The Scarlet Letter 20

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Fifteen

Entry Twenty


In chapter fifteen, Hster realizes she hates Chillingworth wholeheartly although she knows hatred is a sin (if you associate it with wrath, it even is a mortal sin). But she rather risks going to hell than feeling anything positive for her husband.

“Whether or not it’s a sin,” said Hester bitterly, as she stared after him, “I hate the man!”

Furthermore, she comes to the conclusion that he is doing worse to her than she did to him. Chillingworth's slow killing of her secret love tortures her more than she thinks her betrayal hurt him.
This is the price for the marriage between Chillingworth and Hester without love. If he hadn't persuaded her to marry him, he wouldn't have ended up as such a broken man cought in cravings for revenge.

She wouldn't have admitted the fact she hates him to herself if she hadn't stood there watching her old husband. But while she is doing that his dark light is shining on her, bringing forth her soul's black side. Only because of this Hester Prynne is able to be honest to herself.

The Scarlet Letter 19

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Fourteen

Entry Nineteen


Hester Prynne visits Roger Chillingworth to tell him she is going to reveal Dimmesdale the truth about the doctor's identity.
But why is she doing that?! In my opinion it would have been wiser just to tell it to Arthur. Now that Chillingworth knows what is going to happen, he can make preparations.
Furthermore, I think he already knows that Hester and Dimmesdale are going to be together again.
Now that he already foresees that Hester, Arthur and Pearl are going to get over their misery, he feels that he has to kill one of them because he doesn't want them to be happy together.
If Hester hadn't told him, he might not have sensed this so early, and the family could have fled without being stopped.

The Scarlet Letter 18

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Fourteen

Entry Eighteen


Roger Chillingworth's obsession grows more and more. Mentally torturing Dimmesdale and eventually satisfying his desire for revenge, has now become his aim in life.
When Hester meets him to talk about "yonder miserable man", he answers in an eagerly and curious way because he loves talking about Dimmesdale.
This phenomenon is exactly like love. When you are in love with someone, you talk about this person all the time and you want to know everything he or she is doing. Chillingworth shows the same behavior, only that his emotions have a negative background.
Hester also realizes that. She sees how much he changed from the man she once married to a person obsessed by vengeance.
He transformed from an "intellectual and studious man" (calm and quiet characteristics) to an "eager, searching (and) almost fierce" person.The smile he puts always on his face to conceal his change even strengthen his black appearance.

"Ever and anon, too, there came a glare of red light out of his eyes; as if the old man’s soul were on fire, and kept on smouldering duskily within his breast, until, by some casual puff of passion, it was blown into a momentary flame. This he repressed as speedily as possible, and strove to look as if nothing of the kind had happened."

In his soul, Satan's hellfire is burning because of his black emotions. From time to time, he can't help but reveal this dark aspect of his soul, but then quickly tries to hide it again deep inside of him.
So Chillingworth is still anxious to pretend being someone else, but he has already gotten so deep into his "research" that it is like an addiction to him; he can't stop thinking of revenge and retribution.

As soon as Hester Prynne realizes that, the scarlet letter begins to burn on her bosom.

"Here was another ruin, the responsibility of which came partly home to her."

Another person for whose pain she feels responsible for.
In my opinion, this responsibility will kill her from the inside. This is the reason why she also changed (adulterer to able) and got more harder. All the assumen guilt is too much to bear for her so she hides inside of her soul, not letting anyone see her brokenness.

The Scarlet Letter 17

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Fourteen

Entry Seventeen

“It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge,” calmly replied Hester. “Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport.”

“Nay, then, wear it, if it suit you better,” rejoined (Chillingworth). “A woman must needs follow her own fancy, touching the adornment of her person. The letter is gayly embroidered, and shows right bravely on your bosom!”

These words are the beginning of a conversation between Hester and her husband. He just told her he heard the magistrates talking about taking off the "A" because of Hester's character "improvement." Then she answeres with the sentences named above. She is not of the opinion she deserves being free from the "A" (free from shame, being an outsider, being different from the rest), if she was ready for that then the "A" would have removed itself - She believes that it is a symbol for vengeance and as soon as she has suffered enough under it, it would simply remove on its own.
This shows she does not think to have borne enough yet and also doesn't allow herself to be free from mental pain because of course, she could easily remove it by herself. But instead, she waits until it feels right for her to be set free.

