-Emedel Vargas |
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Hester kissing Pearl. The main thing in this picture would be the Scarlet Letter. Photo From: http://www.allposters.com/-sp/The-Scarlet-Letter-Joyce-Coad-Lillian-Gish-1926-Posters_i9342289_.htm This is so late! My apologies Ms. Powell!
Week 4: Now that the book is over, I can say that this was the most outrageous book I have ever read. Yet it was one of the plot twisting book I read. Which is good because plot twisters are always a plus. It all started with a sin. Hester sinned with a man that was not her husband. After a few chapters of the book, there were hints that the mystery man of whom Hester sinned with was Dimmesdale. And her husband that was thought dead, was Chillingworth. He was the town's doctor. He pieced together and figured out it was also Dimmesdale. What is really ironic is that Dimmesdale is Priest! The child that Hester had was a girl named Pearl. She was thought of strange and peculiar. Hester lived mostly in shame, abandonment, and love (for her daughter.) The town people made her go on to a scaffold to let everyone see her. The people give her shame, and Hester becomes shameful, yet she is not shameful? She enjoys the attention yet hates it. Hester is a very confusing character in the story. But one thing that is clear is that she has love for her daughter, Pearl. Chillingworth lived for revenge on Dimmesdale. I don’t blame him though. Someone slept with his wife, revenge is not a bad option. He also got to torture Dimmesdale when he was sick. Which was a little, crazy and wicked. Everything in this story is ironic because Chillingworth and Dimmesdale became close friends. Dimmesdale lived with his guilt. Dimmesdale’s guilt of not stepping up and telling everyone that he was the man that sinned with Hester. It was killing him. (not literally, maybe.) And Pearl was just a weird child, fascinated by the scarlet letter Hester wore upon her bosom. All of these characters interacted at least once during the story. I am not going to go into detail about what happened, but the story is very detailed. The ending of the Scarlet Letter was not what I was expecting. I was expecting that Hester and Pearl would go off to live some place far, far away and never return to the town. But Pearl goes and marries a very rich man and Hester returns home. What really got me was how Pearl sends letters to her mother. I always knew she was a special kid. Anyways, about how Dimmesdale died. Who in the world dies right after they finally own up to what they have done? Well, Dimmesdale. But anyways, his way of being dying is quite hysterical and ironic. It made me frustrated because, well, he died before he could face the punishment of the town people. And also it was humorous because he died the way he did. Now, about Chillingworth, his death was in a way, understandable. He did not have any purpose to live on (since his only reason to live was to get revenge on Dimmesdale. But Dimmesdale died.) so he had no will to live anymore. Hence him dying. Overall, the book was alright. But I will never read it again… A book to be read only once. -Alysa Nguyen As we got to the end of The Scarlet Letter I was feeling a lot of mixed emotions. I was feeling angry, sad, happy, and a bit confused as well, but at the end of everything, although I hated the ending, I felt a bit more happy than sad, angry, or confused. It was mainly because at last the grand secret had finally been revealed and Dimmesdale finally stepped up and revealed to everybody that he was the father and then dropped dead, but I mean at least it was he who revealed his identity as father not Hester. Anyways I was a bit happy to know that Dimmesdale had no more pain or suffering to take and that Chillingworth at last could stop all his torturing and stop being such a leech. I was a bit sad for Hester because at the end the mean old Puritans got what they wanted which was to seclude her from society so she could die lonely and although she probably did at least she wasn't judged as much anymore because after a while people probably started to forget about her since she never really showed her face to the town. The ending I was expecting was for Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale to escape and leave everything and everyone behind so they could go start a new life somewhere very far far away, but I guess not all love stories have happy endings. I was actually really happy for Pearl because at least she was able to forget and get passed everything she had to live in her childhood by going to Europe and marrying someone who probably loved Pearl as much as Hester wanted Dimmesdale to love her. As for Chillingworth I really don't want to say that I'm happy that he died because I don't like feeling joy or happiness over those things, but I was glad that he was stopped because to be honest he turned into this really dark figure and shadow that was always following Hester and Dimmesdale around just to remind them of their sin like they weren't reminded enough by all of society, however at the very end we can see that although he was a really mean guy to Hester and Dimmesdale at least he never involved Pearl and actually left her some money at the end. This actually surprised me because it showed that Chillingworth was just really hurt and furious because of what Hester and Dimmesdale did to him but he had recognized that Pearl had no fault in this. And if I remember correctly I believe that Chillingworth initially started to torture Dimmesdale because he wanted him to step up as the father of Pearl and assume responsibility like Hester did for the sin they both committed. In conclusion although the ending was a bit disappointing at least it brought some peace and got rid of some heartache, especially on Hester because although she was strong and was able to face the Puritan society, at the end of the day she would break down when nobody would see her and she also wasn't able to support that the only man she ever truly loved was being tortured by her own husband. Anyways, although it wouldn't be right to say that it was a happy ending I think it is safe to say that it was a relieving ending.
