Huckleberry Finn
Discussion Questions
Additions:
#1
The widow is described as a woman with a good heart. She accomodates Huck and gives him enough to eat. When he hears that the story of Moses is already thousands of years old, he doesn't like it anymore because he isn't interested in dead people.
This shows he is a realistic by that lives in the here and now.
#3
Huck doesn't want to die because he wans't to experience adventures. Death is "too boring"
#4
Tom takes the hat of Jim and puts it on one of Jim's limbs. It is a boyish trick, not meant in a bad way.
#11
Huck does not understand that Tom is just joking. He literally thinks that Tom is expecting A-rabs and elephants.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn
Discussion Questions
#1
The irony about it is that usually, parents want their children to have a better life than they had, and to become wealthier and richer, more educated etc. Huck's father doesn't care about that.
#2
The society does not want to interfere with a family's rules. It is not like they don't want to have Huck a better life, they just don't want to break a family's traditions.
#3
With his father, he has an easy, free life. He doesn't have to go to school and to follow rules. It is a sort of freedom, which Huck really likes but is not actually good for you. Education (going to school) is hard but definitely good for you.
#4
He says: "Why does the government let a black person become something?!"
But: He neither has money nor a job nor is he living properly (he drinks a lot of alcohol). So why does he presume to have the right to live better than everyone else?
Discussion Questions
#1
The irony about it is that usually, parents want their children to have a better life than they had, and to become wealthier and richer, more educated etc. Huck's father doesn't care about that.
#2
The society does not want to interfere with a family's rules. It is not like they don't want to have Huck a better life, they just don't want to break a family's traditions.
#3
With his father, he has an easy, free life. He doesn't have to go to school and to follow rules. It is a sort of freedom, which Huck really likes but is not actually good for you. Education (going to school) is hard but definitely good for you.
#4
He says: "Why does the government let a black person become something?!"
But: He neither has money nor a job nor is he living properly (he drinks a lot of alcohol). So why does he presume to have the right to live better than everyone else?
Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn
Discussion Questions
#2
The spider and the owl are both examples of superstition in the book. They are connected with death.
#5
He was "ruined" (became cocky and stuck up) because he was a slave. And at that time, slaves were not supposed to attract attention.
#6
Tom Sawyer left 5 cents for the candles. Huck instead wouldn't have left the money. So is Tom a better person than Huck?
No, because the difference between them is that Huck wouldn't have taken the candles if he hadn't needed them. Tom on the other side does not actually need them. But because he knows he does something wrong there, he tries to pay for it. But it wasn't necessary to do something wrong.
Huck, in contrast, isn't able to think that far. He is not educated and clever enough.
#7
Tom: A clever boy, grown up in his brain, can act and think like an adult, relies on romantic literature to know what to do
Huck: Naive but a realist, innocent and childish
#8
Being called a highwayman sounds much more noble than being called a simple burglar. Stopping a carriage is much more complicated than just walking in someone's house.
#9
He understood it like: You pray for it - You get it. When he figures out he has to pray for others he doesn't understand why everyone prays then. Why doing something when you can't take advantage of it?
#10
Huck doesn't understand that Tom is actually playing a game with him. He doesn't get that it is all a big joke.
#12
He wants it rather to be in the Judge's hands than under his father's control.
Discussion Questions
#2
The spider and the owl are both examples of superstition in the book. They are connected with death.
#5
He was "ruined" (became cocky and stuck up) because he was a slave. And at that time, slaves were not supposed to attract attention.
#6
Tom Sawyer left 5 cents for the candles. Huck instead wouldn't have left the money. So is Tom a better person than Huck?
No, because the difference between them is that Huck wouldn't have taken the candles if he hadn't needed them. Tom on the other side does not actually need them. But because he knows he does something wrong there, he tries to pay for it. But it wasn't necessary to do something wrong.
Huck, in contrast, isn't able to think that far. He is not educated and clever enough.
#7
Tom: A clever boy, grown up in his brain, can act and think like an adult, relies on romantic literature to know what to do
Huck: Naive but a realist, innocent and childish
#8
Being called a highwayman sounds much more noble than being called a simple burglar. Stopping a carriage is much more complicated than just walking in someone's house.
#9
He understood it like: You pray for it - You get it. When he figures out he has to pray for others he doesn't understand why everyone prays then. Why doing something when you can't take advantage of it?
#10
Huck doesn't understand that Tom is actually playing a game with him. He doesn't get that it is all a big joke.
#12
He wants it rather to be in the Judge's hands than under his father's control.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Words Of The Day
Evanescent
It is driving me crazy that my German is evanescent. But at least my English is getting better :)
Veneration
Every culture practices a different kind of veneration. There are for example folks that venerate animals.
It is driving me crazy that my German is evanescent. But at least my English is getting better :)
Veneration
Every culture practices a different kind of veneration. There are for example folks that venerate animals.
Monday, November 08, 2010
Words Of The Day
Magnate
Angela Merkel is a magnate in Germany since she is our Federal Chancellor.
Malleable
Gold is malleable. Jewelers create beautiful jewelry from it.
Angela Merkel is a magnate in Germany since she is our Federal Chancellor.
Malleable
Gold is malleable. Jewelers create beautiful jewelry from it.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
The Scarlet Letter 55
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Twenty
Entry Fifty-Five
The heading of the chapter (The minister in a maze) lets the reader assume that Arthur Dimmesdale is no longer a pastor. He buried his belief in God in the darkness of the forest when he promised Hester to flee from Boston. After he returned to town, he meets an old man with who he has a short conversation. He abandoned God so radically that
Now that he turned away form God, he offered the devil (still Chillingworth) to enter his mind. Before this, Chillingworth was never able to take over his soul completely because he couldn't compete against Arthur's love to God, but now that there is an empty space (apparently his love to Hester is not strong enough) he made entering his mind very easy.
Hawthorne watches this development with shame ("...we blush to tell it..."). He can't believe that Dimmesdale was seduced to easily.
But fortunately, the minister realizes that there is something wrong with him. While he was coming to the conclusion that it must be the devil taking over him, Mistress Hibbins (maybe) walks by. In the previous chapter he saw Pearl as the old witch Hibbins. Is it possible that Pearl made him go crazy and evil to teach him a lesson? He shall be honest to the society, to Hester and Pearl and to himself. Supportive to this theory is that Mistress Hibbins wears big and impressive headdress, just like Pearl did in the forest: She decorated her hair with different flowers. On the other side, it is likely that Chillingworth is misleading him.
Chapter Twenty
Entry Fifty-Five
The heading of the chapter (The minister in a maze) lets the reader assume that Arthur Dimmesdale is no longer a pastor. He buried his belief in God in the darkness of the forest when he promised Hester to flee from Boston. After he returned to town, he meets an old man with who he has a short conversation. He abandoned God so radically that
"it was only by the most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphemous suggestions that rose into his mind, respecting the communion-supper."It is very sad to see that a man who used to define himself through his belief in God suddenly turns away from Him and even feels like he has to mock at Him. I don't understand why Dimmesdale still wants to sermonize at the election. He should do it because of his love to God, and not because he doesn't want to be seen as unreliable or undependable. He obviously does not know who he is and what he wants (he is in a maze of his own thoughts). When he meets another parishioner, a woman who used to turn to him to hear God's wise advice, he can't even recall any of the verses he studied for years in the bible. Another woman tried to talk to him this day. In this moment, evilness takes over his soul. He really thinks about abusing her feelings toward him to make her enter Satan's hell. Hawthorne says it is the devil leading him what Dimmesdale interprets as Hester's power coming out of him. Suddenly he discovers evil parts in his character.
Now that he turned away form God, he offered the devil (still Chillingworth) to enter his mind. Before this, Chillingworth was never able to take over his soul completely because he couldn't compete against Arthur's love to God, but now that there is an empty space (apparently his love to Hester is not strong enough) he made entering his mind very easy.
