Monday, December 13, 2010

Huck Finn .. Discussion Questions . XL - Chapter The Last

1. Jim has a good heart in him. He is just like everybody else. He risks his own freedom to help Tom, who doesnt even care if he gets help or not. And he helps the doctor to help Tom.

2. It helps Jim so people dont treat Jim so bad as they actually should. He was the worst thing someone could be in that society and the doctor's speech put him into a much better light. The doctor kind of persuaded the people. Even though they should hate him, after the speech they dont see him as bad.

3. Tom is really proud of the bullet in his leg. It is like some kind of a proof that he was brave and it reminds him of the adventure to 'steal' Jim. He also makes a necklace out of it to show it.

4. Huck Finn gets adopted at the end of the chapter to get a better education but he cant really stand it so he runs away. That shows that he doesnt really fit into the society. He wants to be free and not a member of society. He needs adventures and his own life to live in.

5. If Huck wasnt the narrator of the book, you would get a totally different view of the book, if not a totally different book. If you had a omniscient narrator, you would have known things so much earlier, you wouldnt have had the dialect and you wouldnt have seen things from Hucks point of view. As Huck is an unreliable narrator, you sometimes get problems to understand things, because he sees things sometimes different than they are.

Huck Finn .. Discussion Questions . XXXI - XXXV

1. I agree that Chapter 31 is the climax of the book because in that Chapter Huck makes an important dicision considering Jim. He finds out that Jim is the same as him, he is a human. Moreover he wasnt sure what he should do with Jim but in that chapter he knows that he has to save him and free him out of slavery.

2. The irony in this statement is that Huck really believes in that. Most people just say it as a phrase but do not really believe in that.

3. Huck is reborn again. The first paragraph symbolizes one of the main themes death and rebirth. Also it kinda seems like a very lonely western scene in a ghost town. (Ghost = death?)

4. The Providence is like God. Huck has faith in God in this moment because he believes that God puts the right words in his mouth when he needs them. I think Miss Watson would agree because she is a really religious person.

5.

6. Romanticism vs. Realism. Huck is the character that symbolizes Realism, Tom is the character that symbolizes romanticism. When Tom comes along on the ferry and meets Huck, romanticism and realism come together.

7. Huck wants to get Jim out of slavery because he is his friend and he really likes him. The only reason that Tom wants him out of slavery is that he wants fun and an adventure.

8. Even though the king and the duke gave Huck a lot of problems and he got into a lot of trouble because of them, he doesnt like it, when he sees them in tar and feathers. That shows that Huck has feelings and that he cares for people and has a good soul, that doesnt represent freedom.

9. When Huck steals the watermelon he wants it because he is hungry and needs it for himself. Tom on the other side says he doesnt need it, who cares if he is hungry, it is stealing if he takes it. However, if he took it to send it to Jim, bestest with a knife to kill people, its not stealing anymore, it would be perfectly fine.

10. Huck lets Tom take control because he admires him so much, he thinks his own doings and thoughts are worse than Tom's.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Question - Huck Finn XXXVI - XXXIX

How was Twain's disdain for Romantic fiction evident in Chapter 36 - 39

Tom Sawyer is the character that represents romanticism in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'.
He is a character that tends a lot to do things that are romantic. He reads adventure books and tries to do the same things as the characters in the book. He founds a band with his friends and swears to kill people, to steal things, they even write a vow with blood, but in the end nothing happens. He tends to make things really complicated and risky but he doesnt really care as long as it follows the 'guidelines' of his books.
Since Tom shows up, Huck kind of adjusts hisself to Tom. He does not really think anymore, he does what Tom wants him to. Huck got a lot smarter since the first chapter but he doesnt really use that ability anymore. He worships Tom and doesnt even think that something of him could be totally wrong.
When Tom plans Jim's escape, we see more of his idea for romanticism. He wants to make Jim keep a journal - even though he doesnt even know how to write. Then he wants to dig a hole to get Jim, with case knives, even though the door is unlocked. Moreover he wants to make him a pie with a rope ladder in it, even though Jim is located on the first floor or he wants to saw off the bed leg even though you could just lift it up. All in all we see that Tom's plans are kind of senseless and stupid.
For Jim Tom's plans are not really helpful either. First, He doesnt really get to escape really fast, but moreover Tom put snakes and spiders into his room and he nearly bit off his teeth.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Huck Finn .. Review Questions . XXI - XXIII

1. People in Arkansas are kinda cruel. They torture dogs til they die, have dog fights, they are in mobs, trying to get a person, lynch him and they think it is totally fun to do it. Also they just kill Boggs, because he violated the pride of a person.

2. He knows that they are hypocrites, he just looks what they are doing but he doesnt want to participate in it. He also doesnt argue against them because he doesnt wanna get into trouble with them.

3. The idea of honor being a really high thing that should be protected is reflected. Also that people are curious and sightseeing as Bogg was killed and they dont want to miss anything.

4. The Duke and the King think that people really want to watch Shakespeare, because it is Shakespeare. But in the end there is hardly anybody watching it.

5. He is an unreliable Narrator. He thinks the guy in the circus got fooled, but in the end he didnt.

6. The advertisement wants to provoke the people who read that. It tells them that women and children are not allowed to watch the show so it must be something secret. People usually like to watch things like that.

7. Twain compares the two frauds with real kings and dukes. Real kings and dukes usually are hypocrites too. They want other peoples money and things for them and they dont care if those people want to give something to the royalty, they just take it.

8. Huck gets another view of Jim. He realizes that Jim loves his family, he misses them. He doesnt only think of his children, he also reflects on his doings earlier and what he did, how that effected his daughter and him and that he cannot forgive himself.

9.
- huck is adopted by the widow douglas. She makes him go to school, etc.
- Huck joins Tom saeyers gang, which presents to kill people and steal things, but they dont do anything.
- Huck gives money to judge
- Pap comes around and tries to get him away from school etc.
- Pap steals Huck and brings him to illinois shore
- People try to get Huck away from there
- Huck fakes his death and flees on a canoe to Jackson's island
- He finds Jim on the island who ran away cause Miss Watson wanted to sell him down to new orleans
- Huck plays prank on jim, who gets bit by a Snake
- Huck and Jim go to floating house, where a man lies and where they get dresses
- Huck goes back to land, dresses up as a girl, which fails
- Womans husband goes to island, cause he saw smoke
- Pap is worth 200 Dollars, Jim 300
- Leave --> Walter Scott
- Gang of 3 people killing one of members
- Huck goes to boat man, tells he is related to the rich guy, and his family is on the Walter Scott.
- Huck plays another trick on jim, they get lost in the fog for night
- Raft gets hit by steamboat, they dive, get into Ginger..., get friends with Buck, get into feud of Shepherdsons and Gingerpeople
- George Jackson -> Jim -> Feud
- Meeting the Duke and the King, who are running away from town
- playing Shakespear, no one watches it
- playing Royal nonsuch, everybody watches it
-Boggs coming to town, wanting to kill Sherburn, Boggs gets killed --> Bible under head
- Going to the circus, gets fooled by drunk person riding the horse.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Movement 2
The River

Episode 4:

Jim and Huck on the river




Episode 5:


The Feud


Episode 6:


Duke & King


Episode 7:


Boggs, Sherburn, the circus, the royal nonsuch


Episode 8: 


Harvey && William Wilkes

Friday, December 3, 2010

Huck Finn . Discussion Questions [: XV - XX...