Chillingworth replies in the same tone as he already started the conversation - over-confident, arrogant and all-powerful about the world since he can read other people's minds. He pretends as if the "A" is a fashion statement which Hester uses to upgrade her outfit - Of course he knows it's not. He is making fun of her situation.

More and more, Chillingworth's real character becomes revealed by Hawthorne. Although he once (sort of )loved Hester, he now does not care at all about her. I can definitely understand his reactions because she cheated on him but note: He is the persons creating the real sins of the book (he made Hester marry him and also made her "sign" the contract about his identity).

The Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War

Movie Questions


1) What rebel leaders does Paul Revere ride at midnight to warn?
With his midnight ride, Paul Revere warned John Hancock and Samuel Adams because the British were on their way from Boston to Lexington to arrest them.

2) In detail, describe how the battle of Concord looked.
It was the first battle in the Revolutionary War and marked the beginning of the fights between Great Britain and the American colonies.
The British planned to take away the American militia’s supplies but by fluke, the army was already informed about the invaders so they were able to make preparations.
During the battle on the bridge of Concord, the militia killed most of the King troops.
The armies had to march a lot in this battle.

3) Why was the Revolutionary War the most important event in U.S. History?
It created the self-government in the US and made it what it is now (gave America a culture). Furthermore, it is a great story (a drama).

4) How many cities over 10,000 where there in America at the time of the Revolution?
Four cities (e.g. Boston, New York, Philadelphia)

5) Describe the country before the Revolutionary War? Why might not we, in the 21st century, recognize it?
The colonists saw themselves as the freest people in the world; the continent consisted nearly only of trees and fields; the population was smaller than today.
We probably wouldn’t recognize it today because we are used to high-rise buildings and a huge amount of people living in America’s cities.

6) Why was James Otis important?
James Otis was the organizer of the Stamp Act Congress. He was the “mastermind” of America (inspired the founders of America with his writing).

7) What was Samuel Adams known for?
Samuel Adams was one of the Sons Of Liberty and he wanted to make to the top of the politics.

8) Describe the Patriotic Leaders.
They were cunning persons and always looked for their own advantage in things.

9) What percent of the population, according to John Adams, wanted liberty?
One third of the American population wanted liberty, according to Adams.

10) Discuss how the events of the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party lead to the Revolutionary War.
The most important factors that led to the Revolutionary war were the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party (also the Stamp Act).
The Boston Massacre happened in 1770, when five colonists were killed because of British troops.
The Boston Tea Party happened because the colonists were angry about the British putting tax on imported tea. Some citizens protested against it and refused to unload the tea in Boston. In the night, some Americans emptied the tea in the Boston harbor. After that, the British closed the Boston port.
All these acts provoked the Americans so much that it led to the Revolutionary War.

Zinn Chapter Five

Howard Zinn

Chapter Five

Summary

Chapter Five of Zinn's "A People's History Of The United States" deals with the time before, during and after the Revolutionary War.
The book starts with the problem that the Americans had a hard time forming an army. It was only white men allowed to enter the militia; friendly Indians, free Negroes, white servants and free white men without home were excluded.
But the Americans realized soon that it was too difficult to fill an entire army only with Americans, so they made exceptions.
The poor people saw their chance in these exceptions to become respected in the society and to rise in rank. But it usually didn't work out (they often were deeply in debt after they returned).
Furthermore, during the war, the conflict between poor and rich men arose again. 
Zinn also talks about the new constitutions that were an outcome of the war; they were not much different from the old ones. Plus, they were made only by the white men (they were pretty much only for whites).

The Scarlet Letter 16

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Fourteen

Entry Sixteen


In the beginning of chapter fourteen, Hester comes to talk to Roger Chillingworth. He introduces her with the words

 “Aha! And is it Mistress Hester that has a word for old Roger Chillingworth?”

In my opinion, there is a special tone in his voice. He says it in a sarcastic, nearly taunting voice that emphasizes he does not believe in the new view about Hester. He already expected that she would come sooner or later to ask him for help.
So he seems to be the only one in town who can see through the shield she put around herself and her feelings. Sooner in the book, he was already described as a man with the skill to read minds.
Except for him, everyone is blinded by her change and thinks it happend thanks to the "A" (it finally made an impact).