Hawthorne watches this development with shame ("...we blush to tell it..."). He can't believe that Dimmesdale was seduced to easily.
But fortunately, the minister realizes that there is something wrong with him. While he was coming to the conclusion that it must be the devil taking over him, Mistress Hibbins (maybe) walks by. In the previous chapter he saw Pearl as the old witch Hibbins. Is it possible that Pearl made him go crazy and evil to teach him a lesson? He shall be honest to the society, to Hester and Pearl and to himself. Supportive to this theory is that Mistress Hibbins wears big and impressive headdress, just like Pearl did in the forest: She decorated her hair with different flowers. On the other side, it is likely that Chillingworth is misleading him.
“(Mistress Hibbins:) The next time, I pray you to allow me only a fair warning, and I shall be proud to bear you company. Without taking overmuch upon myself, my good word will go far towards gaining any strange gentleman a fair reception from yonder potentate you wot of!”She speaks of the Black Man in the forest with the book with which he collects signatures written with one's own blood. So she is aware of the fact that he is watching the forest, always there and controling what happens there.
The Scarlet Letter 54
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Twenty
Entry Fifty-Four
Dimmesdale and Hester decide to escape four days from their encounter in the forest. He is glad that it is after the Election Sermon, he wants noone to be able to say that he left a public duty unperformed nor ill performed. Hawthorne speaks in this paragraph directly to the reader as the omniscient narrator.
When he returns back to town he feels that something changed in the town. He can't tell what it is since the buildings or streets didn't change but he feels it.
Again, Hawthorne intervenes in the book's action. He explains what exactly changed: It is not the town, nor is it its inhabitants, but the minister itself. Hester's energy was transferred to him.
Chapter Twenty
Entry Fifty-Four
Dimmesdale and Hester decide to escape four days from their encounter in the forest. He is glad that it is after the Election Sermon, he wants noone to be able to say that he left a public duty unperformed nor ill performed. Hawthorne speaks in this paragraph directly to the reader as the omniscient narrator.
"We have had, and may still have, worse things to tell of him; but none, we apprehend, so pitiably weak; no evidence, at once so slight and irrefragable, of a subtle disease, that had long since begun to eat into the real substance of his character. No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true."The pastor isn't able anymore to decide which of his faces is the true one: The one he puts on when he is in public, or when he is the broken man who is in love with Hester Prynne. The best for them would have been if they had fled immediately. But he wants to finish his job for the society, so he still feels responsibility for the people. He shouldn't. All they should care about is how they can escape Boston and - more important - Chillingworth!
When he returns back to town he feels that something changed in the town. He can't tell what it is since the buildings or streets didn't change but he feels it.
Again, Hawthorne intervenes in the book's action. He explains what exactly changed: It is not the town, nor is it its inhabitants, but the minister itself. Hester's energy was transferred to him.
The Scarlet Letter 53
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-Three
The next question she has is:
Honesty and truth is one of the most important elements for children. A childhood is not until then good, when it is based on truth. In this novel, Pearl symbolizes truth, as well as nature does. Both react immediately when something is wrong or sinful. They are guardians of right and wrong, always observant and ever-present.
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-Three
“Doth he love us?” said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence into her mother’s face. “Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?”This is the condition Pearl has if her mother wants her to accept Dimmesdale. Like so many times earlier, she behaves like an adult. She asks the right questions in the right moment and always hits the mark although I don't think she still needs to pose this question. She knows the answer, if she would not she wouldn't have reacted so strangely. She felt that honesty was missing. She only asks because she has to state the falsehood and to make the adults see what they are doing is hypocrisy.
The next question she has is:
"And will he always keep his hand over his heart?"Will he always reveal the secret? Will there be a time when is honest?
Honesty and truth is one of the most important elements for children. A childhood is not until then good, when it is based on truth. In this novel, Pearl symbolizes truth, as well as nature does. Both react immediately when something is wrong or sinful. They are guardians of right and wrong, always observant and ever-present.
The Scarlet Letter 52
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-Two
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-Two
“Dost thou know thy mother now, child?” asked she, reproachfully, but with a subdued tone. “Wilt thou come across the brook, and own thy mother, now that she has her shame upon her,—now that she is sad?”Hester is disappointed from her daughter just like every other mother in the world would be. When your child is comfortable when you feel sad there is something wrong. But Pearl doesn't know any better. She is used to her mother being in a dark mood so she associates it with normality. I don't think that Pearl wants her mother to feel ashamed intendedly. She is not a bad person. But radical changes usually scare children and they feel better in familiar situations. Now that Hester looks like she did before, Pearl acknowledges her again and walks to her.
"In a mood of tenderness that was not usual with her, she drew down her mother’s head, and kissed her brow and both her cheeks. But then—by a kind of necessity that always impelled this child to alloy whatever comfort she might chance to give with a throb of anguish—Pearl put up her mouth, and kissed the scarlet letter too!"Maybe Pearl realized, due to the lack of the "A" for a moment, that she loves the letter like she loves her mother because for her it is her mother. Hester scolds Pearl for kissing the A too but Pearl doesn't even responses to it.
The Scarlet Letter 51
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-One
Hester realizes that the only way to calm her daughter is to put back on the scarlet letter. She asks Pearl to pick it up from the other side of the stream to bring it to her, but Pearl answers:
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Fifty-One
Hester realizes that the only way to calm her daughter is to put back on the scarlet letter. She asks Pearl to pick it up from the other side of the stream to bring it to her, but Pearl answers:
“Come thou and take it up!”She doesn't react like a child in that moment. She lectures her mother that taking off the "A" is not the right way and therefore wants her to pick it up herself. Pearl wants Hester to vouch for her mistake. And it works: Hester comes to see that it wouldn't be good if she already took off the letter. She will wait until they fled from Boston. Like some pages earlier, it is mentioned that the forest can't hide the "A" but the big ocean between America and England "will swallow it up for ever" (just like the little stream in the forest). When Hester Prynne puts back the letter on her bosom and hides her hair again under the cap, the sunlight seems to disappear. The spell the "A" once had put on her has returned.
The Scarlet Letter 50
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Fifty
Hester and Dimmesdale realize that it's the "A" what is making Pearl act so hostile. Arthur, overwhelmed by her strong and unexpected reaction begs Hester to calm Pearl anyhow.
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Fifty
Hester and Dimmesdale realize that it's the "A" what is making Pearl act so hostile. Arthur, overwhelmed by her strong and unexpected reaction begs Hester to calm Pearl anyhow.
"Save it were the cankered wrath of an old witch, like Mistress Hibbins,” added he, attempting to smile. “I know nothing that I would not sooner encounter than this passion in a child. In Pearl’s young beauty, as in the wrinkled witch, it has a preternatural effect. Pacify her, if thou lovest me!”He associates Pearl with a wrinkled witch so he interprets her supernatural look not in an elfish-fairy way but as a creature that rules over black magic. She scared him by reacting so strangely because he never lived her, he basically doesn't know her. Her presence is nothing he is used to and therefore he doesn't know how to deal with it. Is that a solid fundament for a goof father-daughter relationship?
The Scarlet Letter 49
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Forty-Nine
(in addition to entry forty-eight)
Pearl is overwhelmed by how much the situation suddenly changed. She points at her mother's chest where the "A" used to be as a sign of disbelief. Her face darkens and she stomps her foot. When her mother starts to get impatient Pearl loses control and freaks out. She is twisting and turning, jumping and rolling her body in the weirdest postitions. Furthermore, she screams and yells in the strangest voices. It is her way (her childish and not-human-but-supernatural-way) to show her refusal. Nature seems to agree with her. Hawthorne describes it that
Nature in this book stands for freedom but also truth. Now that the forest agrees with Pearl it wants to warn the couple that there is something wrong here. Maybe it is meant in a good way (Pay attention to what will happen! You are not safe!) or maybe in a bad way (What you are doing here is wrong. It is against the truth)
Chapter Nineteen
Entry Forty-Nine
(in addition to entry forty-eight)
Pearl is overwhelmed by how much the situation suddenly changed. She points at her mother's chest where the "A" used to be as a sign of disbelief. Her face darkens and she stomps her foot. When her mother starts to get impatient Pearl loses control and freaks out. She is twisting and turning, jumping and rolling her body in the weirdest postitions. Furthermore, she screams and yells in the strangest voices. It is her way (her childish and not-human-but-supernatural-way) to show her refusal. Nature seems to agree with her. Hawthorne describes it that
"it seemed as if a hidden multitude were lending her their sympathy and encouragement"because all the trees around her reflect her mood.