1. fog is a metaphor for confusion. Huck and Jim lose each other several times in the fog. Light on the other hand stands for clearance and peace.


2. Even though Jims a slave, Huck cares for him. He realizes that he hurt Jim, that he has feelings just like a human being.

3.

- Huck thinks he is the reason that Jim is free and he thinks he is a bad person because he helped a slave becoming free. He got taught that stealing a slave is the worst thing he could do and he did it, even though actually freeing a slave is something really good.

- He has to buy his OWN children, because they do not belong to him. So if he cannot buy them he just steals them.

-Why should you do thinks right, when you have to learn to do them right. You could just do them wrong with no effort and the result is the same.

-As snakeskin stands for extremely bad luck, they think when they saw it it 'cursed' them. This was said in the fog when they were passing cairo and they were afraid that they already let cairo behind.

4. They gave him money, actually 40 $ which is a lot of money at that time, because Huck made up a story about his family being really sick and the hunters cannot go into the ship. So the hunters feel sorry and give Huck a lot of money.

5. It represents the judgement of nature and nature gets replaced by society, which is represented by the steam boat. Society destroys nature. Nature vs. Society.

6. Twain wrote this book and he wanted it to be a continuation of Tom Sawyer. He put his book down because it developed into something else. In the meantime he wrote another novel, which is called 'Life on the Mississippi'. After that he picked up Huckleberry Finn.

7. The furniture of the house makes fun of the romantic idea of death. The family actually acts kind of weird.

8. freedom, romanticism vs realism, superstition, ignorance & naivety, role of the outsider

9. Realism, Moses freed the slaves in Egypt and fled with them. Huck is compared with Moses, cause he steals a slave too.

10. Hogs are better than people, they go to church every time, people dont. And it is pretty funny that they take their guns to a holy place like this.

11. The feud stands for Romanticism. It is this too families fighting against each other even though they do not know the reason why they fight. It is a Connection to Romeo and Juliet.

12. Both of them feel better on the raft because it stands for freedom. They might feel more comfortable in a comfortable way on a bed or something like that but they feel more free on a raft where they can do what they want to.

13. Clothes represent society, nudity represents freedom. So they represent freedom by being on the raft naked.

14.  Because his dad taught him that it is better to let people play and let them do their own thing except of arguing with them.

15. Huck doesnt tell them that he knows that their not real dukes and kings

16. Juliet is 'played' by the king who is totally old and ugly, which satirizes the book.

17. He says that he has been changed from a pirate by this meeting and now hes gonna go out to change all the other pirates, he just needs some money. Its satirizing the gullibility of people.

18. Twain days that Americans are really gullible, believing some strangers that they are a duke and a king.

1

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Huck Finn . Discussion Questions [: XII - XIV... BTW FIelding put the F away :D

1.Pap says that borrowing things is just you take them, but you dont give them back. The widow says that this is stealing and its wrong. So Jim and Huck have a discussion saying that they create a list and just 'borrow' a few things but not everything anymore.

2. He is looking for an adventure.

3. Sir Walter Scott is an author of romantic novels. On the boat named after him, they murder people.

4. He saves them because he wants to be a good person. Also he says that he might become a murderer some day too, so he might see them as some kind of friends.

5. He told the boatman a story that his family is on the wrack and he is related to some really rich guy. Just a few moments before he got to know that this guy is so rich. How did he get so smart?

6.

7. I dont really think his information is really accurate. He even calls the dauphin dolphin. So he probably makes up most of it, cause he is too uneducated for knowing all that stuff.

8. I think that Jim thinks that it is some kind of a duty for a king to chop a child into two. He doesnt really like him because he doesnt get the sense of chopping a child. He also might be again kings in general. A king is usually a person who doesnt do anything all day long and just decides over people. That is like an owner of a slave, which Jim probably doesnt like.




15-20

1. fog is a metaphor for ?
   light = clearance, peace

2. Even though Jims a slave, Huck cares for him. He realizes that he hurt Jim, that he has feelings just like a human being.

3.

- Huck thinks he is the reason that Jim is free and he thinks he is a bad person because he helped a slave becoming free. He got taught that stealing a slave is the worst thing he could do and he did it, even though actually freeing a slave is something really good.

- He has to buy his OWN children, because they do not belong to him. So if he cannot buy them he just steals them.

-Why should you do thinks right, when you have to learn to do them right. You could just do them wrong with no effort and the result is the same.

-As snakeskin stands for extremely bad luck, they think when they saw it it 'cursed' them. This was said in the fog when they were passing cairo and they were afraid that they already let cairo behind.

4. They gave him money because Huck made up a story about his family being really sick and the hunters cannot go into the ship. So the hunters feel sorry and give Huck a lot of money.

5. It represents the judgement of nature and nature gets replaced by society, which is represented by the steam boat. Society destroys nature. Nature vs. Society.

6. Slavery, Civil War, he was a boat captain, racism

7. The furniture of the house makes fun of the romantic idea of death. Romeo and Juliet

8. freedom, romanticism vs realism, superstition, ignorance & naivety, role of the outsider,

9. Realism, Moses freed the slaves in Egypt and fled with them. Huck is compared with Moses, cause he steals a slave too.

10. Hogs are better than people, they go to church every time, people dont. And it is pretty funny that they take their guns to a holy place like this.

11. Romanticism. Connection of Romeo and Juliet.

12. Both of them feel better on the raft because it stands for freedom. They might feel more comfortable in a comfortable way on a bed or something like that but they feel more free on a raft where they can do what they want to.

13. Clothes represent society, nudity represents freedom.

14.  Because his dad taught him that it is better to let people play and let them do their own thing except of arguing with them.

15. Huck doesnt tell them that he knows that their not real dukes and kings

16. Juliet is 'played' by the king who is totally old and ugly, which satirizes the book.

17. He says that he has been changed from a pirate by this meeting and noe hes gonna go out to change all the other pirates, he just needs some money. Its satirizing the gullibility of people.

18. Twain days that Americans are really gullible, believing some strangers that they are a duke and a king.

18.

Huck Finn . Discussion Questions [: V - XI

1. Actually a good father would try to make his son a better person than himself but Pap obviously doesnt want Huck to be better as him, what makes him a bad father.