Final Blog Post- Jenny Rubio (Week 4) Image Credits: http://www.finkweb.org/revelation-214/ wow, I actually made it through the whole book. *claps for myself*. So the Scarlet Letter was such an obnoxious book but there is always a brightside or one might say advantage to everything. Hawthorne opened up my eyes to see how little the mistake is, it'll cause great havoc. Hester commuting adultery and having to wear the Scarlet Letter upon her chest created a huge deal on the Puritan society and created so much, so many dilemmas within Dimmesdale's life span, or as long has she's know him. Yes, it was also Dimmesdale's fault as well but he wasn't man enough to claim up to being the father of Pearl. Hester has a great advantage at her hands by controlling the keeping of Dimmesdale's identity but she was actually loyal and kept her word and this was all because she loved him. Love seems to be powerful in the novel. One might thing that she's not loyal at all but one has to think that Chillingworth did leave her for so many years, like what was she supposed to do? Sit there and wait around for him to come back, who knew when the guy would show up again. Chillingworth being the husband of Hester, he shouldn't have left so he also has fault in this who chaotic situation. If he loved her as much as he said he did then you would've made effort to see to her. In the end they both die. Well, all three of them die boring deaths. They were so dull. Chillingworth dies because he has nothing to live for anymore, he was devoted to making Dimmesdale's life a living hell and with Dimmesdale dead and gone he is bored and finds no reason to live anymore. I find it pointless that Hawthorne ended his novel like this, where Hester ends up lonely and still wearing the Scarlet letter. I did find interest in the idea of Pearl inheriting all of Chillingworth’s money and becoming rich. Hawthorne created and introduced her in the beginning as a weird, and an overall odd character making her somewhat of an outcast, then as the novel progressed she grew and basically made it through it all and became the best one with an outcome. I also liked how she still remembered her mother, and sent her Knick knacks and luxury goods. Although, Hester didn't open them, not even touch them and basically let them collect dust, it was the thought that counts. She always kept her mother in mind and didn't ditch her, this is what's makes Pearl an amazing character. Honestly at first I thought she was weird but she grew on to me, she made great impressions on some towards the end of the novel. One might agree with this and others might disagree. This whole novel is full of what if's. Like what if Hester did come up and say that Dimmesdale was the father or what if Pearl did it since she had a sense that he was her father. Like the plot would dramatically different. If the puritans weren't so cruel to Hester she wouldn't have as much pride as she does. It was such a pro that Hester always kept her pride and never denied her child. Despite what the people would say about her or her daughter she would care and wouldn't let it get to her. Only if Hester didn't have Chillingworth to ruin what she had with Dimmesdale, she probably would've been happy and lived somewhat happily ever after with him. It may seem to one that she didn't have love for Chillingworth anymore. The way she thought of Dimmesdale was with so much fairy tale dreams and not much of that was mentioned or included Chillingworth. The issue of the novel was Chillingworth. Yeah, Hester made the mistake of adultery with Dimmesdale but all would've ended happy for them both if Chilling wasn't there to demolish what they have. Despite all these negative events throughout the novel, pearl, who was the sin child, the child of Hester Prynne made it out great. Honestly she did, she could be what her mother wanted to be, maybe not but that is still Hester Prynne's daughter and that's what matters the most because Hester wasn't the most successful woman in this novel. Pearl is truly a great price.
-Jaime Torres (week 4) final blog post. In the novel, The Scarlett Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the character, Hester Pryne, is convicted of adultery, which is a serious, major crime in the Puritan society. Hester gets punished by being placed upon the scaffold where everyone can publicly humiliate her and is forced to wear the Scarlett Letter “A” for the rest of her life, which she beautifully embroiders. However, instead of being ashamed and being resentful of the letter “A” that she now has to wear, she wears it with pride and confidence. When she went up to the scaffold with her daughter, Pearl, who was born out of the sin that she committed, she walked with so much confidence and courage that it shocked the Puritan women who were criticizing her with cruel, rude, and nasty words. But as Hester was getting comfortable in her pride and confidence, she recognizes someone in the crowd and realizes that it’s her husband whom she thought was dead.
