Blog Post 4 (it's short because i wanted to finish it before 12)

Chapter 9(PP 114-125)

            Starts off talking about Roger Chillingworth… “The Leech”, perfect name for this man! “to vanish out of life as completely as if he indeed lay at the bottom of the ocean,” Haha, where he belongs!! I never said that… Apparently Chillingworth is the creator of the Elixir of Life. I wonder if he ever used it on himself. Now I see him as a mad scientist at the age of 252.

Towards the end it’s expressed that R.C. is either Satan or an emissary of Satan. I assumed this chapter was going to talk about Chillingworth’s past life differently. Due to the book only talking about how he is a bad guy, I was prepared to feel bad for the man. But, no! Now I’m more afraid of him than angry at him.

Chapter 10

            The first sentence made me think that Hawthorne was going to show the good side of Chillingworth. There is no good side apparently. “Old Roger Chillingworth, throughout life, had been calm in temperament, kindly though not of warm affections, but ever, and in all his relations with the world, a pure and upright man. (P 125) The way Hawthorne worded R.C.’s actions made it sound sinister. “He now dug into the poor clergyman’s heart like a miner searching for gold;” (P 125) However, R.C. was just in search of the clergyman’s soul.

            “Yet some men bury their secrets thus,” (P 128, Chillingworth) Now comparing him to the “Minister’s Black Veil”. I see that R.C. and the main character in the short story have similarities. Both of them are mysterious and dark. They both also believe that the Puritan people have something to say about everyone else, yet have their own skeleton trapped in the closet. No one embraces their wrongdoings.

            Hester and Pearl are soon brought up in this chapter. I feel as though Pearl is Hester’s guardian angel. Pearl arranges the prickly burrs along the lines of the scarlet letter. Knowing that these weeds have a touch texture, I begin to reread that section of the chapter and thing of the significance between Pearl’s actions. Thinking about it, I came up with the idea that Pearl placed the painful weeds upon the “A” symbolizing her mother’s pain. Hester goes through so much pain and ridicule every day and wears the “A” with pride. She never complains and she has her head high at all times. This is the reason why she doesn’t remove the weeds from her bosom.

            Pearl is highly suspicious of Chillingworth. “Come away, Mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you! But he cannot catch little Pearl!”

            Going back to Chapter 8 when I thought Rev. Dimmesdale was Pearl’s father, now I think he is too afraid of R.C. to do such shame. However, no one knows that Chillingworth is Hester’s husband. Then again, I feel like Dimmesdale is the father because when he left R.C.’s presence, Chillingworth stated, “But see, now, how passion takes hold upon this man, and hurrieth him out of himself! As with one passion, so with another! He hath done a wild thing ere now, this pious Master Dimmesdale, in the hot passion of his heart!” (P 133)

Scarlet Letter #3

Chapter 6 (pages 85-96)

            I didn’t really like this chapter. I find the relationship between Pearl and Hester to be beautiful, but the chapter bored me. Plus it didn’t help being how I was listening to Mozart while reading. However, this chapter goes into great detail about Hester’s sunshine. Pearl, named “as being of great price-purchased with all she had-her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne, 85)

            Just like chapter 5, Hawthorne is showing a more sentimental side of Hester in this chapter. She’s strong in the very beginning of the novel and now we learn that she’s only strong because the heavens blessed her with this child. “Above all, the warfare of Hester’s spirit, at that epoch, was perpetuated in Pearl” (Hawthorne, 87) Even at such a young age, I feel as though Pearl knows she is different from the other kids.

• Symbol: Pearl’s eyes and smile

Every time Hester wonders if Pearl is a demon child, Pearl smiles and looks at her with eyes that reach the depth of your soul. Then, Hester knows her child is just a blessing that the world doesn’t understand.

Chapter 7 (pages 96-104)

            Do my eyes deceive me? Could Pearl really be taken away from her mother? This is not happening!