Nature in this book stands for freedom but also truth. Now that the forest agrees with Pearl it wants to warn the couple that there is something wrong here. Maybe it is meant in a good way (Pay attention to what will happen! You are not safe!) or maybe in a bad way (What you are doing here is wrong. It is against the truth)
The Scarlet Letter 48
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Eight
Hawthorne's position is: Yes, it is Hester's fault that Pearl can't find a way to return to her mother. Dimmesdale also realizes that. He says that the stream is a borderline between two worlds that will never meet again. Pearl sees that obviously her mother changed: Her pervious, familiar features faded, and instead happiness and joy appeared, emotions that Pearl does not know from her mother. She looks at her mother, Dimmesdale and then at both to find out what the reason is for the change. I think the relation between Dimmesdale and Hester became so strong during the past minutes that Pearl is able to feel it from the other side of the brook.
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Eight
Hawthorne's position is: Yes, it is Hester's fault that Pearl can't find a way to return to her mother. Dimmesdale also realizes that. He says that the stream is a borderline between two worlds that will never meet again. Pearl sees that obviously her mother changed: Her pervious, familiar features faded, and instead happiness and joy appeared, emotions that Pearl does not know from her mother. She looks at her mother, Dimmesdale and then at both to find out what the reason is for the change. I think the relation between Dimmesdale and Hester became so strong during the past minutes that Pearl is able to feel it from the other side of the brook.
The Scarlet Letter 47
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Seven
Hester calls Pearl to them after she and Dimmesdale made plans for their future. While they were sitting on the tree, feeling passion arising again, Pearl played in the forest on the other side of the stream on her own. Hester and Arthur became unified and Pearl built a unity with nature. She played with the animals and flowers like she would play with friends if she had some. When she hears her name called by her mother she walks slowly towards them. Arrived at the water, Hester sees that the brightness of the forest was not conveyed to Pearl. Instead, she stands in gloom. This is when Hester realizes she feel sort of seperated from her daughter. The imaginary bond that holds mother and daughter together seems to be gone. Did she and Arthur think one moment ago of Pearl as the cord which makes them become one, now Hester has to see that is not true. Although Pearl is the result of their love and makes them become a family, Dimmesdale and Pearl cannot exist equally next to Hester. Either Pearl's or Arthur's invisible bond to her has to be destroyed whenever she is together with both of them. But Hester does not refer this development to her relationship to Dimmesdale but to Pearl who had left to go to the other side of the stream. With crossing the sides she left the mother-daughter-sphere. And now she can't find a way to enter back into it.
But didn't Hester send her away because she wanted privacy with Arthur Dimmesdale?
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Seven
Hester calls Pearl to them after she and Dimmesdale made plans for their future. While they were sitting on the tree, feeling passion arising again, Pearl played in the forest on the other side of the stream on her own. Hester and Arthur became unified and Pearl built a unity with nature. She played with the animals and flowers like she would play with friends if she had some. When she hears her name called by her mother she walks slowly towards them. Arrived at the water, Hester sees that the brightness of the forest was not conveyed to Pearl. Instead, she stands in gloom. This is when Hester realizes she feel sort of seperated from her daughter. The imaginary bond that holds mother and daughter together seems to be gone. Did she and Arthur think one moment ago of Pearl as the cord which makes them become one, now Hester has to see that is not true. Although Pearl is the result of their love and makes them become a family, Dimmesdale and Pearl cannot exist equally next to Hester. Either Pearl's or Arthur's invisible bond to her has to be destroyed whenever she is together with both of them. But Hester does not refer this development to her relationship to Dimmesdale but to Pearl who had left to go to the other side of the stream. With crossing the sides she left the mother-daughter-sphere. And now she can't find a way to enter back into it.
But didn't Hester send her away because she wanted privacy with Arthur Dimmesdale?
The Scarlet Letter 46
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Eight
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Eight
"Hester looked at him with the thrill of another joy. “Thou must know Pearl!” said she. “Our little Pearl! Thou hast seen her,—yes, I know it!—but thou wilt see her now with other eyes. She is a strange child! I hardly comprehend her! But thou wilt love her dearly, as I do, and wilt advise me how to deal with her."Now that sunshine came back into Hester and Arthur's life Pearl comes back into their minds. Hester suggests Dimmesdale to meet their daughter (Now she call her "OUR little Pearl"). She introduces her as strange but lovely and says he will tell Hester how to deal with her. What does she mean with this sentence? Is Pearl the only part in Hester's life in which she is not strong enough to stand it on her own? Is Hester overchallenged with Pearl because she can't control or shut her down like she can do it with hateful comments of the Boston society? It is easy to deny the Puritans but she can't block out her own daughter since she is made of her own flesh and blood. But Arthur Dimmesdale thinks he is not the right person to help her with Pearl. Nevertheless, Hester assures him she daughter will love him.
The Scarlet Letter 45
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Five
The most important symbol in chapter eighteen is the light coming back when Hester takes off in addition to the letter her cap. Then there were two things going on at the same time: Hester comes back to her long-forgotten beauty, and finally looks like a woman again. Her eyes start to shine and shimmer and reflect the power coming over her. And suddenly her skin is not pale as death anymore but her cheeks start to blush. She looks like young lady who is full of energy and has a lot of love to give. And as soon as Hester starts to glow it seems she breaks the spell of nature. Before this it was, like Hester, trapped in darkness and forced to whisper sad tales. Now that Hester shines in new splendor she carries nature along to follow suit. Sunlight breaks through the heavy shelter of the woods turning all the sad and grim colors into powerful and gleaming colors.
Although the trigger for this happening is the taking off of the "A" and letting Hester's hair down, the actual reason for this is Dimmesdale's and Hester's love revival. It is the strongest emotion existing on earth and able to change everything.
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Five
The most important symbol in chapter eighteen is the light coming back when Hester takes off in addition to the letter her cap. Then there were two things going on at the same time: Hester comes back to her long-forgotten beauty, and finally looks like a woman again. Her eyes start to shine and shimmer and reflect the power coming over her. And suddenly her skin is not pale as death anymore but her cheeks start to blush. She looks like young lady who is full of energy and has a lot of love to give. And as soon as Hester starts to glow it seems she breaks the spell of nature. Before this it was, like Hester, trapped in darkness and forced to whisper sad tales. Now that Hester shines in new splendor she carries nature along to follow suit. Sunlight breaks through the heavy shelter of the woods turning all the sad and grim colors into powerful and gleaming colors.
Although the trigger for this happening is the taking off of the "A" and letting Hester's hair down, the actual reason for this is Dimmesdale's and Hester's love revival. It is the strongest emotion existing on earth and able to change everything.
The Scarlet Letter 44
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Four
As a symbol of a new beginning, Hester takes off the "A."
Instead it lands among leaves.They represent the past and sin (the leaves belong to the fallen and moss covered trees). The "A" is now unified with its match but it does not vanish like it would if it had landed in the water.
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Four
As a symbol of a new beginning, Hester takes off the "A."
"Taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves. The mystic token alighted on the hither verge of the stream. With a hand’s breadth farther flight it would have fallen into the water, and have given the little brook another woe to carry onward, besides the unintelligible tale which it still kept murmuring about."The stream is still whispering foreshadows and if the "A" had fallen into the water it would have carried it away. In the water would be space for different tales to tale about and Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne would have never seen it again. If Hawthorne would have made that happen he would have wanted to emphasize that Hester and Arthur are finally free from harm. But the "A" did not fall into the water showing it is not over yet.