2. The Court refuses to give Huck protection from his Dad even though his dad is worse than everybody else. That shows that a blood relation ship or a family is worth a lot more than good people.

3. The life at the shanty reflects freedom, especially fredom from the society. It is where he grew up, what he is used to and as he goes back to it he gets used to it again.

4. Pap is upset that a nigger is so much better than him, he is rich, he wears jewelry,  he is even allowed to vote.

5. Freedom is reflected. Huck tries to get away from his Dad, which he belongs to according to society. Jim is trying to get away from Watson and they both are worth a lot of money.

6. No i dont think that it wouldnt have worked because Tom reflects romanticism and would have tried to make it thrilling and so in the last minute everything would have gone wrong.

7. Last supper. Rebirth. Bread should have found a dead body, it found him, but he just eats it. It says the bread should have found him, and it did find him, in a living condition, but it found him. So prayer works for some things, but not for him.

8. jim thought Huck was a ghost ---> superstition. He was afraid, that huck is gonna kill him.

9. Huck doesnt have a past to worry about. They thought he was dead, now a person now he is alive, he got reborn. Now Huck knows, that Jim ran away, his knows that it is a crime, but he aint tell.

10. Abolitionist is one of the worst things you can call a person in this society. It is kind of ironic. Not wanting slaves is actually kind of good, but in this society it is one of the worst things ever.

11. He knows things because of his past, because of things that have happened to him or his family before. Also he applies superstition to things that happen.

12. I think it is typical for Huck, He plays the trick because he wants to have fun, he does not believe in the superstition and he does not understand the thing he is doing. He does not mean something bad with it. But he learns, that this was bad and he still want not to hurt anybody, so he is not gonna play this kind of trick again.

14. She exaggerates. She said it had been 20 thousand dollars, but in real it were just 12 thousand dollars.

15. Pap is worth 200 Dollars, Jim is worth 300 Dollars. Pap is a murderer, Jim is a runaway slave. In this society a runaway slave is worth a lot more than a murderer.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Huck Finn . Discussion Questions [: I-IV

1. The widow Douglas has a good heart. She takes Huck to her, she gives him clothes, she feeds him, she offers him to go to school, and she gives him an own room to live in.
Huck answered, that he is not interested in dead people. That shows that he is realistic and lives in the world of today.

2. Superstition is used quite often in the first chapter. Huck sees a ghost, he burns a spider, he hears an owl. Superstition has a similarity to religion. Its is mentioned in chapter 1 a lot, because it is used as a motif to understand Huck in a better way.

3. Huck says, that he does not want to go to the 'good place', where people play harps all day long. He wants to have an adventure, a change, he wants to do something.

4. The trick Huck and Tom played on Jim was not really meant in a bad way. They took his hat and hung it up. As they are children, it was just meant as fun.

5. A servant is a really good name for a slave in that time. Jim has somebody that pays attention to him, that makes him feel good. This ruins him, because a slave in that time is not supposed to feel good.

6. Tom took the candle, even though he did not need it. He left the 5 cents on the table, because he thought that would be right, maybe even better for the person, if they get something that is more worth than the candles. I think Huck wouldn't have taken the candles as long as he really does not need them He just takes things, when he needs them, but then he wouldn't have let 5 cents on the table.

7. Tom stands for romanticism, Huck for realism in this book. Huck is a uneducated boy, that does not understand everything that people tell him. He lives in the world of today, he tries to be honest. Tom has education. He is clever, but he is also insidious. He wants to make everthing as romantic as possible.

8. Highwaymen sounds way better than burglars. Burglars are usual, there are a lot of them, Tom does not want to be like everyone else. Highwaymen sounds more noble, and it is more fun to stop wagons instead of breaking into houses.

9. When Miss Watson said when you pray for everything, you get it back, Huck thought, when you pray, you get back even material things. He tried to, it did not work. He also wonders, why no one prays for the things they lost. Then Miss Watson told him that it is for spiritual things, then he is not interested anymore.

10. Tom calls Huck a numskull, because he doesnt get a lot of things. When Tom says something, he believes, that Tom means it, but he often does not, for example with the gang they found. Huck thought they would really kill all the people, but Tom only attacked a picnic.

11. Tom is romantic. He acts like there are all the elephants, and the arabs. Huck does not get it. He is realistic, he does not believe in those things.

12. He gives all the money to the Judge Thatcher, because he does not want his dad to get access to it.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Vocabulary Words ..Evanescent . Veneration.. November 9th

Evanescent (adjective)

There is an evanescent popularity of people who fight for less violence in the world.

Veneration (noun)

Some people have a huge veneration on famous people.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Vocabulary Words ..Magnate . Malleable.. November 8th

Magnate (Noun)

Josef Ackermann is a magnate in the German bank business

Malleable (Adjective)

Our arms are malleable. Otherwise we would fail at picking up things.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. The Nature of the Evil .. Post #55

I finally decided to take this theme as my essay theme.
The Evil is associated with the darkness in this book. Even though darkness can have good aspects, for example romance, it does not do here. With darkness Chillingworth is connected, and so Satan is, too. It seems like evil in this society is a lot about revenge and not being able to forgive. When someone decides on revenging he gets totally 'eaten' by the darkness. It is just like this person is some kind of puppet, a slave, that is totally devoted to the evil. It is just like you sign into a book with your own blood and it keeps you alive as long as you have something to suck from. You give your soul to the devil. Just as Chillingworth is the darkness in this book he needs sunlight of other people. He needs their pain. Like it always has been, evil needs good things to survive, just like there has to be sunlight for having shadows, there has to be light to have darkness, and so there has to be good to get bad things.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Nine - The Leech and his Patient .. Post #54

“Even in the grave-yard, here at hand,” answered the physician, continuing his employment. “They are new to me. I found them growing on a grave, which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial of the dead man, save these ugly weeds that have taken upon themselves to keep him in remembrance. They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime.”


Is this some kind of a tactic of Chillingworth to get deeper into Dimmesdale's heart? Even though it was not Dimmesdale's grave where the herbs grew, it connects to him, as he has a secret in his heart too. It is like the jewell Chillingworth keeps looking for in Dimmesdale's heart. The jewell, the secret in Dimmesdale's heart, that keeps Chillingworth's heart bumping.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twenty four - Conclusion .. Post #53

“Don’t you know,” cried the ship’s captain, “that this doctor here—he calls himself Chillingworth—has decided to try ship’s cooking along with you? Yeah, sure, you must have known. He tells me that he is a member of your party and a close friend of the gentleman you spoke of—the one that is in danger from these sour old Puritans.”


and 


"Even across the broad and busy square, through all the talk and laughter and various thoughts, moods, and interests of the crowd, that smile conveyed a secret and fearful meaning."


compared to 


"But what distinguished the physician's ecstasy from Satan's was the trait of wonder in it!" (Page 121, Chapter Nine)


Chillingworth changed during the book. He changed throughout his whole life. First, when he married Hester he was a normal person, studying books, trying to get more and more knowledge. Then he decided to take revenge and this revenge converted him into an evil man. He needed Dimmesdale to survive. First he was some kind of a substitute of Satan, until he finally changed into Satan. When he was described with the snake earlier in the book that was one of the first hints because Satan often gets described in the body of a snake. When he was wondering he was not totally evil yet, he still had some light in him but at the end of the book, he was not wondering anymore. All the light was gone, he turned into a devil. That is the reason he dies in the end. Would he have survived if there had been light somewhere hidden in him? Or would he have died anyways?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twenty four - Conclusion .. Post #52

"All his strength and energy—all his vital and intellectual force—seemed at once to desert him;"


"Leaving this discussion apart, we have a matter of business to communicate to the reader. At old Roger Chillingworth’s decease (which took place within the year)..."