            Pearl has to be the cutest little thing. I picture Pearl with anime-like eyes, big, brown, and bright. When reading about Pearl stopping the kids from flinging mud at her and Hester, all I could do was laugh; imagining this little girl scaring off children three times her size. Pearl isn’t a sin; she gets rid of the sins. “She resembled, in her fierce pursuit of them, an infant pestilence-the scarlet fever, or some such half-fledged angel of judgment-whose mission was to punish the sins of the rising generation.” (Hawthorne, page 99)

            The last event that caught my eye in this chapter was on page 102, “…that it made Hester Prynne feel as if it could not be the image of her own child, but of an imp who was seeking to mould itself into Pearl’s shape.” (Hawthorne) Why did Hester begin to see her child as an imp (demon)? Were the words of the townspeople getting to her?

Chapter 8 (pages 104-114)

            When Governor Bellingham, Wilson, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale walk into the room, they didn’t notice Hester. They talked bad about young Pearl until they noticed the mother. Gov. Bellingham tells Hester that Pearl doesn’t belong and that she isn’t a Christian child. However, talking bad about an infant isn’t Christian-like either!

            As the adults have a discussion about Pearl, there goes Chillingworth getting on my last nerve!! His whispers got under Prynne’s skin and she sticks up for her daughter. “God gave me the child! He gave her in requital of all things else, which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness!-she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me as too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a millionfold the power of retribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first!” (Prynne, page 109)

            Hester doesn’t give up when the men insist on separating her and her child. She perseveres by asking Dimmesdale to help her out. To my astonishment, he does just that. Maybe she has one person that hasn’t completely given up on her. I think Chillingworth is suspicious of Dimmesdale. “You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness,” He gives off the impression that the clergyman was the apprentice in the adultery. At the top of page 113, Chillingworth wants the men to continue the search for the father of Pearl. Why does he care so much? Maybe because men don’t like to be portrayed as a fool; even in today’s day in age men don’t want to find out their girlfriend or wife cheated on them. I think he cares because she killed his “pride”. In the end, precious Pearl is allowed to stay with her mother.J

The Scarlet Letter #2

Chapter 4 (Pages 67-74)

            This chapter is definitely better than the first. It starts off with Hester returning to prison. She’s on suicidal and homicidal watch. Why would they believe she could harm her own child? A jailer compares her to Satan. “Verily, the woman hath been like a possessed one; and there lacks little, that I should take in hand to drive Satan out o her with stripes.” (Page 68, Master Brackett) She is nothing like Satan, she’s just the opposite. She is keeping the man she has committed adultery with out of her mouth. She doesn't want to ruin his life like the townspeople have ruined hers. However, these hypocritical remarks are expected from the Puritans.

            The physician introduced to Hester is also the stranger from Chapter 3. He is filled with anger and hate. “Here, woman! The child is yours –she is none of mine-neither will she recognize my voice or aspect as a father’s.” (Page 69 Roger Chillingworth) Hester can see right through this guy. She doesn't accept the medicine he offers until she is convinced it’s not poison. He explains to her that he’d rather watch her suffer with the letter placed upon her bosom. “Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do better for y object than to let thee live-than to give thee medicines against all harm and peril of life-so that this burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom?” (Page 70, R. Chillingworth)

            Towards the end of the chapter, we find out that the two are married.

·        How could he speak so cruel to the one he “loves”?

Reading on, there was the answer to my question. She didn't love him and I’m almost positive he felt the same about her. When they start talking about their marriage and how they both were at fault, I actually start lighting up on Chillingworth. He gave off the impression that he was sorry for his actions. Of course it was all an act, he just wanted to know the man’s name. Luckily, Hester is fully aware of R.C.’s mind games.

            This man really gets under my skin, telling Hester to swear not to speak of his as her “husband”. Why would she want people to know she’s married to that asinine man?! She gets enough ridicule from the townspeople.

Chapter 5 (Pages 75-80)

            The first couple pages of this chapter, Hester is shown in a different perspective. In chapters two, three, and four she is portrayed as a strong woman. She gave off the impression that she didn't care about what people had to say about her appearance. She was used to being the talk of the town and brushed the insults off her chest. When she walked into the sunlight, she felt like her only purpose was to reveal the scarlet letter. She thought about her daughter and how she would grow up being known as the “child of sin”.