The Scarlet Letter 15

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Thirteen

Entry Fifteen


The reason why the people almost admire Hester is that she is living in such a purity through her sinful life.
She worked hard and harder but never expected something from other people.
She never fought against the destiny the Puritans imposed her. All she wanted was having enough to survive with Pearl, her now 7 years old daughter.
So the meaning of the letter changes from "Adulterer" to "Able."

In m opinion, Hester is always other-directed or rather directed by the Puritan's. It almost seems like she should be thankful that the Boston's society altered the A's meaning.
Hester never gets to be the woman she wants to be and instead is always identified by a letter a foreign society marked her with. She gave herself up for a life directed by the A and has to subordinate her own will for the will of the Puritan society.
And now that her identity is "able" insted of "adultery" is again caused by the Puritans. Noone asked her if this is also her view of herself.
Maybe she doesn't agree? But even if she does, she is not able to rebel against the public's opinion of her because she feels responsible for Pearl and Dimmesdale's situation.

The Scarlet Letter 14

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Thirteen

Entry Fourteen

In the thirteenth chapter, Hester's place in the society changes. People start to look at her differently, still with the knowledge that she sinned, but they let her enter their world a little more. Instead of identifying the "A" with "Adultery" it suddenly means "Able". People respect the strength she shows to get out of her misery by working a lot with her needle.

Furthermore, Hester realizes how much Dimmesdale suffers under the big secret. It's not his mind that's affected but his body that gets weaker and weaker.

"His moral force was abased into more than childish weakness. It grovelled helpless on the ground, even while his intellectual faculties     retained their pristine strength, or had perhaps acquired a morbid energy, which disease only could have given them."

I think you can interpret it as a sort of self inflected injury.
Both Hester and Dimmesdale have a guilty conscience because Hester thinks she should help Arthur by revealing Chillingworth's real identity and Dimmesdale thinks he should step out of the shadow to be indicted too.

So Hester believes she has to help him because

"Hester saw—or seemed to see—that there lay a responsibility upon her, in reference to the clergyman, which she owed to no other, nor to the whole world besides."

The War That Made America - History Movie Part III

The French and Indian War 

Turning The Tide

Questions Part III


1) How did the French and Indian War turn into a World Conflict? How did this affect North America?
In 1758, the French and Indian war became a global conflict because all over the world there were people fighting (over Europe in Germany, West Africa fought for control over the slave trade, India was the battlefield for the fight over a piece of Asia).

2) How do the British treat Washington when he asks for a Royal Commission? Why do they turn him down?
Washington asks for a Royal Commission because he needs money and men to fight the French but he wasn’t successful enough in his battles to receive more money by Britain. So they did not accept his commission and sent his back again.

3) How do Pitt's policies change the colonists’ attitudes toward the war?
The colonists felt to be treated as inferiors but the British and they were dissatisfied with their situation.
Granting the colonists want they wanted, Pitt changed the colonists’ mood over night. He knows that the colonists are loyal members of the British Empire, and that they were willing to fight in battles against the French.

4) Describe the Battle of Ticonderoga.
The winner of the Battle of Ticonderoga was France. They were able to kill or wound nearly 2000 British people because Montcalm let his people build a good defense. 
After that, he realizes that he needs a lot more men and supply from France to defeat the British completely. 

5) What was the western supply post for the French? How did it fall?
A fort was the supply post for the French soldiers. It fell because of an attack by the British that had a strong bombing. The fort surrenders within few hours. This was a very bad day for the French.

6) Why is the St. Lawrence River important?
The river allowed troops to cross the country very easily. Also, goods could be transported by it. 

7) What are the reasons the natives leave the French side?
The natives joined the French´s fights because it was their surviving strategy. But then, the Indians had a lot of problems to deal with: More and more men were dying in battles and they had to be replaced, a great hunger broke out and smallpox went about.

8) Why do the Virginians (under Washington) and the Pennsylvanians clash over Forge's road? What does this say about the colonies?
The colonies did not cooperate with each other. The Pennsylvanians wanted to use a straighter road than the Virginians wanted to. 

9) Pittsburg is named after who?
It is named after the prime minister.
 
10) How do you feel about George Washington and his participation in the French and Indian War? Why?
I think George Washington was not really prepared for such a big war. Maybe he wasn't aware of the effects of his actions. 
He was not a good gain for the British.

The Scarlet Letter 13

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Six

Entry Thirteen

In the sixth chapter Pearl grew up and is focused by the author.