Finally Chillingworth died too. First he just lost all his strength, he got weaker, than all his life faded away. I think again Dimmesdale is the reason that he dies. Again Chillingworth does not have any victim, any sins to get nourished from, and so he finally 'starves' to death. 

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twenty four - Conclusion .. Post #51

"... like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun."


Again there is the comparison of dark and light. Chillingworth is this seed that lies in the sun. He cannot live with too much sunlight, with too much happiness, joy, purity. He needs the darkness in a person, their sin, their fears. He needs a person who has sinned, who carries a sin, a dark side in his soul to nourish himself. That is the reason he cannot survive in the sunlight.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Nine - The Leech .. Post #50

"The Leech" (Title)

I finally can tell what the title means. Sure it is about Chillingworth, just as the chapter after that chapter but what about the leech? I think Chillingworth is just like a Leech. He needs to 'attach' to other people and needs to get what keeps a Leech' victim alive to stay alive. Chillingworth is just like that. He needs other people's pain and sin to stay alive and not to die.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twenty three - The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter .. Post #49




That final word came forth with the minister’s expiring breath. The multitude, silent till then, broke out in a strange, deep voice of awe and wonder, which could not as yet find utterance, save in this murmur that rolled so heavily after the departed spirit.

Dimmesdale died. Why did he die? Maybe he would have died years before but Chillingworth tortured him. As the Devil he kept him alive with his torture to have somebody to get 'food' from. Now as he does not have a sin within him and so Chillingworth does not have anything to get out of Dimmesdale anymore. It is like he already has been in hell but now as he got pure with revealing his sin he finally got into heaven.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twenty three - The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter .. Post #48


“Thou hast escaped me!” he repeated more than once. “Thou hast escaped me!”

These words came from Chillingworth. Dimmesdale did escape him. Why did he escape him? I think Chillingworth lives from Dimmesdale's pain and as Dimmesdale just revealed his secret, his deepest sin, he did escape him, because now he is no longer a victim of Chillingworth' torture.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twentyone - The New England Holiday .. Post #47


“What a strange, sad man is he!” said the child, as if speaking partly to herself. “In the dark night-time, he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with him on the scaffold yonder! And in the deep forest, where only the old trees can hear, and the strip of sky see it, he talks with thee, sitting on a heap of moss! And he kisses my forehead, too, so that the little brook would hardly wash it off! But here in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him! A strange, sad man is he, with his hand always over his heart!”

Here the comparison between dark and light is mentioned. In the dark, where noone else is, Dimmesdale reveals his secret, but in the daylight, where everybody can see him, he does not say something. Could this also be a comparison to Chillingworth and Pearl? Even though he does not want to reveal his secret to Chillingworth, he finds out. So the darkness knows. The light knows it too, but Pearl is probably not that sure, that he knows it. 

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twenty - The Minister in a Maze .. Post #46

Here the Title is the MINISTER in a Maze. In Chapter 17, it says the Pastor and his Parishioner. Chapter 12 is the Minister's Vigil. Why does Hawthorne always change the chapter titles from Pastor to Minister? Does it have something to do with what Dimmesdale does is the Chapter? In Chapter Twelve he goes up to the scaffold, so he tries to reveal his sin, even though no one really sees it. In Chapter Seventeen Hester tells him, that Chillingworth was her husband, that he is evil. On Chapter Twenty Dimmesdale he goes around. He is different than before and he still treats Chillingworth as nothing had happened. Could it be that in those chapters he is not really a pastor anymore?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seventeen - The Pastor and his Parishioner .. Post #45

"For years past she had looked from this estranged point of view at human institutions, and whatever priests or legislators had established; criticizing all with hardly more reverence than the Indian would feel for the clerical band, the judicial robe, the pillory, the gallows, the fireside, or the church. The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread."


Again the meaning of the A had changed. Now from Adultery to Able, from Able to Angel, and now it is like a passport. A passport for what? Being ABLE to do something no one else does? To flee from society into a better world? 

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seventeen - The Pastor and his Parishioner .. Post #44


“I do forgive you, Hester,” replied the minister, at length, with a deep utterance out of an abyss of sadness, but no anger. “I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both! "


He does forgive her. She forgave him as he was not with her all the years. Both can forgive in a society where forgiveness is not the most normal thing. They both stand out of society. But what does he mean when he says May God forgive us both? Does he mean God? As Pearl is a connection to light, to heaven or even to Jesus, as she is an outsider, just as Jesus was and her mother is like the Virgin Mary, she could be the God that should forgive?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seventeen - The Pastor and his Parishioner .. Post #43

"But a lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side! Dost thou not see what I would say? That old man!—the physician!—he whom they call Roger Chillingworth!—he was my husband!”


Hester finally tells Dimmesdale her secret. The only secret that was left in her. But why did she tell Chillingworth before? Does she think she is strong enough to stand Chillingworth? She might is - but what about Dimmesdale? Is he? I think he might is not. He even has problems to forgive Hester. Then why did Hester tell him about Chillingworth, even though she knows that he might is not strong enough to handle that?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Sixteen - A Forest Walk .. Post #42

"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!” (Page 160)


She does not wear a symbol on her bosom yet... Yet? Does she want to wear it? Or is she just thinking it is normal to wear it. I think she thinks that it just grows on a persons bosom within time, it is something that belongs to life. Or is it just that she knows the A has something bad. That it is a symbol of committing a sin? That she will sin later on in her life? Even she, the pure girl that is so different from everybody else? Is she hinting on every Person's sin, that everybody on this earth is a sinner?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Sixteen - A Forest Walk .. Post #41

"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. "


The sunshine does not love Hester because she is not like Pearl. Pearl is pure, she is happy, she is nature, so as a fact of that the sunshine is a part of Pearl, she is connected to it. But Hester is not pure anymore. She sinned. She is not filled with light. Sure, she still has light in her, not like Chillingworth, who is completely associated with darkness. But she carries darkness with her.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Fifteen - Hester And Pearl .. Post #40

"Just then, she heard her mother’s voice, and, flitting along as lightly as one of the little sea-birds, appeared, before Hester Prynne, dancing, laughing, and pointing her finger to the ornament upon her bosom." (Page 155)


Again Pearl is described as a bird. This is a motif throughout the book, just as Chillingworth is connected with the devil. Nature and the Puritan Society are total opposites. Everybody in this town has to live after rules. Everybody? Does Pearl have to live after rules? I think she does not. it seems like she was born out of the society, even though her parents were both a part of it - she isn't.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Vocabulary Words ..Esoteric . Vitiatic.. November 4th

Esoteric ( adjective)

His esoteric knowledge made him a wise man.