            I admire Hester. She is free to leave and go back to England, but she does not such thing. She is ignored and forced into alienation, but she stays in Boston. “The chain that bound her here was of iron links, and galling to her inmost soul, but could never be broken.” (Page 77 narrator) Hester only has herself to lean on. No one wanted to be known as the friend of a person that wears the “A”.

            The title, “Hester At Her Needle” signifies her at a high point. She realizes that she’s not alone. She has her needlework to get her through the rough times. Her decision in the first half of this chapter reminds me of a quote once stated by John Steinbeck; “It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

            She may not be able to fancy herself up, but she can distinguish her daughter’s attire. The young lady has to wear this emblem on her chest for the rest of her life. When realizing her talent, she begins to think of new ideas. She has taken a bad experience and begins to do what she loves.

The Scarlet Letter

Chapters 1-3 Pages 45-67

Chapter 1 – The Prison

Chapter one gives a background story about the edifice, large building. The chapter doesn’t give much information about the setting of the story though. It talks about people standing outside the prison in Boston. Hawthorne then describes the prison in depth, talking about the surroundings and its history. Towards the end of this short chapter, a rosebush is mentioned.

·        Symbol - rosebush

To me, the rosebush is a symbol of life beyond the prison walls. The bush grew next to a depressing, old place. It shines a little light on those that enter the spiked door. It represents beauty in a run down town. “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.” (Page 46)

Chapter 2 – Meeting Hester Prynne

Chapter two starts off on a summer morning, over two centuries ago. Men, woman, and children of all ages approach the oak door of the prison. Women begin to gossip as the wait lingers on. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.” (Page 49) Who are they talking about and why? As the story goes on, a woman by the name of Hester Prynne appears from the prison door. She is the first person wearing the Scarlet Letter, the letter “A” in red with gold thread. As she holds a three months old baby close to her, she makes her way to the raised platform. As she’s placed in front of the townspeople, they begin to criticize her and the letter threaded on the breast of her gown. Referring to the letter, a woman says, “but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it!” (Page 52) Getting closer to the end of the chapter, makes me extremely curious about Mistress Prynne.

            Usually, there is a mixture of awe and guilt amongst those watching this awful sight. Not with this audience. The witnesses of Hester’s punishment stood stern while their eyes focused on her. As she stands on the platform, a thunder of laughter rises from the men, women, and children in the crowd. “Hester Prynne might have repaid them all with a bitter and disdainful smile.” (Page 55)

            Scenes of Hester’s early life begin to play in the back of her mind. She’s suddenly back in her village in Old England. She sees the faces of her mother, father, and a young man. Those final seconds of her death, she couldn’t believe she was about to take her final breath. It couldn’t be true! “Could it be true?” she thought. “She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real.” (Page 57)

                                    Chapter 3 – More Information about Hester

            The author provides information on the letter in the beginning of the chapter. “the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning on the outskirts of the crowd a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts.” (Page 57) It is then stated that Mistress Prynne is not going to be sentenced to death. Two men are having a brief conversation about her while watching her shame. A townsman tells a stranger that the penalty of Hester’s crime is death. However, the people were merciful. The woman was forced to stand on the platform for three hours and wear the “mark of shame” on her breast.

·        Symbol – “A”

The “A” is a sign of sin. Chapter three gives readers more information on Hester and the reason she wears the “A”. In chapter two, I assumed she was sentenced to death, but I did wonder why she held the infant in her arms. On page 54, the author noted something about an upcoming death. “They were stern enough to look upon her death,” Reading this chapter confused me when learning about Hester because of my assumptions. Another character is revealed in this chapter, Master Dimmesdale. He was sent to get Hester to repent and talk about her consequences.

Ending the chapter, readers learn that the young lady wears the letter upon her breast because she had an affair and will not tell the reverends who the father of her child is. Reverend Mr. Wilson tells her that the letter will be removed if she tells. She refuses to tell and says that her child will have a heavenly father instead of an earthly father.

·        Is the stranger that asked the townsman about Hester the father?

·        Was Hester raped?

·        Does she know who the father is?

These questions may be answered as the book continues.

Two Main Characters:

1.      Hester Prynne

2.      Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale

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