Hester’s husband, who goes by the name Roger Chillingworth, is bound to take revenge on the guy whom Hester committed adultery with. Chillingworth soon finds out that the father of Pearl is none other than Minister Dimmesdale. Chillingworth, then starts to torture Dimmesdale mentally. Hester tries to tell Chillingworth to stop his torture upon Dimmesdale, but he doesn’t want to listen. Dimmesdale, already being tortured by Chillingworth, starts torturing himself for what he put Hester through. He whips himself in the back every night to try to take the guilt of his shoulder, but it’s still there. Towards the end of the book, Dimmesdale tells the whole Puritan society that he committed the sin with Hester and dies because of it. I thought this book was alright. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. One thing I did like about the book was Hester Prynne. She is very caring, courageous, and passionate. I found her very caring when she made clothes for other people, such as the homeless. She sewed together very beautiful embroidered clothing for the people of the Puritan society to wear. What I didn’t like was when the homeless still criticized Hester with harsh words even though she made very beautiful clothes for them. What kind of person would do that? I found her very courageous when she went up to the scaffold with such pride and confidence that it blew the Puritan society off their feet. And lastly, I found her very passionate when she sets up a meeting with Dimmesdale, intending to tell him about Chillingworth’s plans and what he intends to do. When they meet up, instead of talking about Chillingworth, they start talking about escaping to Europe and starting their lives over. They planned to live happily together than apart and miserable. This shows that Hester is very passionate about Dimmesdale and is still in love with him even though he put her through ‘hell’ by not confessing to the Puritan society that he also committed adultery with Hester. - Swapneel Singh (Final Blog Post) Week 4; Final entry
The Scarlet Letter, in my opinion, was kind of disappointing. In the beginning of the book, Hester Prynne, cheats on her husband, Roger Chillingworth, because he basically abandoned her for a couple of years. She ends up getting pregnant with the reverend's child, but he sucks, and kind of shuns her with the rest of the town. Hester endures a lot this whole book. She was thrown in jail pregnant, has a child and raises her on her own, is frowned upon, has to wear a symbol for her shame, has to see the person she loves being tortured/not loving her back, etc. Hester could have maybe done or said something so she didn’t have to suffer so much, but she chose not to. Hester is a really tough character, but in my opinion made herself suffer too much. She just took all the blame upon herself, even if it wasn’t all her fault. What she did was “bad,” in the Puritan society, but they were just taking it to the next level. As if the Puritans being tough on her wasn’t enough, Hester was also pretty hard on herself. Around the end of the book, when Hester and Pearl leave, Hester comes back without Pearl, and still wears the letter A on her clothes. She didn’t have to do that, she could’ve just stayed with Pearl somewhere else, and forget about the town, but she didn’t. She knew her punishment and stuck with it for some reason. On top of all of this, Hester is alone. Pearl stayed behind and got married, and might have had children, and found happiness. While Hester, has nothing. Her old flame died shortly after the man she really loved died also, and Pearl was grown and living her life, the townspeople didn’t really talk to her, so really, all Hester had was her letter A. Hester was fine with this though, she didn’t mind making baby clothes for Pearl’s children in her cottage. She accepted her punishment and carried on her life. I spent the whole book reading about how Hester was a cheater and everyone hated her, but she only committed the sin out of love and what not, just to have the person she “loved,” 1) not love her back, 2) only tell people, right when he’s about to die, and 3) be too much of a coward to tell her his true feelings, he kinda hinted at it by never being sure he wanted to do something with her. Hester gave up a lot of things for the people she loved, but she mainly gave up her happiness to make sure Pearl and Dimmesdale were protected and well. She could’ve been “selfish,” and do something for herself, she had a lot of opportunities to do so, but loved them so much she couldn’t bring herself to do so. I think this book was okay (kind of interesting), but I don’t think I would read it again or recommend it to others because the plot dragged on and it got pretty boring in some parts. -Daisy Araiza Photo cerdit: http://www.glogster.com/marymichelle/scarlet-letter-/g-6ln47dki8942b0lniqeuna0 Background: The interviewer was strapped to a chair. He was in a secluded room, only lit by a single light bulb. He didn’t know what was happening; last thing he remembered, he was in bed asleep, satisfied with his interview with Roger Chillingworth. Now he was strapped down on a metal chair with no escape. Four shadowy figures approached him. He began to scream for help… “Geez calm down, mister.” He stopped momentarily. It sounded like a little girl’s voice. It sounded really familiar. Wait, please don’t tell me… He thought. The four figures