As you read along, you recognize that Pearl is different from normal children and even her mother, Hester Prynne, is confused by her daughter. She doesn't understand why the child she calls her own can be so strange.

To me it seems as if Hester is a bit afraid of her because Pearl is so unpredictable.

Later in the book, Pearl is described as a child like an elf and something supernatural living in her own fantasy.

I think that Pearl is just a reflection of Hester, and everything she does is like a mirror of Hester's soul.

So it is her "wild side" that wants to rebel against the prude Puritan society and the strict rules that make it impossible for her to live in peace with the man she loves.

A good example for this is when Puritan children laugh and jeer at Pearl and mother; Pearl turns around and throws stones at them. Hester couldn't act like that because she is the adult and has to behave properly even or especially in these situations, but Pearl in her childish way was able to do that.

Although it was a quite awkward situation for Hester, she agreed with her daughter and I bet she would have loved to throw stones at the entire society herself!



Although Pearl symbolizes something evil in the book I think Hawthorne likes her. In fact, I think he admires here a little bit because she is so free and innocent although she is the result of guilt, shame and hidden secrets. Pearl doesn't care about rules or laws, she just lives how she wants to.
And she is the only character in the book that is not "cattish." Everyone else has a darker side of his or her soul to hide to fit into the perfect Puritan community.

Words Of The Day

Acquiesce - V
I cannot acquiesce your laziness, my mom said.

Abstinence - N
At the moment I practice abstinence in watching TV because my host family doesn't have a TV.

Words Of The Day

Admonish - V
Tardies are for admonishing students.

Abstract - V,  N, Adj
I don't like math because it's too abstract for me.

History - The War That Made America - Unlikely Allies

The War That Made America
Unlikely Allies

1) Why do only the Mohawk agree to fight with General Johnson?
The Mohawk had a close relationship to General Johnson, and all the other tribes didn’t want to break their neutrality because it was a “white man’s war”

2) What are the results of the Battle of Lake George?
Johnson won the battle, but 30 warriors died, his men got tired and the Mohawk returned home to mourn their dead. The French lost 150 colonials.

3) For what purposes did the Native Americans take captive? (List three)
They took captives
-    to frighten settlers into leaving
-    because the need for captives grew (they needed them as replacement for their own dead men that died in battles)
-    ransom

4) Why is the story of Mary Jemison presented? What purpose does it serve?
Her story is presented to show an example what could happen to captives taken by the Native Americans.

5) Do you agree with Washington's disciplinary practices on deserters? Why or why not?
Washington’s method was to produce fear in his soldiers. Some men were killed because they didn’t want fight for him.
I don’t agree with this method because it is a very cruel way to make people obey to what you say, but I think that this was just a normal and very common way of treating soldiers in that time.

6) Who is Montcalm and why doesn't he like the Natives?
Montcalm was the new general of France. Although he didn’t like the Natives he didn’t hesitate to use them. The reason for his dislike was that their way of living and their culture was just too different from his own French way of life. He thought they were not civilized enough.

7) What is the Native Americans code of honor? How does this differ from the Europeans' Code of War?
The Native’s way of fighting was taking captives and everything that seemed worth being taken with them.
The European’s saw this as savagery because they fought more “civilized.”

8) Discuss the culture clash that happens at Fort William Henry.
There was some inharmoniousness between the Natives and Europeans. The people from Europe didn’t like the American’s way of fighting (plundering, taking captives…) so they tried to stop this. This made the Natives angry.
To top it all off, the French had a dinner with the British without inviting the Native Americans.

Words Of The Day

Aesthetic - Adj or N
Aesthetic surgery is good for people that don't feel comfortable with their look. But some people carry it to excess!

Aggrandizement - N
The aggrandizement of the hill was perfect so that children could use it in winter for going sledding.

Words Of The Day

Affinity - Noun
I have an affinity for candy. Actually to food in general;)

Aberration - Noun
I was in aberration when I turned off my alarm clock this morning because I dreamt a weird dream.

History: The French and Indian War - Answers to Questions

The French And Indian War

1) Why is George Washington partially responsible for the start of the French and Indian War?

George Washington became ally with the natives and made them fight together with Great Britain against France. He was named to be the leader of the first attack against the French, so he was responsible for all the wounded people.

2) Who was Half-King?

Half King was a leader of a tribe living in the Ohio valley (the natives weren’t very powerful). He allied with the British and fought with them side to side in the war because he didn’t any other, better options

3) Why did Half-King murder/massacre the French?