Vitiate (v)

The amount of CO2 that is released every year vitiates the climate change.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Practice Essay Question - How Hester got banned from society .. Post #39

-Hester banned from society because of sin - something that everybody did but maybe worse, maybe not, but hers got public
-People stare and mock at her, and they talk bad about Hester
-She could have gone away from the colony, but she didnt --> feeling to stay or come back to a place where you did something wrong --> learning a lot from that
-She does a lot of good things for society, helps people, creates garments for them, but they treat her in the same way, a an outcast
-Is seen as a bad thing, like a witch, trying to get her child away

Hester Prynne got banned from society because she did something,  everybody does every day. I'm sure, that nearly every person in this society has sinned at least once. But no one ever found out. The results maybe were not that obvious as the result, that Hester's sin has. A child. Even though she could have left, flee from all the shame and pain she could feel with staying in the society, she did not leave at all. She stayed in the colony, with the mark on her bosom, all the pain and memories around her. Why did she stay? Just because she did not know where to go? Maybe she wanted to stay to see what happens to her child's father. Or maybe it is just some kind of curse that keeps a person at a place where something really important happened? Indeed this one sin was important to her. It changed her whole life in both directions. It enriched it, but it also made her feel farther away from it. She was an outcast. She was not allowed to do all the things she did before. All the people stared at her bosom, when she crossed the market place, the talked badly about her, they did not treat her like a normal person anymore. Even that has a good and a bad side. She did not belong to society anymore. She was free. But on the other hand it must have been kind of hurting to have anyone treat you like something else, like a witch or a creature. And even though she tried to do good things, not everybody appreciates that. All the garments she did to the poor people, all the neatness she had against other people, the compassion, and hardly anybody treated her normal. They did not see the person in her, they only looked at the symbol on her bosom, a simple letter that turned a person into something strange, something repulsive that did not deserve to be treated equally. But every negative thing has a positive side, just as every positive side has a negative one. After everything you learn something, whether it is bad or not. When everyone is against you, it becomes easier to stand it. You do not get hurt that easily, you become colder - a part of your emotions can even die. It became easier for Hester to stand all that.  But she still kept her feelings. She created a link to her daughter, the only person, except of Dimmesdale, who did not judge her for her sin. She was the only person, who was there for her, she became Hester's life. And they tried to take her life away from her. As she was not seen as a portly person anymore, not able to care for her child, they wanted to take her daughter away, the only thing that meant something in Hester's life. But it was important that it happened the way it happened. If she just ran away from her fears, from everything, the plot never would have happened. She would not have gotten that strong, Pearl would not have raised up the way she did.

Vocabulary Words ..Opaque . propensity.. November 3rd

Opaque (adjective)

The opaque night and the wet road were the reason the car crashed a person.

propensity (noun)

I have a propensity to talk way too much. And to eat too much candy.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Fifteen - Hester And Pearl .. Post #38

"Did the sun, which shone so brightly everywhere else, really fall upon him? Or was there, as it rather seemed, a circle of ominous shadow moving along with his deformity whichever way he turned himself? And whither was he now going?" (Page 153)


Again Chillingworth is connected to the dark. The sun never shines on him, a shadow always is around him. He is the complete opposite of Pearl, who is connected to the sunlight. But there cant be shadows without sunlight. Is this a hint that Chillingworth needs the sunlight? Or at least a person who has sunlight in him? He married Hester, and now he is with Dimmesdale. Both have sunlight in them, but also both are connected with the darkness, because they sinned. Does Chillingworth need a soul with sunlight to survive? Does he need to suck at the good part of a soul to live?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Fourteen - Hester and the Physician .. Post #37

"But the visionary little maid, on her part, beckoned likewise, as if to say, -'This is a better place! Come though into the pool!'" (Page 147)

In this paragraph we see Pearl and her beauty reflected in the water. The water reflects her being, and as water represents nature it says that nature reflects her soul. When it says come here, does it mean that she should flee into a better world - into the nature, where she belongs to?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Thirteen - Another View of Hester .. Post #36

In this chapter we see that Hester, or at least what she stands for, had changed. Seven years ago she was this symbol that stood for adultery, sins and everyone spotted at her. Now the meaning of the A changed. From Adultery to Able, how they say. Maybe it stands for something like Angel, how the A in the sky was interpreted one chapter before. It could be possible as she helps everyone and has such a guilty heart, that it could be easily interpreted with Angel. Have they forgotten about the sin she committed? If yes, why does she still wear the Letter on her chest? Is it because she became the letter? The letter became one of her characters, she is only known with it, so if she put it away, she will lose her individuality or even her soul?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twelve - The Minister's Vigil .. Post #35

"... this morning on the scaffold, where evil-doers are set up to public shame. Satan dropped it there, I take it, intending a scurrilous jest against your reverence. A pure hand needs no glove to cover it!" (Page 138)

The Minister's glove has been found on the scaffold. As the Minister is holy they don't believe that he has been up on the scaffold. So they say Satan has been up on the scaffold. But the minister knows that his hand is not pure and he indeed needs a glove to cover it because he is a sinner. Could it be, that he wants to be caught? That it was on purpose that the glove has been on the scaffold? Did he just let it there?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Twelve - The Minister's Vigil .. Post #34

The Scaffold Scene.

In the book there are three scaffold scenes. The first one was in chapter 2. Hester and Pearl stand on the scaffold, Bellingham, Wilson and Dimmesdale were above it, Chillingworth was below it, just as the people.
The second scene is in chapter twelve. Here Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale are on the scaffold, The shooting star was above it, Chillingworth and Wilson were below it.
Hester and Pearl are twice on the scaffold, Dimmesdale went down, from the balcony down to the scaffold. Does he walk down again? Will he be next to the scaffold on the last scene? Another thing is the comparison from night and day. The first scene was in the daylight, the second in the middle of the night. What will the third be?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Nine - The Leech and his Patient .. Post #33

"But what distinguished the physician's ecstasy from Satan's was the trait of wonder in it!" (Page 121)

Did Satan ever wonder? Isn't it like the devil never wonders, he knows things? If yes, why does Chillingworth wonder? Isn't he Satan? Maybe he is just some helper, or his representative on earth.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Nine - The Leech and his Patient .. Post #32

"... in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man's bosom..." (Page 113)

Jewels usually are something very worthwhile. This refers to the secret in Dimmesdale's heart. But it could also be a referring to the love and guilt in his heart, which all the people of the colony think he has in there, even though he is the biggest sinner of all.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Nine - The Leech .. Post #31

"His first entry on the scene, few people could tell whence, dropping down, as it were, out of the sky, or starting..."