revealed themselves, and what a surprise it was! It was Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale! “Before you begin to ask us why you are here and why the four of us are here all together, how about you answer the questions we have to say first?” Pearl said in a cheerful manner. The interviewer nodded without hesitation. “Good,” Pearl mischievously smiled, “let us start the interview.” Interview of the Interviewer: “The rules of this interview are that we ask you questions. You do not. Do not question our questions or the current situation alright?” Pearl said. “Err, okay…” the interviewer replied. ***** Pearl: So, what did you think about our story? And by story I mean the conflict all four of us experienced? Interviewer (a bit confused): Ummm, it was boring, really. You sure know how to make a plot obnoxious. No, offence or anything. I mean, Hester, you seem to be a bit oblivious and blinded by love. Pearl, you are quite the oddball. Chillingworth, you are basically Satan’s son. And Dimmesdale you really are big weenie; I recommend a restaurant called Super Weenie Hut Juniors. (All four of them looked offended. Chillingworth began to have thoughts of strangling this annoying interviewer) Hester (feeling hopeful): Did you happen to at least see some positive qualities of me? Interviewer: Honestly, I did. I do appreciate your passion and kindness. You did change people’s view of you. The Scarlet Letter embroidered on your chest changed its meaning from Adultery to Able. I also respect your bravery of exposing yourself to society and not really caring about it. Hester (smiling): Thank you. Dimmesdale: What about me? Do you see anything positive with me? Interviewer: I guess. You are a religious person. Dimmesdale: …… Is that it? Interviewer: Oh no, wait. I take that back. You don’t deserve to be considered a religious man. You been hiding your sins for SEVEN years. You are not even brave enough to confess them to God! You have lied to the public about it. You never even took public shame together with Hester. You never went on the scaffold with her! Dimmesdale (looking as if he was stabbed): T-that…is true. Interviewer: If it makes you feel better, I’ll give you discount coupons to Super Weenie Hut Juniors. (Dimmesdale walks away to go sulk in a corner. The atmosphere begins to feel awkward.) Chillingworth: Ignore that one. He recently began to do that all the time. Anyway, why do you view me as Satan’s son, you retched scamp? Interviewer: Well, you are sadistic. You love to torture others. I mean, you seem to have fun shriveling the soul of a “religious man.” Okay, I don’t see him as one, but in general, it’s a wrong thing to do. Also you left your wife for 2 YEARS! Who does that?! Chillingworth (almost yelling): I object to your statement. Interviewer: And I object to your objection. Chillingworth: I really want to mangle you right now. Interviewer: Try me. (While the two were bickering) Hester: Pearl, aren’t you going to ask why he thinks you are an “oddball.” Pearl: Nope. He’s not wrong. I stood out from the rest of the public. I was known to be the demon child because I was born from sinful ground. They saw my behavior as odd too, and I don’t really mind. Pearl (in a loud tone): Anyway, I have two more questions to ask of you. (The two weren’t listening) WILL YOU TWO PLEASE STOP BICKERING! (The two quiet down and look at each other with irritated facial expressions.) Pearl: First, question, mister. What does the Scarlet Letter mean to you? Interviewer: Let’s see… As a whole, in my opinion, the Scarlet Letter is an undetermined symbol. It shows the meaninglessness of society’s system of judgment and punishment. It may represent Hester’s crime of adultery, as well, but over the course of years its meaning begins to change into something positive. Pearl: Interesting. Interviewer: And, umm, the second question? Pearl: Oh! Right! Who is your favorite? Interviewer: Favorite? As in favorite character? Pearl: Yep. Interviewer: Oh, that’s easy! You, Pearl. Pearl (looking a bit surprised): Really, me? Why? Interviewer: Well, you stand out. You are the most interesting character in the story. Your actions may be a little bit questionable, but it is with purpose. Like that one time, where Dimmesdale expressed his sins to the public before he died. It was you who gave Dimmesdale the courage to finally confess his sins to society. Really, you ARE the Pearl of wisdom. Pearl: Why, thank you. Interviewer: Uh, are we finally done? Pearl: Yup! Chillingworth: Does that mean that I can finally mangle this scoundrel? Interviewer: No, I would rather not. Pearl (smiling): Sure. Interviewer: Wai—HUH?! ***** The interviewer opened his eyes. He was back in his bed. For a moment, he was confused, but then realized it was just a bad dream. Oh, thank goodness, he thought. ~Diego Lopez Aww, he looks so cute when he sleeps. 