Instead it lands among leaves.They represent the past and sin (the leaves belong to the fallen and moss covered trees). The "A" is now unified with its match but it does not vanish like it would if it had landed in the water.
"But there lay the embroidered letter, glittering like a lost jewel, which some ill-fated wanderer might pick up, and thenceforth be haunted by strange phantoms of guilt, sinkings of the heart, and unaccountable misfortune."The "A" has the same function as the snake in Paradise. It deluded Eve to eat an apple of the Tree Of Knowledge. And now that the "A" is laying there, looking so seductive as a jewel in a woman's eyes, ready to allure an innocent person, its beauty has something ominous.
The Scarlet Letter 43
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Three
After Hester and Dimmesdale decide to flee together, the minister is thinking about how he can justify his escape before God. He still struggles with himself because he doesn't think he deserves being released from his pain. But in the end his desire for being with Hester and away from his heartache is stronger than his connection to God. He still can't look up into His eyes but for the first time since this fateful night he thinks of his own well-being. He thinks that God has abanoned him because He doesn't want to see Dimmesdale's misery. So the pastor doesn't get a sign of mercy from God. And since he is ought to die because of sin anyway he thinks he can at least die with Hester's love.
He decided against a life with God and for a life with Hester. In my opinion this is a decision against himself (although I totally agree that it's the best for everyone when they just go away from Boston!) since God is not a 'friend or something concrete that you can talk to.' He exists in one's mind and therefore is a creation of one's thoughts. God doesn't show signs of mercy in reality, it is the transformation of one's mind that makes a good thing coming from God.
So in my opinion Dimmesdale denies his own mind and choses rather to live 'through Hester's mind.'
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Three
After Hester and Dimmesdale decide to flee together, the minister is thinking about how he can justify his escape before God. He still struggles with himself because he doesn't think he deserves being released from his pain. But in the end his desire for being with Hester and away from his heartache is stronger than his connection to God. He still can't look up into His eyes but for the first time since this fateful night he thinks of his own well-being. He thinks that God has abanoned him because He doesn't want to see Dimmesdale's misery. So the pastor doesn't get a sign of mercy from God. And since he is ought to die because of sin anyway he thinks he can at least die with Hester's love.
He decided against a life with God and for a life with Hester. In my opinion this is a decision against himself (although I totally agree that it's the best for everyone when they just go away from Boston!) since God is not a 'friend or something concrete that you can talk to.' He exists in one's mind and therefore is a creation of one's thoughts. God doesn't show signs of mercy in reality, it is the transformation of one's mind that makes a good thing coming from God.
So in my opinion Dimmesdale denies his own mind and choses rather to live 'through Hester's mind.'
The Scarlet Letter 42
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Two
(in addition to entry Forty-One)
In my opinion this quotation explains what the book is all about. Hester learns to forgive herself because it was the onl way to survive for her. All the other persons still have to come to this knowledge. As long you are not in peace with yourself you won't find peace in the world. This doesn't mean that you are free from making mistakes but you can deal with them because you know that it is OK. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes and even fail as long as they know how to forgive and to learn from them.
Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Two
(in addition to entry Forty-One)
"The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss."Hester's punishment made her see the world with different eyes, she created her own freedom in her thoughts. Persons who never felt such an isolation would never be able to see the world as she does. Hester looks at Boston in an aerial view since she was never included in it.
In my opinion this quotation explains what the book is all about. Hester learns to forgive herself because it was the onl way to survive for her. All the other persons still have to come to this knowledge. As long you are not in peace with yourself you won't find peace in the world. This doesn't mean that you are free from making mistakes but you can deal with them because you know that it is OK. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes and even fail as long as they know how to forgive and to learn from them.
The Scarlet Letter 41
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Forty-One
Chapter Seventeen emphasizes definitely the difference between public and private sin. Hester stands for the public part, Dimmesdale for the private suffering. She, who had been put down by the Bostonians ends up being strong. All the contemptuous and scornful glances made her feel enough hate to eventually be srtonger than everyone else. In this hard time she only had herself (and Pearl, but she couldn't talk to her) as a friend so she learned to live on her own. All the negative experiences of the past seven years made her hard enough to look forward now and to know what she wants and what not: She wants to start her life all over somewhere else along with Arthur and Pearl.
Dimmesdale, on the opposite suffers in silence and unnoticed from the Puritans. He plays the strong and all-knowing pastor who has always a good advice for his parihioners. But pretending having nothing to with Hester's sin and having to deny his daughter makes him perish. He punishes himself for his weakness which this makes him getting even weaker.
He can't make the best of the situation like Hester does because he has never felt the harsh rejection from an entire society.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Forty-One
Chapter Seventeen emphasizes definitely the difference between public and private sin. Hester stands for the public part, Dimmesdale for the private suffering. She, who had been put down by the Bostonians ends up being strong. All the contemptuous and scornful glances made her feel enough hate to eventually be srtonger than everyone else. In this hard time she only had herself (and Pearl, but she couldn't talk to her) as a friend so she learned to live on her own. All the negative experiences of the past seven years made her hard enough to look forward now and to know what she wants and what not: She wants to start her life all over somewhere else along with Arthur and Pearl.
Dimmesdale, on the opposite suffers in silence and unnoticed from the Puritans. He plays the strong and all-knowing pastor who has always a good advice for his parihioners. But pretending having nothing to with Hester's sin and having to deny his daughter makes him perish. He punishes himself for his weakness which this makes him getting even weaker.
He can't make the best of the situation like Hester does because he has never felt the harsh rejection from an entire society.
The Scarlet Letter 40
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Forty
When Hester and Dimmesdale sit on the tree, the forest switches its 'mood.' Now it seems to create a holy atmosphere although it is very gloomy around them. But they decide to stay, the don't escape from the world around them, so obviously it doesn't make them feel uncomfortable. Hawthorne describes the woods as turbulent and agitated. They seem to try to tell the couple's story or to give them warning of doom. But still they don't flee from it. For this short moment they feel strong enough to endure the approaching calamity.
And suddenly, in this speacial light, they see each other with different eyes:
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Forty
When Hester and Dimmesdale sit on the tree, the forest switches its 'mood.' Now it seems to create a holy atmosphere although it is very gloomy around them. But they decide to stay, the don't escape from the world around them, so obviously it doesn't make them feel uncomfortable. Hawthorne describes the woods as turbulent and agitated. They seem to try to tell the couple's story or to give them warning of doom. But still they don't flee from it. For this short moment they feel strong enough to endure the approaching calamity.
And suddenly, in this speacial light, they see each other with different eyes:
"Here, seen only by his eyes, the scarlet letter need not burn into the bosom of the fallen woman! Here, seen only by her eyes, Arthur Dimmesdale, false to God and man, might be, for one moment, true!"They look into each other's sould which are unconcealed and naked. They are finally true to their feelings.
The Scarlet Letter 39
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Nine
Hester and Dimmesdale sit down together, side by side and hand in hand on the tree which symbolizes their sin. So they sit down on their sin. This action emphasizes that from now on they are going to form an unity, which will deal with the sin together. Their intention is not to forget about it (the fallen tree is the underground they are sitting on -> the sin is the fundament on which they are going construct their future), they will always be marked with sin and shame, but now they will both responsible for the consequences.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Nine
Hester and Dimmesdale sit down together, side by side and hand in hand on the tree which symbolizes their sin. So they sit down on their sin. This action emphasizes that from now on they are going to form an unity, which will deal with the sin together. Their intention is not to forget about it (the fallen tree is the underground they are sitting on -> the sin is the fundament on which they are going construct their future), they will always be marked with sin and shame, but now they will both responsible for the consequences.
