Poe

This week we talked about a new author named Poe. We also read some of his short stories which to me seemed a bit peculiar. In our discussion about "Fall of the House of Usher" we discussed different topics about the short story. One of the topics discussed was about our thoughts in the fact that Roderick buried his sister alive and whether he knew she was alive or not. To me, the reason why he buried her was because he feared her greatly and he didn't want her illness to get worse and affect him. Evidence of this is shown in the beginning of the story when the narrator sees Madeline, Roderick's sister, and at the sight of her, Roderick hides his face under the blanket in terror. Roderick also explains that his only fear is fear itself and that he is terrified of dying in fear, which would directly show his reasons for burying his sister as soon as possible. Another explanation for this peculier act would have been that the whole incident was all a trap that roderick and madeline were playing of the narrator. This is shown in the way in which roderick burys his sister inside the house instead of outside and burying her while she is still alive

Romantacism

We have now started leaning about Romanticism which deals with thoughts regarding the individual, imagination and nature. I feel that I am not necessarily a romantic, but my thoughts have some connection to this belief. I don't completely agree with their views of seeing nature as the answer to all questions. I feel that we do need facts from studies to be able to understand the meaning of life. But i also feel that we as humans are directly connected to nature, since that is what we started with and that is what our world grew from. I believe that we can find answer to a lot of our questions through nature, but we cannot base everything from that. I would definitely prefer living in the romantic era than during the Puritan times since there was much freedom of the individual and imagination. I think our generation would have fit in better with the romantics other than with the Puritans, but we would also have different views since we are huge on technology.

Scarlet letter conclusion

Well I finally finished Scarlet Letter. It wasn't a bad book, but it just moved very slowly. The end was pretty unexpected since everything was wrapped up in a way we didn't expect it to. For instance, Dimmesdale finally confessed in front of the whole society on the scaffold where 7 years earlier, Hester and Pearl had to stand. We also notice how there is something in his chest, which is all up to one to interpret. To me it was a result of Chillingworth's poison that led to Dimmesdale getting a rash on his chest then later on led him so start torturing himself and marking it with an A as punishment. What still seems weird to me is that when Dimmesdale was confessing, Chillingworth wanted to save/protect him. For a man who has been wanting to poison and torture Dimmesdale, it sure seems weird he is wanting to protect him. The part that i most expected was when Dimmesdale died in the arms of Hester since we all saw it coming.

The scarlet letter

So far we have seen how the scarlet letter , representing sin and guilt, has affected Dimmesdale and Hester both negatively. Hester has become statue like, while Dimmesdale cannot stand the guilt. We can now predict that Chillingworth is poisoning him, causing his condition to worsen which in return causes him more pain and guilt. We also notice how all Chillinworth's actions have led us to view him as devil-like. He slowly poisons Dimmesdale leaving him with greater pain and also doesn't encourage Hester to tell Dimmesdale that he is her husband, leaving us to believe he has a plan in mind. But back to Hester and Dimmesdale. They both agree to leave their miserable lives behind and run away to start all over. This plan sounds well to all but Pearl, since this leads to her mother changing her appearance (literally) as she takes off the scarlet letter and takes down her hair. Pearl is not used to this side of her mother so she rejects her mother's happiness which leads us to see Pearl as an evil character. We are also viewing Dimmesdale as a coward since it took him that long to finally realize that he needs to also confess his sin to the society and realize his wrongs. Even though his condition is very clear to the reader, Pearl seems to still not accept Dimmesdale unless he quote "walks to town with [her] and [her] mother holding hands." Pearl's constant request shows how she has a clue as to what her mother is trying to keep from her since she also shows great interest in the scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom.

Scarlet Letter #2

Now that we are well aware that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl and Hester's lover, we see him as more of a coward. He makes attempts to let the community know about it, but they do not catch on. His pain is growing worse each day and is due to the burden he carries. Even though he still decides not to tell the community, he indirectly lets them know through his sermons. Hester has also become more as we can call it, an ideal puritan woman, but only in appearance. She has become dead since she no longer takes care of herself which makes people believe that the scarlet letter has done its deed even though it really has not. She still doesn't believe in the puritan ways, but keeps it to herself. Chillin. is also harassing Dimmesdale even more and is now fully aware whom he is and turns into a bad person which in a way is a representation of the devil. Pearl, now being a lot older, notices all of it and is starting to connect the dots between Dimmesdale and Hester. As she gets older, i believe she will also rebel against the Puritan community since she is so free spirited and is growing up with Hester as a mother. I now would strongly agree that Pearl is Hester's savior since she has helped her get on the community's good side, but at the same time Pearl causes her to completely lose her own personality.

Scarlet Letter

I saw the cover of Scarlet Letter and thought it was going to be the worst book ever. As i started reading it and really getting into the plot, it isn't as bad as i thought. It is actually pretty interesting. Even though the Puritans are not interesting people whatsoever, their ways of life isn't too bad to learn about. It is so interesting how they could live the way they did with all those rules they had. They had to live such a plain and boring life. I see my life now and realize I could never be bored again after learning about the Puritans. I also found it pretty interesting they way they thought about and treated their women. Nowadays we live in a world where women are very respected and known to be equal to men. But that was not the case back when the Puritanism was huge. I saw this greatly in the Scarlet Letter as we are introduced to Hester Prynne, a puritan women who has committed adultery. It shocks me how she is treated the way she is by what she did. Nowadays we have no punishment for adultery and back then it used to be death.

Jefferson

This week we read "The Autobiography" by Thomas Jefferson. To me is seemed so interesting how such a person could truly want to achieve perfection and go that far to achieve it. He uses a very strict method which consists of recording all his actions through out the day into a booklet, then at the end of the day observing it and seeing all his flaws and observing what he can improve. Through this process he corrects all his flaws, and is closer to achieving perfection. Through this method, Jefferson keeps himself busy with things things that benefit him as a person while achieving perfection at the same time. I do not think it is possible for any person to achieve perfection since nobody is perfect and all have flaws. Every person has to commit flaws, therefore they can learn valuable lessons from them as we all do. Even though i do not believe that Jefferson could reach perfection, I do believe that he spent a very productive life.