This paragraph again is about Chillingworth. It says that he 'Fell out of the sky'. As Chillingworth is referred to the devil, this could be another hint to the bible. One of the theories how satan was created is that when God was in Eden, he felt lonely and before he made Adam and Eve he banned the Loneliness out of his body, which came to life and so satan was made.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Nine - The Leech .. Post #30

"... vanish out of life as completely as if he indeed lay at the bottom of the ocean..." (Page 104)

This paragraph is about Chillingworth deleting his name out of society. The bottom of the ocean is something very dark. This could reflect Chillingworth' soul which is compared with the devil because it says that the devil's soul is black as the night.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Vocabulary words. WHY?

Opaque (Adj) - dark, foggy, not clear - nebelig, dunkel
Propensity (Noun) - if someone tends to do something - Neigung, Tendenz
Esoteric (noun, adjective) - secretly, inner knowledge, spiritual - inneres Wissen, spirituell
Vitiated (verb) - negative functioned on something - beeinträchtigt
Magnate (noun) - a member of nobility - Keine Ahnung haha
Malleable (adjective) - flexible (substances) - dehnbar, verformbar
Dearth (noun) - a lack of something - Mangel, Fehlen
Florid (adjective) - thriving, vivid - blühend
Evanescent (adjective) - fading - schwindend
Veneration (noun) - adoration, worship - Bewunderung

Monday, November 1, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Eight - The Elf-Child and the Minister .. Post #29

"The shadow of the curtain fell on Hester Prynne, and partially concealed her." (Page 97)


Shadows stand for darkness, night, and unclearness. It also stands for evil things. It could stand for the sin that she did. It follows her and covers her wherever she walks. Moreover it could stand for night which appears quite often in the book as a comparison of day and night. 

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seven - The Governor's Hall .. Post #28

"... glossy brown, and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black. There was fire [...] of gold threat."

Brown is the color of nature, next to green. It's the color of soil and wood. Black is the color of bad things, of death, sorrow and, next to red its the color of the devil.
Why does her hair color changes in a few years? Is she gonna lose her connection to nature? Or at least does it become less? Is she gonna have sorrows in the future?

Gold is the color of heat and sun. Again she is compared with the sun. But also a part of the Letter on Hester's bosom is golden. She wears golden, The Scarlet Letter 'Wears' golden. Is that a hint? Is she the scarlet letter? A living scarlet letter, a living symbol?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seven - The Governor's Hall .. Post #27

"...along by her mother's side, and, constantly in motion form morn till sunset..."

This paragraph is about Pearl. It says that she is only outside till sunset. Sure, for a girl in her age it is normal not to be outside during the night, but maybe there is something more behind it.
Sunlight is a symbol for life, good things and for purity. Life is also meant by the color red - which Pearl is more attracted to than to everything else. But what about the purity? Does it mean that she can only walk outside during daylight because its pure and night isn't? But what about Hester being by her side every time? She wears the symbol of shame on her bosom - she is the total opposite of being pure.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Five - Hester at her Needle .. Post #26

"... from covering the symbol with her hand."

Hester is ashamed of the symbol on her bosom. She is afraid of what other people think of her. Are her thoughts more on the sin or on the person and symbol she became in the society? A sinner. A person who does not fit into the society anymore. Can she stand that? Does she wish to flee from all the shame? Away from the society, maybe back to Europe? Or does she still want to stay?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Five - Hester at her Needle .. Post #25

"But it is not recorded that [...] blushes of a bride." (Page 75)

Why is Hester allowed to create every kind of garments except of wedding clothes? Obviously she does a really good job in creating garments.
Are the people of the society afraid that the people who got the clothes would do the same thing as Hester did? Do they thing she bewitches the garments or something? Or is it just that she acts as a symbol that does not fit with wedding clothes?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Five - Hester at her Needle .. Post #24

"Over and over again, the temper of souls [...] in its dungeon." (Page 73)

The temper of souls definitely is the devil, its dungeon is another word for hell. Its together with the idea of Hester staying in the colony in this paragraph and Dimmesdale, which is not known as Pearl's father on earth, having a future together with Hester, living in revenge.
Is Chillingworth this time connected with the devil? Does he wants to act revenge, even against Hester, not just against Chillingworth?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Vocabulary words ..Aquiesce . Abstinence .. October 11th

Acquiesce (v)

She acquiesced the pain even though it hurt a lot.

Abstinence (n)

Hester had to be abstinence even though her husband was not there but obviously she was not really good in it.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Vocabulary words ..Admonish . Abstract .. October 8th

Admonish (verb)

He admonished the client for not paying the things he bought.

Abstract (adjective)

The abstract building in the middle of the big place fascinated many people.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Vocabulary words ..Aesthetic . Aggrandizement .. October 7th

Aesthetic (noun)

Actually I think there is no aesthetic of poetry and I do not want to study it in your class. I hate poetry...

Aggrandizement (noun)

The Aggrandizement of the school is necessary because of all the new students.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Vocabulary words ..Affinity . Abberation .. October 6th

Affinity (noun)

Their Affinity made both the best team ever.

Abberation (noun)

He thought he knew the pattern but the abberation made him look for another pattern.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Vocabulary words ..Advocate . Acclaim .. October 5th

advocate (noun)

As an advocate it is your job to defend people's rights.

acclaim (verb)

They acclaimed the Zack Wassman Show as the best new show of the year. (This sentence is awesome...)

They acclaimed the football team when it won the state tournament.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Vocabulary Words >:D Why on earth do we have to know so many words... Memo to myself: Kill myself.

advocate (Verb && Noun) - to defend somebody //  a lawyer (verteidigen, Anwalt)
acclaim (verb) - to claim (Applaudieren)
Affinity (noun) - Connection to another person / object (verbundenheit)
Aberration (noun) - if something is different to a rule (Abweichung)
Aesthetic (adjective) - beautiful (Schön, ästethisch)
Abstinence (Noun) - chastity, not to do something specific (Enthaltsamkeit)
Aggrandizement (Noun) - Exaggeration (Übertreibung, Ausschmückung)
Admonish (verb) - to urge (mahnen, abmahnen)
Abstract (Noun) - general, generally (Allgemein)
Acquisce (verb) - to endure, to agree, to suffer (erdulden, zustimmen)

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Eight - The Elf-Child and the Minister .. Post #22 && 23

""You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness," said old Roger Chillingworth, smiling at him."