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We have finally finished reading the book The Scarlet Letter and it was an okay book. It was about two people that committed a sin called adultery. While Hester was committing the sin with Dimmesdale, she was also cheating on her old, rusty husband, Chillingworth, because Chillingworth left her for 2 years. She also got sent to jail and she gave birth to an odd, weird girl. While she was in jail she was knitting a letter A on all of her clothing because it was going to resemble her sin. When Chilingworth came back and asked Hester who is the father of ,Pearl, and Hester didn't want to tell Chillingworth who was her baby daddy. Hester because she is a dumb girl she doesn't tell no one about Dimmesdale's identity and that will bring more trouble later in the story. Then after some time Chillingworth found out who was Hester's baby daddy and then he will volunteer as Dimmesdales aid. Chillingworth was going to start to torture Dimmesdale, but he is going to torture him by being his friend and asking him about his feelings and everything, so he could tell the whole society that he is the father of Pearl. After some time, Dimmesdale started to feel bad because of his sin and that is bad because he is a minister. Hester tries to convince Chillingworth to stop torturing Dimmesdale. Hester later tells Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband, but then he forgives Hester. Then Hester meets with Dimmesdale, so they could escape to England with Pearl, so they could start a new life and so they could be a happy family. When they go to buy the tickets to go to England, but when they go to board the train Chillingworth decides to go with them. When I read that part I thought that they will never be happy with Chillingworth following them everywhere. After they escaped Dimmesdale died and Chillingworth got mad and he didn't have a purpose to live anymore because he couldn't torture Dimmesdale anymore. A year after Dimmesdale died, Chillingworth dies and all of his money went to Pearl. After a time Pearl became one of the richest people in the new world and she also got married. When Pearl was one of the richest people, she didn't forget about her mother because she started to send some rich, expensive gifts to her through the mail. When Hester started seeing that her daughter, Pearl, was sending her gifts, she started knitting baby clothes because she thought that if, Pearl, got married then she will have children one day. Hester returns later on to her little house and she also kept on her "A" and she died later on and she was buried next to her true love and her baby daddy,Dimmesdale. I thought that the book was very interesting and I really liked it. The reason that Hester kept on living was because of Pearl. - Emedel Vargas http://giphy.com/search/ill-be-back This post has been removed due to inappropriate content. --Ms. Powell
To be honest, I don't even know where to start. At the beginning of the book I would imagine myself burning The Scarlet Letter(although I wouldn't) because it was just completely awful and boring. In my opinion it really matched the romanticism stuff because this showed a lot of drama and it was very cheesy. The Puritans themselves were were of much romanticism in my opinion because they really emphasized all their thoughts and beliefs to put in reason. I actually think that this book has made me learn a very good lesson,and that lesson would be that you should never make anybody pay for the mistakes of others. For example, Pearl has to put up with the nasty eyes and dirty talking of the older women because her mother made the mistake of committing adultery. Pearl had absolutely no fault in what her mother did but yet, she still had so much hate for it. Honestly now that I am typing this, I've realized this is a very sick book. I know I am saying this from a very different perspective that Puritans would because they would think that the things they did were very "holy" or right. This book in which there was adultery, a creepy little girl, old naggy women, two dumb adulterers who couldn't keep it in their pants and an annoying scarlet letter "A", I was actually surprised at how good Hawthorne kept me fished into the book because of the wonder of what would happen next. The Scarlet Letter kept me wondering what would happen next because at one moment you would have hope and in the next you would have devastation. Throughout the book I would literally roll my eyes at how many opportunities the characters had of escaping the Puritans but like I said, they were such dumb people. This book had a fair ending in my opinion because everybody was just so annoying all throughout and well I guess someone(Pearl) seemed to end alright. Other than that it was sort of depressing to see those who would fall to their fate because they could've done better. Pearl could’ve not made such a prideful girl and taken that letter “A” off of her, Dimmesdale could’ve manned up and Chillingworth should’ve just chilled. I mean seriously, that man was way too older for Pearl and he really ditched her for a long time, he should’ve let her go and understood much better. They were all cowards. One of my favorite characters I would say would be Pearl because she was the only wise person in this book even though she would seem weird and haunting. Even though you really couldn't get what might have been going through her head she seemed to know what was up. Overall, I would say that this book gets six happy faces out of ten because it was very engaging but also because it was too cheesy and just very awkward to me. I would recommend this only to people who were fans of romanticism but I would not persuade someone who is walking down the street listening to music and sagging their pants below their knees.
[Maria Perez] Final Blog Link to the picture is here: http://career-city.com/scarlet-letter-cover/scarlet-letter-cover-2 |