The French had taken over the native’s forks, so Half King took active revenge on the foreigners. It was a message to France to back off. Also, he knew that Washington would have been blamed so he didn’t have to fear any revenge for this from the French people.

4) Who was in the right? The French, The English or The Native Americans?

I don’t think that anyone was right, because a war is something cruel and nothing about it is right. The French, the English and the Native Americans had (good or bad) reasons for participating in it, and all were responsible for the results of it. But if I had to choose, I would say the Natives.

Words Of The Day

Advocate - Noun, verb
Every student would advocate for less homework.

Acclaim - Noun, verb
The acclaim for P!NK at her Germany concert was huge!

The Scarlet Letter 12

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Five

Entry Twelve

In the fifth chapter, Hester is released from prison and returns home. Her home is a cottage standing at the outskirts of Boston.

To have something to survive, she sews clothes, and soon she provides the entire town with her beautiful craft. She produces everything except for wedding stuff. A woman like her, sinful to the core because of adultery is not allowed to encounter love and marriage in the Purian society. The inhabitants show an atonishing interest in her clothes, either because the feel sorry for this beautiful castoff, or they are fascinated in some way by the morbid vibrancy of the garments.

Anyway, she is making a successful business out of her talent, so she doesn’t have to worry about pulling through.

Hester could have a reasonably normal life, if she wouldn’t punish herself again and again.

She made the prettiest clothest for the town’s people, but Her daughter instead was dressed up very fancy.

“her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament,—the scarlet letter,—which it was her doom to wear.”

In my opinion she could point out with this, that it is HER sin, and not the sin of her daughter. She creates a distance between Pearl and her own guilt by differing their looks.

Moreover, she punishes herself by spending all her free time in charity work. She does this to avoid any kind of enjoyment in her life.

But the inhabitants punish her too. They show whenever it is possible their resentment:

“Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished, and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs and senses than the rest of human kind.”

So Hester has a lonely life and the only contact person she has is her daughter.

In the next post I will explain, why that fact doesn’t make her less lonely.



The Scarlet Letter 11

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Five

Entry Eleven

“It may seem marvellous, that this woman should still call that place her home, where, and where only, she must needs be the type of shame.” 

Chapter Five raises the question, why Hester does not leave to find her joy somewhere else. The laws of the Puritan settlement don’t bind her to Boston, so she could move wherever she would want to.

But she refuses to go. Hawthorne gives us several reasons for that:
To begin with, “Her sin, her ignominy, were the roots which she had struck into the soil.”

Again, this is a hint to nature.

By cheating on his husband in Boston, she bound herself to this place. It is like an invisible, magic tie that pulls her to the origin of her shame. She could have moved to England, her birth place “where happy infancy and stainless maidenhood seemed yet to be in her mother’s keeping”, but “the chain that bound her here was on iron links, and galling to her inmost soul, but never could be broken.” It might have been a good decision to go away merely for Pearl’s sake. She could have been growing up without anyone having prejudices against her and her mother.

The second reason, the book gives us, is that she feels connected to the man she had sinned with, and that her love to him makes her stay and bear all the shame lying on her in this town.

But Hester does not admit this secret to herself and “grew pale whenever it struggled out of her heart, like a serpent from its hole.”

This is the second time, that a snake is mentioned by Hawthorne. After Roger Chillingworth recognizes her at the market place, his facial features are describe as a snake that is gliding swiftly over his face. And now Hawthorne characterizes the rising reminder of her sinful night as a snake. Furthermore, there is another line that hints to Chillingworth:

“Over and over again, the tempter of souls (metaphor for devil) had thrust this idea upon Hester’s contemplation, and laughed at the passionate and desperate joy with which she seized, and then strove to cast it from her.”

There is one more answer Hawthorne gives us for the question why she stays in Boston. This is the one she forces herself to believe:

So she hopes for mercy from heaven because she endures all the pain the Bostoner’s harming her. 

In my opinion, there is one more possibility as an answer. She has always been a strong woman and she never let someone see her insecurities, so she won’t do now.

Hester won’t give in and let the inhabitants win over her destiny because that would be beneath her.

“Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom.”

So Hester’s husband is both the snake and the devil. It seems as if he is the ruler of her mind and possesses every thought she makes. He wants her to remember her infamy and that she disgraced him.