The Scarlet Letter 38
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Eight
For the first time in this book, Hawthorne lets the readers participate in Hester's and Dimmesdale's love. They tell each other that they never forgot their love and start holding hands. The invisible power that held them off each other seems to be broken.
They sit down
This can symbolize Hester and Dimmesdale's sin. It happened long ago and made them both fall. And during this time they stopped moving (physically -> they didn't leave Boston; and mentally -> they couldn't let go of their thoughts of sin) but there was someone creeping around them: Chillingworth. He befell their souls and made them go under. Now that he has already covered them he can devour them including their souls and hearts.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Eight
For the first time in this book, Hawthorne lets the readers participate in Hester's and Dimmesdale's love. They tell each other that they never forgot their love and start holding hands. The invisible power that held them off each other seems to be broken.
They sit down
"on the mossy trunk of the fallen tree."The tree is old, broken, destroyed and with age it has been overrun with moss. Moss appears when something stands still so it can make its way over this object.
This can symbolize Hester and Dimmesdale's sin. It happened long ago and made them both fall. And during this time they stopped moving (physically -> they didn't leave Boston; and mentally -> they couldn't let go of their thoughts of sin) but there was someone creeping around them: Chillingworth. He befell their souls and made them go under. Now that he has already covered them he can devour them including their souls and hearts.
Friday, November 05, 2010
The Scarlet Letter 37
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Seven
In this chapter, Hester finally confesses Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband and that she made a pact with him. Arthur has big problems dealing with that. He seems not able to forgive her. But why? First, he is a pastor and knows the bible by heart. One of Jesus' most important teachings is that you shall forgive. Because Dimmesdale devoted his life to God he should live like he wants human beings to live.
And furthermore, it seems he forgot that Hester forgave him too. He stayed in disguised for years when she suffered for both of them. Of course, he suffered too - probably more than she did. But if he would have stood up to avouch it would have helped Hester a lot. But he was too scared.
So in my opinion he doesn't have the right to be unforgiving. I don't know if he actually realized that in the end, maybe not, but he shows mercy eventually.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Seven
In this chapter, Hester finally confesses Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband and that she made a pact with him. Arthur has big problems dealing with that. He seems not able to forgive her. But why? First, he is a pastor and knows the bible by heart. One of Jesus' most important teachings is that you shall forgive. Because Dimmesdale devoted his life to God he should live like he wants human beings to live.
And furthermore, it seems he forgot that Hester forgave him too. He stayed in disguised for years when she suffered for both of them. Of course, he suffered too - probably more than she did. But if he would have stood up to avouch it would have helped Hester a lot. But he was too scared.
So in my opinion he doesn't have the right to be unforgiving. I don't know if he actually realized that in the end, maybe not, but he shows mercy eventually.
The Scarlet Letter 36
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Six
The title of chapter seventeen in 'The Pastor and his Parishioner' so Hawthorne wants to point out Dimmesdale's function as a pastor (for comparison: in chapter twenty he is named minister) and Hester's position as his parishioner. His job is to take of the members of Boston's church and so of Hester too. He should listen to their sorrows and release them from their guilt (shrift). Also have an advice for him. In this chapter however, their parts are switched: Hester listens to him and has a plan up her sleeve. She says what to do to get out of their misery. He in contrast is not able to see clear and is too weak.
This situation shows the role allocation between them; she has the strong part of them. Dimmesdale just follows her.
I am actually surprised that such a strong woman used to (and still does) love such a confused man. Maybe he used to be like her but the long lasting suffering destroyed so much of his character that he is not able to think himself anymore.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Six
The title of chapter seventeen in 'The Pastor and his Parishioner' so Hawthorne wants to point out Dimmesdale's function as a pastor (for comparison: in chapter twenty he is named minister) and Hester's position as his parishioner. His job is to take of the members of Boston's church and so of Hester too. He should listen to their sorrows and release them from their guilt (shrift). Also have an advice for him. In this chapter however, their parts are switched: Hester listens to him and has a plan up her sleeve. She says what to do to get out of their misery. He in contrast is not able to see clear and is too weak.
This situation shows the role allocation between them; she has the strong part of them. Dimmesdale just follows her.
I am actually surprised that such a strong woman used to (and still does) love such a confused man. Maybe he used to be like her but the long lasting suffering destroyed so much of his character that he is not able to think himself anymore.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Words Of The Day
Esoteric
I don't want you to know that because it is esoteric.
Vitiate
A German saying is that when you are in love you vitiate the soup because you put too much salt in it.
I don't want you to know that because it is esoteric.
Vitiate
A German saying is that when you are in love you vitiate the soup because you put too much salt in it.
The Revolutionary War - Project
Who is Who?
Helen - Sir Henry Moore, a British colonial leader who served as royal Governor o Providence of New York from 1765 to 1769.
The Scarlet Letter 35
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Five
Dimmesdale and Hester begin to talk to each other again after seven years. She realizes he had changed a lot during this time. The pain he had to endure made him weak and unable to go on in his life. He is trapped in his embittered soul that is angry at the Puritan's (for not letting him love the way he wants to) and at himself (for not being able to change his situation). So she starts to build him up again. She tries to draw his attention to the good actions he does. He is allowed to use them to make himself feel better, as signs for repentance and then as guerdon. She tries to show him they have suffered enough now; now it is time to go on.
In fact, he has a big problem with forgiving - although he is a priest of christianity and one of Jesus' "rules" is to forgive other people. So why does Dimmesdale have such a hard time with that?
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Five
Dimmesdale and Hester begin to talk to each other again after seven years. She realizes he had changed a lot during this time. The pain he had to endure made him weak and unable to go on in his life. He is trapped in his embittered soul that is angry at the Puritan's (for not letting him love the way he wants to) and at himself (for not being able to change his situation). So she starts to build him up again. She tries to draw his attention to the good actions he does. He is allowed to use them to make himself feel better, as signs for repentance and then as guerdon. She tries to show him they have suffered enough now; now it is time to go on.
“You wrong yourself in this. You have deeply and sorely repented. Your sin is left behind you, in the days long past. Your present life is not less holy, in very truth, than it seems in people’s eyes. Is there no reality in the penitence thus sealed and witnessed by good works? And wherefore should it not bring you peace?”She tells him what she did for herself. She worked so much for other people until she feels like she atoned enough. Now she wants him to do the same thing, because then they are able to live together in happiness. But Dimmesdale does not deal as easy as she does with his sin. For him it is not that uncomplicated to forgive himself.
In fact, he has a big problem with forgiving - although he is a priest of christianity and one of Jesus' "rules" is to forgive other people. So why does Dimmesdale have such a hard time with that?
The Scarlet Letter 34
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Four
After Dimmesdale and Hester touch each other to make sure 1. they are alive and 2. that their old connection still exists, they walk to
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Four
After Dimmesdale and Hester touch each other to make sure 1. they are alive and 2. that their old connection still exists, they walk to
"(sit) down on the heap of moss where she and Pearl had before been sitting."This is the first inication of Pearl being left aside. Now it is not Hester and Pearl, but Hester and Arthur. They are going to exclude her from their relationship because he simply replaces her. Of course, Pearl does not like this. Later, a physical boundary appears: The brook. So Hawthorne lets her feel her loneliness in two ways.
The Scarlet Letter 33
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Three
Hester and Arthur meet in the forest. Pearl is sent away to play somewhere alone. The first thing they say is asking each other whether they are alive. An untypical beginning of a conversation, but for them it might be the most important thing to know. They want to make sure that it is not only a "hollow body" (the mind already died because of its pain). After that, Dimmesdale touches Hester's hand; this movement is breaking an imaginary spell lying over them. Although their hands are both "chill as death" (any energy was sucked out), it recreates their old connection. Now they are able to talk about their feelings.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Three
Hester and Arthur meet in the forest. Pearl is sent away to play somewhere alone. The first thing they say is asking each other whether they are alive. An untypical beginning of a conversation, but for them it might be the most important thing to know. They want to make sure that it is not only a "hollow body" (the mind already died because of its pain). After that, Dimmesdale touches Hester's hand; this movement is breaking an imaginary spell lying over them. Although their hands are both "chill as death" (any energy was sucked out), it recreates their old connection. Now they are able to talk about their feelings.