Why is he smiling at him? Its just like if he feels superior...
Does he maybe know that the Reverend Dimmesdale is the father of little Pearl? Or is it just a normal smile?

"...taking his hand so tender, and withal so unobtrusive, that..." (Pg. 102)

And what about her?
Does she know that Reverend Dimmesdale is her father? She trusts him and it seems like she has some kind of bounding to him. Just like Hester can see in people's hearts and seeing their sins, can Pearl look into his heart and see that he is more than just a normal person?

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Eight - The Elf-Child and the Minister .. Post #21 && 22

"What little bird of scarlet..." (Pg. 97)

Birds usually stay for freedom and a life without any sorrows. Could it really be that Pearl wants to have freedom? Does that mean that Hester is a bad mother because Pearl wants to have more freedom?
Could it be that she cares to much?

"Pearl? - Ruby rather! - or Coral! - or Red Rose, ..."

He drives me crazy with those red things.
Seems like he is totally obsessed with the color red.
And again he is using the rose bush. Does he always describe freedom with it?
The red color could also mean that Pearl is full of love and she exists of love. She was not created out of force, just of pure love.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seven - The Governor's Hall .. Post #19 && 20

"There were a few rose-bushes [...]  by the Reverend Mr. Blackstone..."


Again Hawthorne takes the rose bush. Again it is combined with the color black, just as in the first chapter [The red rosebush and the black prison]
Does it mean something that the rose bush appears immediately after the scarlet letter? 


"Pearl, seeing the rose-bushes, began to cry for a red rose..."


Could it be that she reacts on nearly EVERYTHING that is red?
She used to react to the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom, when she was on her arm and now she reacts on this roses.
Why is she doing that?
And could it be that she is crying for freedom in here? As the rosebushes stand for freedom or at least the opposite of this society it could be that Pearl does not get along with it...

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Seven - The Governor's Hall .. Post #18

"...fitted Aladdin's palace..."

Aladdin's palace is a huge building, it's decorated and colorful.
As described in chapter one, the society is gray, with a lot of unindividual people so this palace does not fit into this society. Its actually quite the opposite.
So why does he live in such a big and fancy house?
Does Governor Bellingham is an individual person just like Hester?
Does he maybe not fit into this society?

Friday, October 1, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Six - Pearl .. Post #17

"We have yet [...] had sprung [...] immortal flower..." (Pg. 80, ll. 1-4)

In this paragraph Perl is described with nature.
To spring stands in connection with spring and that stands for something beautiful come out from a dark and hard time, the winter.
Further she is described as a flower and flowers usually are very colorful, what is the total opposite of the colors of the Colony, which is the unindividual gray.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Five - Hester at her Needle .. Post #15 && 16

"It may seem [...] could be broken" (Pg. 72 ll.  7-33)

Here it gets clear that Hester does not leave because she people stay at the place they sinned or at least come back to it. But she could go back to England or somewhere else to offer her child and her a better life without the condemnation of the scarlet letter on her breast. So why doesn't she leave? Is the place of sin the only reason or are there maybe a few more reasons?

"...whenever it struggled out of her heart, like a serpent from its hole..." (Pg. 72, ll. 35-36)

Here the motive of the snake is used again. It stands in connection with her sin, hiding and fear from people  finding out about Pearl's father. The snake stands for Roger Chillingworth, so could it be that she is most afraid that he finds out about it and does not keep what he promised?

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Essay - 2nd Draft :]

The very brief relation of the Devastation of the Indies

What would be if there were two groups of people in this world?
 Just two. 
One group is the superior one. They can do whatever they want to do, in a country that is not even theirs. The other group is kept as slaves to work and work until they die. And that is meant literally.
Imagine you would sit at home just doing all the things you do everyday and suddenly there would be men kicking in the door and just take over your life, make it their life. They can do whatever they want to do with your life.
It sounds kind of ridiculous but  it is nearly the same as it happened before. Not just once. Not twice. It had happened often in History. One example of this is the suppression and devastation of the Indies. 
What happened to this people still happens today. Not in the same way. There is no Spanish man on a horse that tries to stab you to death with his sword but still people get suppressed, hurt, beaten or even killed just because of their race or sex.  
When Spanish people came to America in the fifteenth century, they started to take away women and children from the indies, misuse them and force them to do things for the Spanish people.
So the Indies started to try to get the Spanish people out of their land but as their weapons were just to weak against the Spaniard's weapons they were not really successful. 
Even though the Indians did no really have a chance, the Spaniards swore something. 
For every single Spanish person killed by a Native, the Spanish will kill a hundred Natives. 
So as you can tell it ended that a lot of Indians died and they lost a big amount of land to the Europeans.
When the Spanish people took the Indians away from their home and their familiies, they made them work very hard. Unwillingly.
They had to work for white people until they were dead, caused from too much work, starvation or diseases. When an Indian was too old they said 'Why do you give him to me? To bury him?" or when he ws to weak they said 'Do you gve him to me to make him well?'.
They were not treated like humans anymore. They were just things. Things you can deal with, you can refuse, you can treat however you want to, because they belong to you.
A lot of the Natives has to work as divers for finding pearls.
They were just thrown into the ocean to dive and when they wanted to come up again, exhausted and tired from work, they were just thrown in again and again.
It often happened that they never saw the sunlight again, eaten or deadly hurt by a shark and actually nobody cared because you can just replace them with another Indian thing.
Their hair, which was usually black was turned gray from all the salts in the water and so they looked kind of scary to other people, just as a monster or another species.
Although all the things that happened were against the law. Even back in that time.
But noone stopped it. 
No one.

So what would be if this happened again?
It still sounds ridiculous but it really happened and as some people say: History is cyclical.
It could happen again. it coul. It doesnt have to.
Do something against it and dont let it happen again.
What would this world be if you are slaved for other people you do not even know.
What when you just get killed for being ill or too old?
Do not let it happen again because this you are a part of this world and you can change it with everything you do and say.

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Four -The Interview .. Post #14

When Hester Prynne's husband comes to the jail, he is concealed as a doctor. He was called because of Hester's Baby. In the chapter he is named as Roger Chillingworth. Roger stands for revenge, his last name is separated into two parts: Chilly - which means cruel or inhuman - and worth - wanting to make Dimmesdale speaking out his sin.
Who knows. Is that his real name? Maybe he just uses a wrong name. He is quite clever, so he probably does not want anybody to find out about him by using a false name?
When he came to the jail he was making a pact with Hester.
Nobody knows  that he is there. Nobody knows his name, his face, nobody even knows if he is still alive.
Hester shall not talk again about him. He does not exist anymore.
The other side is that if Hester's husband finds out Pearl's father he'll be quiet. He won't say anything and he won't do anything.
I think I should not believe him. He is associated with a snake.
He could be a liar...

