invoke Poseidon's wrath. After initially deceiving the Cyclops by claiming his name is “Noman,” he successfully sails away shouting, “Cyclops! If any mortal asks how your eye was mutilated and made blind, say that Odysseus, the city-slacker, Laertes’ son, who lives in Ithaca, destroyed your sight. (256).” Odysseus' desire for glory after blinding Polyphemus shows that he is turned inward on himself because he disregards the safety of his men who have accompanied him up to this point. After exposing his true identity, Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus saying, “Grant that Odysseus, the city slacker, will never go back home. Or if it is fated that he should see his family, then let him get there late and with no honor, in pain and lacking ships, and having caused the death of all his men, and let him find more trouble in his own house. (9.257).” Poseidon grants his son's prayer, causing Odysseus to experience a treacherous ten year journey home, where all his men die and he is trapped on Calypso’s island alone. When he finally does reach Ithaca, he must disguise himself as a humble beggar and kill the suitors in order to become reconciled with Penelope. Odysseus is forced to face the consequences of being curved inward on himself, but recognition of his distorted longing for glory allows him to return to Ithaca with greater control over his pride, so he can be reunited with his wife. Odysseus' journey reveals that loneliness is the natural consequence of being curved inward, but in this suffering state Odysseus reorients his desires toward people and things outside of himself. Therefore, in order to escape this condition of being curved inward, one must abandon any pursuit of self-glorification and face their internal loneliness with humility.

Odysseus and Gatsby face parallel struggles: they each desire to glorify themselves and seek all things and people for their own selfish pursuits. Gatsby never receives the glory he desires, because “no amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart. (5.101).” Gatsby’s grasp on the things that have been stored up in his heart, a longing to be worshiped and fulfill his distorted dream, makes it impossible for him to turn outward towards a true relationship with Daisy, or even Nick. He uses these two people for his own gain, dying dishonorably and isolated. In the same way, Odysseus uses his men to glorify himself, sacrificing their safety to be recognized for his name, which inflicts Poseidon's curse on him. In his loneliness, Odysseus is reoriented toward the desire to return home and be reconciled with his wife, despite the allure of Calypso’s immortality and beauty. He says, “I know my modest wife Penelope could never match your beauty. She is human; you are deathless, ageless. But even so, I want to go back home, and everyday I hope that day will come. (5.218-220).” This shows that in the face of suffering, Odysseus is no longer motivated by his own glory and recognition, but rather his love for Penelope and Ithaca. Odysseus' isolation forces him to recognize that he cannot achieve fulfillment within himself, whereas Gatsby continues to chase his unfulfilling internal desires to the end. Both characters have the opportunity for redemption, but only Odyseus experiences the truth which comes from perceiving the world outside of himself.

Whereas Odysseus and Gatsby have the opportunity for reconciliation with God, at the centre of Dante’s hell sits Satan, the ultimate example of the unmitigated loneliness that comes from being curved inward on oneself. As Dante travels down the circles of hell, each representing a distinct sin or distorted desire, he gains insight into the increasing confinement and isolation of these souls, who spend their lives rejecting all relationships outside of themselves. Ultimate isolation is represented by Satan, “The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous/From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice,” in the lowest circle of hell, Cocytus. Satan is trapped in ice, a depiction of the consequence of being permanently curved inwards. He achieves his desire to rule this empire at the expense of his own freedom in hell. Satan's soul is incapable of love or redemption, because he willfully rejects God and all relationships outside of himself. Dante says that “Were he as fair once, as he now is foul,/And lifted up his brow against his Maker,/Well may proceed from him all tribulation (Canto 34),” meaning that all his suffering is deserved because of his rebellion against God. The magnitude of Satan’s beauty and perfection when he dwells in heaven with God is equal to the magnitude of his ugliness in Cocytus. Satan’s inward turn on himself occurs as he pursues his desire for power over worship toward his Creator. Seeing Satan’s pure ugliness in hell, Dante now understands why Satan deserves to suffer in miserable isolation. Though Satan is the ultimate representation of the loneliness that Gatsby and Odysseus experience when they turn inward on themselves, both of these men have the opportunity to be redeemed. Their struggles are universal, but they can escape them the same way Dante and Virgil evade the innermost circle of hell. In order to flee from the condition of being curved inward on themselves, they must find ‘that hidden road/Now entered, to return to the bright world. (Canto 34).” To be excurvatus ad Deum, one must orient themselves toward the “bright world” for the purpose of reconciliation with God and others. The souls that Dante encounters in hell have resisted reconciliation with their Creator, thus allowing their distorted desires to turn them inwards, which leads to further loneliness and suffering. Each volume in The Divine Comedy ends with Dante gazing upon the stars, which reveals that the telos of the soul is to behold the creator and be reconciled to him. Therefore, the ultimate purpose for men like Odysseus and Gatsby is to find light and beauty outside the distortion of their own perception of the world. Satan's curved heart is unredeemable because he permanently refuses to love anything outside of himself.

Though being curved inward is a universal condition, Augustine argues that God’s grace and love is the means by which any soul becomes turned outward. Man is created with a natural desire for God, but the existence of sin in the human heart forces people to act out of their own selfish pursuits. Luther's argument in his Lectures on Romans resembles Romans 1:21-25, which says, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened,” and, “they worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator.” Being curved inward means idolizing sinful desires above God and using Him as a means to achieve such desires. When placed symphoniously with one another, Gatsby, Odysseus, and Satan serve as a warning against the danger of turning inward on oneself, while Gatsby and Odysseus reveal the hope that only God’s grace can unbend the human heart.