The Scarlet Letter 32
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Two
Arthur Dimmesdale appears to be petrified. Due to the previous seven years he has become incredibly weak and lifeless. All the actions he does in the book are always motivated by someone else or happen in darkness. In the first scene he appears, the governor called on him to make Hester speak the sinner's name. Then, he moves with Chillingworth in a house because of the Puritans telling him to do so. The only self-initiated action was when he stepped on the scaffold - nightly. It might be the right step in the right direction, but still he is not fully convinced of what he is doing. If he was then he would have chosen the broad daylight to confess his sin. The plan to escape from Boston was also proposed by Hester. Dimmesdale is not able to make his own ideas because his mind is caught in shock about his pain. Maybe this is a sort of self-protection. Because if he was living in the here and now he would have to deal with his misery. This consciousness might kill him from the inside, so his body rather choses to live in trance than to die.
Chapter Seventeen
Entry Thirty-Two
Arthur Dimmesdale appears to be petrified. Due to the previous seven years he has become incredibly weak and lifeless. All the actions he does in the book are always motivated by someone else or happen in darkness. In the first scene he appears, the governor called on him to make Hester speak the sinner's name. Then, he moves with Chillingworth in a house because of the Puritans telling him to do so. The only self-initiated action was when he stepped on the scaffold - nightly. It might be the right step in the right direction, but still he is not fully convinced of what he is doing. If he was then he would have chosen the broad daylight to confess his sin. The plan to escape from Boston was also proposed by Hester. Dimmesdale is not able to make his own ideas because his mind is caught in shock about his pain. Maybe this is a sort of self-protection. Because if he was living in the here and now he would have to deal with his misery. This consciousness might kill him from the inside, so his body rather choses to live in trance than to die.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
The Scarlet Letter 31
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Thirty-One
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Thirty-One
"So Pearl, who had enough of shadow in her own little life [...] She set herself, therefore, to gathering violets and wood-anemones, and some scarlet columbines that she found growing in the crevices of a high rock."Pearl, being sent away from Hester because she wants to talk to Dimmesdale in privacy, walks away to pick some flowers. Noticeable is that all three flowers are red. Again is it mentioned that her life is surrounded of blackness. To escape from it she turns to red flowers, an image symbolizing vitality, energy, passion and generally activity. This is what she longs for: A life in which she pulls the strings. She doesn't want to live in a society that has the power to determine over her future. Neither does she want to end up like her mother who accepted the Puritan rules. But it is hard for her to get to this status because "it is growing in the crevices of a high rock." The high rock could stand for the situation she is stuck in at the moment. She is not allowed to be happy or to live in freedom as she wants to, but she has to behave appropriately (how Boston expects an Adulterer's child to live). It is a severe, strict and dreary life which she is not able to change (-> a big rock). Only her mother (she in turn needs Dimmesdale) is able to help her out of her miserable life.
Words Of The Day
opaque
The forest in "The Scarlet Letter" is described as opaque and mysterious. It contains a lot of symbols.
propensity
My propensity to procrastinate is going to kill me someday.
The forest in "The Scarlet Letter" is described as opaque and mysterious. It contains a lot of symbols.
propensity
My propensity to procrastinate is going to kill me someday.
The Scarlet Letter 30
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Thirty
Pearl and Hester sit down in the forest at a place where they are invisible to persons walking by. Next to them, a stream runs down. The picture of the brook created by Hawthorne looks magical to me, like something supernatural appearing in the middle of a dark and mysterious forest. The big, old trees let their leaves hang over it as protection, on the ground of the water are pebbles and brown, sparkling sand. In some parts, the sunlight is reflected, but soon it disappears and gets lost in the woods. To Hester and Pearl, it seems like the the intention of the forest is to make sure that the brook in its liveliness does not reveal long kept secrets. They compare it to a young child which normally are unexperienced, venturous, not afraid of anything and always in a good mood. But this child is different: It is
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Thirty
Pearl and Hester sit down in the forest at a place where they are invisible to persons walking by. Next to them, a stream runs down. The picture of the brook created by Hawthorne looks magical to me, like something supernatural appearing in the middle of a dark and mysterious forest. The big, old trees let their leaves hang over it as protection, on the ground of the water are pebbles and brown, sparkling sand. In some parts, the sunlight is reflected, but soon it disappears and gets lost in the woods. To Hester and Pearl, it seems like the the intention of the forest is to make sure that the brook in its liveliness does not reveal long kept secrets. They compare it to a young child which normally are unexperienced, venturous, not afraid of anything and always in a good mood. But this child is different: It is
"kind, quiet, soothing, but melancholy."All in all, it is a sad child. For Pearl it is hard to "listen" to the brook's sad mood because she is the total opposite of it. She never gets sad and is always full of temperament. So she tells the stream to
"Pluck up a spirit, and (not to be) sighing and murmuring all the time.”Hawthorne mentions that both of them have the same origin. Pearl and the brook's roots come from something mysterious and dark (the forest and adultery). But in contrast to the stream, Pearl doesn't let it get her down. She is happy and sparkly as ever.
The Scarlet Letter 29
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Nine
Considered superficially, she uses the sunshine as an excuse so she doesn't have to tell the truth or even make something up (to lie). But there could be a deeper meaning in it. The sunlight represents freedom and happiness. By sending Pearl there, she wants her to get out of the darkness before she gets caught in it. But the little girl has to hurry because there will be a point in life when it gets too late to escape from it.
This is another loving action from Hester. She wants Pearl to have a better life than hers is
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Nine
Pearl asks her mother if she does not get an "A" stuck on her chest like Hester does. Until now, she thought it would be a normal development. Hester avoids answering this question and sends her back to play.
“Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?”
"Run away, child,” answered her mother, “and catch the sunshine. It will soon be gone."
Considered superficially, she uses the sunshine as an excuse so she doesn't have to tell the truth or even make something up (to lie). But there could be a deeper meaning in it. The sunlight represents freedom and happiness. By sending Pearl there, she wants her to get out of the darkness before she gets caught in it. But the little girl has to hurry because there will be a point in life when it gets too late to escape from it.
This is another loving action from Hester. She wants Pearl to have a better life than hers is
The Scarlet Letter 28
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Eight
After Pearl told her mother what she knows about the Black Man Hester is wondering why she knows all that. Pearl replies that "it was the old woman in the chimney corner, at the sick house where you watched last night.” Further, she explains this lady talked about many people signing in his black and mysterious book. Mistress Hibbins did so too. She was titled as a witch in previous chapters. A witch does not symbolize total evilness, they are more women who were greatly wronged since they were burned at the stake. People believed they were able to jinx persons and therefore could will everyone they wanted to (which has to be regarded as a sin).
In the next question, Pearl wants to know whether her mother goes to meet the Black Man too. At this point, another person could be meant with the Black Man:
But when she would meet with Chillingworth the "A" would glow since it is made by Chillingworth (as I explained in previous blog entries). And as soon it gets closer to its origin, their connection might become stronger so that it starts to glow.
Anyway, Hester negates meeting with the Black Man in the night.
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Eight
After Pearl told her mother what she knows about the Black Man Hester is wondering why she knows all that. Pearl replies that "it was the old woman in the chimney corner, at the sick house where you watched last night.” Further, she explains this lady talked about many people signing in his black and mysterious book. Mistress Hibbins did so too. She was titled as a witch in previous chapters. A witch does not symbolize total evilness, they are more women who were greatly wronged since they were burned at the stake. People believed they were able to jinx persons and therefore could will everyone they wanted to (which has to be regarded as a sin).