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Three -The Recognition .. Characterization Reverend Dimmesdale ..Post #13

Reverend Dimmesdale




Mister Dimmesdale is a reverend in the colony.

He is a young pastor, who has a good education from studying at one of the great 'English Universities, bringing all the learning of the age into our wild forest-land.' (Pg. 61, ll. 19-20) He has a white, lofty and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint. (Pg. 61, ll 23-26)
He had to speak to Hester Prynne, while she was standing on the scaffold. He tried to convince her to speak out the name of Pearl's father. As his lips are tremulous and cheeks are white he may be kind of nervous and frightened. Is it like this all the time or just now? Is he afraid of something?
And what about his voice? It says tha "The young pastor's voice was tremulously sweet, rich deep and broken. The feeling that it so manifested, rather than the direct purport of the words, caused it to vibrate within all hearts, and brought the listeners into one accord of sympathy. Why on earth is he so nice to her? Hasn't she done something really bad that a person that has such a high position as a reverend should not tolerate? Does he know the father? IS he the father? Cheating on somebody with a reverend that is NOT allowed to have sex at all is maybe not the best thing... But it doesn't matter if he is the father or not he has to play some kind of an important role. Why else would he be described in such a detailed way nearly as detailed as Hester's husband?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Three -The Recognition .. Post #12

"And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!"

Besides that this is associated to the holy Mary again this and the fact, that she holds her daughter as tight to her chest as she can, as she would rather die than giving her child away or just having the possibility that her child could have a bad future. So Hester Prynne is going to be a good mother, caring for her child and not letting anyone else ever take her away. Could that even be an association to the reverend as he has a connection to God?

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Three -The Recognition .. Characterization Stranger ..Post #11

The stranger - Roger Chillingworth

The stranger, appearing first in chapter 3, is a small and old man with 'a furrowed visage'. He claimes that he is a wanderer, going southward coming from a heathen-folk. Moreover he is the Husband of Hester Prynne, which he tries, for now successfully, to hide. As a consequence of this he is also known as Master Prynne.
In that chapter he is talking to a townsman about himself, just the townsman doesnt know who he is.
He says that Master Prynne has been in Amsterdam for two years and his wife came without him.
So obviously Mr. Prynne lies at him by not telling him about his identity.
He is quite smart ["There was remarkable intelligence in his features..." Pg. 56, ll. 13-14] and it seems like that he thinks over his words before he says something ["...to tell me of Hester Prynne's, - have I her name rightly?-of..." Pg. 57, ll 24-25 (That tells that he doesn't want anybody to know that he knows Hester. So he asked again for her name)]
As he is compared to a snake ["... like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making on little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight." Pg. 56, ll. 31-33], he is described as a man that is as well wicked, cunning and clever, which are the meanings of a snake.
As snakes are most green, or at least shown and associated as green, which stands among others for money maybe she had to marry him for his abundance?

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Vocabulary words (Fielding is killing us by taking 3 words...) ..obtuse . adroit . deleterious .. September 21

obtuse (Adjective)

Some people are just too obtuse to get the simplest things.

adroit (adjective)

She was so adroit, it was very easy to her to solve the task.

deleterious (adjective)

Too much smoking is deleterious to your health.

Monday, September 20, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Two - The Market-Place .. Post #7 - 8 - 9 && 10

"The grass-plot before the jail, in Prison Lane[...]" (Pg. 47, ll.1ff)

Hawthorne describes the setting of the chapter.

The chain of ancestry (Pg. 48, ll. 12)

The chain of ancestry is a metaphor to describe the characteristics and habits of mothers giving birth to children. It says that every child has the beauty, a physical frame and a character from its mother, but it is not there fully and in the same amount as the mother has those thing.
Does this have to do with the child and the further plot of the novel?

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter - The 'A' on Hester Prynne's chest - stands for unfaithfulness and sins.
Even though it means such a worse thing in that society it is sticked on her dress in such an ornamental way. On page 53, lines 8-9 it says "...of deepest sin...".
As red is the color of love, passion and sin and a scarlet red is a deep red, this letter stands for the deep sin mentioned in this paragraph. Again Hawthorne uses red to describe something, even if sin and shame are the complete opposite of the purity of the rose-bush it seems as he uses red a lot to describe things.
Memo to myself: Looking out for things that could be red.

Comparison to Mary


For some reason Hester and her child remember me of Mary and Jesus. Just as in the bible she has a child and its not her husband that procreated it, it is some one else who is not clear. Mary was ridiculed because she claimed of having a child from God and Hester is ridiculed because of having a child from somebody else than her husband.
Moreover she is described as something with such an unnormal beauty with her clothes and her way she stands over the crowd. She nearly has something holy.

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter Two - The Market-Place .. Characterization Hester Prynne .. Post #6

. Hester Prynne .

Hester Prynne is a tall young woman that lives in the Massachusetts Colony, Boston in the 17th Century ["... on a certain summer morning, not less than two centuries ago..." (Pg. 47, ll. 1-2) - the book was first published in 1850].  She used to live in England with her Father and her Mother with died before she came to Massachusetts. ["... her native village, in Old England, and her paternal home;" (Pg. 54, ll. 29-30) - "...even since her death..." (Pg. 54, ll. 36-37)] and she left for Massachusetts with an older guy, that is not there, when the plot of chapter two happens.
Hester Prynne has dark hair, deep black eyes and in general her appearance is described as a beautiful young lady that stands out of the crowd. She is a very brave and self-confident person, maybe at least a bit arrogant ["... and yet a haughty smile and a glance that would not be abashed..." (Pg. 50, ll. 10-11)]
On her chest there is a scarlet letter printed, decorated with gold, that matches to her garments, which says that she is kind of a precious person and it 'seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity' (Pg. 51, ll.1-3). The scarlet letter forms an 'A' and stands for adultery - she had born a child that is not from her husband.
The child is hold in her arms, as she walks down the market place and even holds it tighter as everybody looks at her. She doesn't want anybody to rip her child away from her - even if she get punished or even killed for it. ["... Hester Prynne set forth towards the place appointed for her punishment." (Pg. 50, ll. 35-37)]

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter One - The Prison-Door .. Post #5

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne


This chart sums up the content of the English lesson on September 17th.
__________

The Scarlet Letter .. Chapter One - The Prison-Door .. Post # 2 - 3 && 4

"A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments [...] and studded with iron spikes."

In this paragraph the Puritan people are described. They all wear the same grey clothes and the same hats so there is nothing different on them. What would happen, if somebody wore something else?

"[...] in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison."

Hawthorne uses a black flower to describe the prison. Black usually stands for death and cruelty, so the black flower describes the prison as a place of death.

"[...] was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems [...]"

On the other hand he uses a rose-bush to picture purity and freedom, especially religious freedom. It's used as the opposite of the black flower - black stands for death . roses are usually red  and that color stands for love and passion. Seems as he likes to play with colors?