In the next question, Pearl wants to know whether her mother goes to meet the Black Man too. At this point, another person could be meant with the Black Man:
"And, mother, the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man’s mark on thee, and that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight, here in the dark wood. Is it true, mother? And dost thou go to meet him in the night-time?"Hester Prynne could meet Dimmesdale nightly. To cover their secret meeting they choose the forest which is dark and keeps every secret silently. But because they are not allowed to meet (1. it would be against the Puritan rules, 2. Hester would deny Pearl and 3. Dimmesdale did not reveal that he is the father of Pearl), the "A" is gleaming as a warning.
But when she would meet with Chillingworth the "A" would glow since it is made by Chillingworth (as I explained in previous blog entries). And as soon it gets closer to its origin, their connection might become stronger so that it starts to glow.
Anyway, Hester negates meeting with the Black Man in the night.
The Scarlet Letter 27
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Seven
After Pearl stoppes catching sunshine she asks her mother for telling her a story. But she doesn't want to hear just any story, no, she wants to hear something about the Black Man.
Meant by the term The Black Man is Roger Chillingworth, unseen striking terror into people's hearts.
The book he carries around in Pearls story is his pacts he makes. She exactly describes the situation when Hester promised him to never reveal who Roger Chillingworth really is. She signed an invisible agreement which she never dared to break. The question whether her mother had ever met him seems already answered by Pearl herself. She knows it. Basically, she already revealed everyone's hidden secret, she's only missing their relation and context.
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Seven
After Pearl stoppes catching sunshine she asks her mother for telling her a story. But she doesn't want to hear just any story, no, she wants to hear something about the Black Man.
“How he haunts this forest, and carries a book with him,—a big, heavy book, with iron clasps; and how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to every body that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood. And then he sets his mark on their bosoms! Didst thou ever meet the Black Man, mother?”By giving her mother such a detailed description of what she wants to hear, it actually becomes redundant to tell her a story about it. Pearl just needs a reason to talk about the Black Man.
Meant by the term The Black Man is Roger Chillingworth, unseen striking terror into people's hearts.
The book he carries around in Pearls story is his pacts he makes. She exactly describes the situation when Hester promised him to never reveal who Roger Chillingworth really is. She signed an invisible agreement which she never dared to break. The question whether her mother had ever met him seems already answered by Pearl herself. She knows it. Basically, she already revealed everyone's hidden secret, she's only missing their relation and context.
The Scarlet Letter 26
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Six
The forest reflects all that by holding off its rays of sunshine. Pearl notices this and says to her mother:
There is another message behind this calling.
But to me she doesn't sound like she is afraid of it. Why? Is she already so callous that she doesn't care about an unhappy life? Or did she already become so adult that she is able to deal with this knowledge?
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Six
"(The road) straggled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest. This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above, that, to Hester’s mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which she had so long been wandering."Hester Prynne and Pearl are on their way into the forest because Hester wants to reveal Dimmesdale the truth. In this moment, the forest represents a mysterious, unfamiliar and looming. She doesn't know what is going to happen after he learned the truth so she is in an uncertain mood.
The forest reflects all that by holding off its rays of sunshine. Pearl notices this and says to her mother:
“Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”The sunshine stays away from Hester because it is afraid of the dark and evil vibrancy of the "A". Pearl associates sunshine with something lovely that everyone should possess. One of her favorite games is trying to catch it. By offering her mother to go grab it for her she shows love. She doesn't want her mother to be sad and depressed (to remain in the shadow) but to feel happy and to enjoy her life (to step out into the sunshine). At the same time, she knows that she is not like her mother trapped in darkness but is able to stand on the bright side of life. So Pearl is able to be in sunlight and she wants to use it for making her mother stand there too.
There is another message behind this calling.
"I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”Adults are caught in a sad and lonesome life. They suffer under a heavy cloud hanging over them which carries around a big and unsolvable secret. Children are carefree and can live in joy. But as soon as they grow up their life gets dark. This is Pearl's view of the world. She expects this to happen for herself too.
But to me she doesn't sound like she is afraid of it. Why? Is she already so callous that she doesn't care about an unhappy life? Or did she already become so adult that she is able to deal with this knowledge?
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
The Scarlet Letter 25
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Five
Like in many chapters before, this chapter mentions the forest again. Pearl and Hester walk through it after they had the discussion about Pearl wanting to know the truth behind the "A".The forest is like a border seperating the Puritan society from Hester's house (seperating rules and therefore pain and repressing her real feelings from her soul).
A forest stands for safety, security and protection from storms, rain etc. But it also has something mysterious. You never know what creatures are hiding in the dark and endless shadows coming from big, old trees.
In this book, the forest changes its meanings several times, depending who was walking through it. For Pearl, for instance, it is like her home since she is associated with nature and a forest represents pure nature. So when she walks through it it must seem to her like coming home.
Chapter Sixteen
Entry Twenty-Five
Like in many chapters before, this chapter mentions the forest again. Pearl and Hester walk through it after they had the discussion about Pearl wanting to know the truth behind the "A".A forest stands for safety, security and protection from storms, rain etc. But it also has something mysterious. You never know what creatures are hiding in the dark and endless shadows coming from big, old trees.
In this book, the forest changes its meanings several times, depending who was walking through it. For Pearl, for instance, it is like her home since she is associated with nature and a forest represents pure nature. So when she walks through it it must seem to her like coming home.
The Scarlet Letter 24
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-Four
Hester's relationship to Pearl suddenly changes when she realizes that Pearl is not
This refers back to Chillingworth. He is the black light leading into the tunnel, surrounding its inner parts and sticking around until you come to the end of it. And then you see Pearl, a ray of light lighting up the evil gloom. It guides you safely to the tunnel's end and makes sure you are not swallowed up by the darkness.
For a brief moment, Hester Prynne thinks about telling Pearl everything. That would make Pearl a friend and sort of confederate at the same time. But to protect her she decided against doing so.
I think, with this decision she shows real motherly love. It probably is the first real showing of affection towards Pearl. Although it would help Hester dealing with her soul's pain she rather protects her daughter from being pulled into the difficulty of living an adult's life. Especially in the Puritan society.
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-Four
Hester's relationship to Pearl suddenly changes when she realizes that Pearl is not
"a design of justice and retribution"but rather
" (has a) purpose of mercy and beneficence."Pearl is not only there to remind Hester of her sin and to make sure she never forgets it, but also as a sign of hope that there will be better times if she keeps on going on, and that forgiveness still exists. She has a helping function. She can help her mother out of her miserable situation (for instance, she insists on Dimmesdale proving his love to them publicly -> she knows that this is the way to go if Dimmesdale and Hester want to be happy - together or not); she is like a light shining at the end of a long and dark tunnel.
This refers back to Chillingworth. He is the black light leading into the tunnel, surrounding its inner parts and sticking around until you come to the end of it. And then you see Pearl, a ray of light lighting up the evil gloom. It guides you safely to the tunnel's end and makes sure you are not swallowed up by the darkness.
For a brief moment, Hester Prynne thinks about telling Pearl everything. That would make Pearl a friend and sort of confederate at the same time. But to protect her she decided against doing so.
I think, with this decision she shows real motherly love. It probably is the first real showing of affection towards Pearl. Although it would help Hester dealing with her soul's pain she rather protects her daughter from being pulled into the difficulty of living an adult's life. Especially in the Puritan society.
The Scarlet Letter 23
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-Three
It must be very hard for Pearl growing up under this condition. Maybe it was mutual (so maybe Pearl didn't know how to love her mother, too) but I think this attitude towards her daughter made Pearl the way she is. I am sure Hester didn't have a bad intention (she just couldn't find any connection to a child embodying her sin), but she made Pearl feel like a person who doesn't belong to the earth. Her strangeness is due to how Hester treated her -> like a symbol, a thing, an abstract term. It is only naturally that Pearl developes in a not normal way.
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-Three
"But in good earnest now, mother dear, what does this scarlet letter mean?—and why dost thou wear it on thy bosom?—and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?”With asking her mother these questions, Pearl makes Hester see her daughter in a different light. Until now, she used to love Pearl in a difficult way. It was more a cold and vulnerable type of love (Hawthorne compares it to an April breeze), never able to grab and hold on to.
It must be very hard for Pearl growing up under this condition. Maybe it was mutual (so maybe Pearl didn't know how to love her mother, too) but I think this attitude towards her daughter made Pearl the way she is. I am sure Hester didn't have a bad intention (she just couldn't find any connection to a child embodying her sin), but she made Pearl feel like a person who doesn't belong to the earth. Her strangeness is due to how Hester treated her -> like a symbol, a thing, an abstract term. It is only naturally that Pearl developes in a not normal way.
The Scarlet Letter 22
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-Two
Pearl passes the time she has to wait for her mother with playing in nature. Out of a clear blue sky she decides to form an "A" similar to her mother's. It is made out of green grass which she sticks on her dress.
When Hester returns, she is so surprised that she doesn't know how to react. Acting on instinct, she asks Pearl whether she actually knows the meaning of the "A" or why Hester is wearing it. She replies:
This astonished Hester, too. Her first thought is that it is just a strange coincidence that she actually hit the mark, but then she struggles with this thought: She definitely doesn't put it past her daughter to be clever enough (or is it cleverness at all? Maybe she doesn't put it past her because she is a little weird anyway...).
To make sure Pearl doesn't know too much she asks her what she means by assuming this. She answers that is all she knows and poses counter questions:
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-Two
Pearl passes the time she has to wait for her mother with playing in nature. Out of a clear blue sky she decides to form an "A" similar to her mother's. It is made out of green grass which she sticks on her dress.
When Hester returns, she is so surprised that she doesn't know how to react. Acting on instinct, she asks Pearl whether she actually knows the meaning of the "A" or why Hester is wearing it. She replies:
“It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!”So for some reason Pearl saw the connection between her mother and Dimmesdale. This is something very remarkable since Pearl is still very young and not able to understand anything like adultery, sex or cheating on someone. So she shouldn't be able to link these two adults but obviously she is.
This astonished Hester, too. Her first thought is that it is just a strange coincidence that she actually hit the mark, but then she struggles with this thought: She definitely doesn't put it past her daughter to be clever enough (or is it cleverness at all? Maybe she doesn't put it past her because she is a little weird anyway...).
To make sure Pearl doesn't know too much she asks her what she means by assuming this. She answers that is all she knows and poses counter questions:
"What does this scarlet letter mean?—and why dost thou wear it on thy bosom?—and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?”She seems to use the unique opportunity to solve the big secret surrounding her mother. But she doesn't get an answer so far.
Words Of The Day
Opaque - n, v
not able to be seen through; not transparent
Propensity - n
an inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way
Esoteric - adj
intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest
Vitiated - adj
to spoil or impair the quality or efficiency
Magnate - n
a wealthy and influential person, esp. in business
Malleable - adj
(of a metal or other material) able to be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking
Dearth - n
a scarcity or lack of something
Florid - adj
having a red or flushed complexion, elaborately or excessively intricate or complicated, (of a disease or its manifestations) occurring in a fully developed form
Evanescent - adj
soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing
Veneration - n
regard with great respect; revere
not able to be seen through; not transparent
Propensity - n
an inclination or natural tendency to behave in a particular way
Esoteric - adj
intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest
Vitiated - adj
to spoil or impair the quality or efficiency
Magnate - n
a wealthy and influential person, esp. in business
Malleable - adj
(of a metal or other material) able to be hammered or pressed permanently out of shape without breaking or cracking
Dearth - n
a scarcity or lack of something
Florid - adj
having a red or flushed complexion, elaborately or excessively intricate or complicated, (of a disease or its manifestations) occurring in a fully developed form
Evanescent - adj
soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing
Veneration - n
regard with great respect; revere
The Scarlet Letter 21
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-one
While Hester and Chillingworth are talking Pearl is entertaining herself. She looks into the water seeing her own reflection. She tries to persuade the girl staring right back to her to come out and play with her since she longs for a friend. But when she discovers the girl in the water won't come out she comes to the conclusion that
After she got boring watching the girl in the water she continued playing with animals. The takes a jellyfish out of the water to melt in the warm sun. Then she takes the leftover "white foam" and throws it in the air to catch it when it falls back down to earth.
When she was done with this activity she recognized some beach-birds near her. She approached them while she collected some pebbles which she threw at them as soon as she was close enough. But when she realized that she injured one of the birds she immediately stops her amusement.
Anyway, her sadness doesn't last long. She turns toward the ground to collect some sea-weed. She forms with them an outfit which makes her look like a little mermaid. Again, freedom is linked with this. Mermaids are unbound creatures floating in the endlessness of the oceans. They neither have a home nor a family which they are responsible for. They only exist for their beauty's sake (Sometimes this is associated with an evil intention -> seducing men etc).
After she finished designing her outfit she grabs some additional sea-weed to form an "A". She imitates her mother with this except for the fact that the color of her letter is green.
Green - life, nature, renewal, health, hope, piece and harmony. This color is the opposite color to red which is a hint to Hester and Pearl: They are both opposites.
But there is also a bad association to this color: Jealous, envy eyes are green. When Pearl later reacts so strangely towards Hester and Dimmesdale (The Child At The Brook, Chapter 19), could it be that she is simply jealous? She was always used to a mother - daughter constellation and then suddenly a man (although she knows which role he plays in her life) appears.
Chapter Fifteen
Entry Twenty-one
While Hester and Chillingworth are talking Pearl is entertaining herself. She looks into the water seeing her own reflection. She tries to persuade the girl staring right back to her to come out and play with her since she longs for a friend. But when she discovers the girl in the water won't come out she comes to the conclusion that
"either she or the image was unreal."This shows that Pearl doesn't think of herself as a normal human being. She might see herself (smart as she is) as a creature came into existence because of abstract feelings and everytime ready to disappear from earth.
After she got boring watching the girl in the water she continued playing with animals. The takes a jellyfish out of the water to melt in the warm sun. Then she takes the leftover "white foam" and throws it in the air to catch it when it falls back down to earth.
When she was done with this activity she recognized some beach-birds near her. She approached them while she collected some pebbles which she threw at them as soon as she was close enough. But when she realized that she injured one of the birds she immediately stops her amusement.
"It grieved her to have done harm to a little being that was as wild as the sea-breeze, or as wild as Pearl herself."She identifies herself with wildness and since birds are wild and free too, she feels a connection between them. Having hurt this wild, free and innocent bird hurt herself. It seems like she IS the nature.
Anyway, her sadness doesn't last long. She turns toward the ground to collect some sea-weed. She forms with them an outfit which makes her look like a little mermaid. Again, freedom is linked with this. Mermaids are unbound creatures floating in the endlessness of the oceans. They neither have a home nor a family which they are responsible for. They only exist for their beauty's sake (Sometimes this is associated with an evil intention -> seducing men etc).
After she finished designing her outfit she grabs some additional sea-weed to form an "A". She imitates her mother with this except for the fact that the color of her letter is green.
Green - life, nature, renewal, health, hope, piece and harmony. This color is the opposite color to red which is a hint to Hester and Pearl: They are both opposites.
But there is also a bad association to this color: Jealous, envy eyes are green. When Pearl later reacts so strangely towards Hester and Dimmesdale (The Child At The Brook, Chapter 19), could it be that she is simply jealous? She was always used to a mother - daughter constellation and then suddenly a man (although she knows which role he plays in her life) appears.
"The child bent her chin upon her breast, and contemplated this device with strange interest; even as if the one only thing for which she had been sent into the world was to make out its hidden import."I think Pearl definitely understands that she is the reason for the "A". And this is the reason why she doesn't want Hester to take off the letter. It is like she takes off the connection between her and her daughter. She feels like she is left alone in a world she obviously doesn't belong to.
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