The Scarlet Letter Chapter 5

I think the chapter 5 is a section connected to the life in the prison and the life in the actual society. And at the same time, it foreshadows the difficult life which is described later in the book.

Here are the two particular questions for today.

1. Why has Hester chosen to stay here?

Absolutely, it is really hard to understand why she has chosen to stay here. As a woman with such a sin and always having the big read “A” on the chest, the life will be definitely hard for her. In fact, she could restart everything, leaving the town and go to another country in Europe with a strange circumstance, eluding the specially sight to her from other local people. However, she chose to stay. In one hand, I think is because of the love of her hometown, and she would accept the punishment in this place. In the other hand, it is because of the love to his lover. Although they have a big problem which is could not see or talk to each other, I believe Hester still love him.

2. How does the community treat her?

Even although we all know that Hester is a kind and beautiful woman, the people still treat her badly because of what she did before. People in the town consider her as a symbol of humiliation. And the local people even keep a distance when they see her in the street. However, she got a needle job, and she did it really well. And she also makes clothes for the poor voluntarily sometimes. Despite she is trying to change the appearance in people mind, she is still indentified as a sinner. So, in short, the community treats her badly, and she could not get any respect from the whole society.

The Scarlet Letter

By the reading of the book, and the movie shown in the class, there are three main characters I want to talk about.

Hester Prynne was absolutely the most important character in this whole book. Although she acted as such a beautiful and kindhearted person, she was still punished for the adultery. I think she was also a brave woman as well. From the movie, as we saw, she was walking to the stage with a Red Scarlett Letter on her chest. Although she was watching, laughing and blaming by the others people, she still stayed calm and composed. Her every step was so resolute and firm that she did not think herself a guilty woman. I think it reflected her deep love to the “partner”, the other young man she was not willing to speak out. In the later section, she showed a great love to her child, and tried to protect her, when her real husband, Roger Prynne, was going to get the child from her hands.

Roger Prynne, an old English doctor. As we know, he was the husband of Hester. I believe he still loves Hester though the talk in the prison. He looked so disappointed, upset, even a little mad at his wife. He was talking so aggressively, and guaranteed would find out the “father” of the child.

The last one is Aruther Dimmesdale. He was sham in my view since he was keeping trying to make Hester speak out the name while he seemed not want to. I still cannot get this man totally, and I hope I could learn more about him later in the book.

Overall, in my opinion, Hester is decent and innocent. The reason why she suffered such a situation was because of the thoughts of the people at that time period. They were too conservative and could not accept the new ideas, or new ways of dealing with women, especially the marriage problems. Meanwhile, there are a lot of things we could not give a reasonable answers, and I hope we can find out the truth in the further reading. In short, the story is getting more and more interesting.

Essay Work

The documents I am going to use are A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop, The declaration of independence by Thomas Jefferson, and the American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

In theModel of Christian Charity, John Winthrop tells a plan of what the America should be in the future. Just like what he says, he hopes people that holding firmly together, and makes the America will be a “city upon a hill”.

From the declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson shows a great determination of freedom from the Britain. I think this document will strongly help me define what America is and reflects the spirits of Americans.

The American Scholar represents the emancipation of the thoughts from the British literature. As the time goes, the freedom does not only refer to the freedom in the body, but also the freedom in the thoughts. So, just like the declaration of independence, the American Scholar is more likely to be a declaration of literature.

In short, from John Winthrop to Emerson, from original hope to actual action, from physical freedom to the emancipation of thoughts, the definition of America changes a lot.

Preface to 'Leaves of Grass'

It seemed really difficult for me to grasp the main idea of the preface to Leaves of Grass. It was still a little bit confusing, although we talked a lot about that in the class. However, I will still try to write down my personal understandings of this article.

In the first there paragraph, Walt Whitman indicates that the American are the best poets, and even the united states themselves are the greatest poem. They have different ethnic people, grand natural views, and wealthy lands. So in this circumstance, the literature of America is different from other countries. And at the same time, the spirit of America is so valuable that should be respected, and cannot be learnt easily from the books or the college; it is reflected by the common people.

Thoreau---Resistance to Civil Government

In Thoreau’s opinion, he believes that the government is best which governs not at all. And this kind of government is which the people would like to accept. Government should be an expedient, but usually it is not. It is always used by the people as a tool for politic benefits. Thoreau describes the government as a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves, because it will be broken if people use it to fight with each other. At the same time, Thoreau also discusses about the situation of American government which imposed on themselves for their own advantage, and did nothing for the freedom of the country, the settle in the West, or the education. Thoreau demands a better government, while but he does not advocate to take over of the government. And I think that is why “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is theslave's government also”.

An American Scholar 5

In the end of the speech, Emerson claimed that the American Literature already became a new literature, which totally different with the British. At the same time, Emerson wanted the schloars not to follow the previous book blindly, which was considered as the mind of the past .We need to walk with our own feet, write with our own hands, and speak out our own thought. Also, Emerson deprecate the bullionism, emphasize the value of humanity. In his opinion, the scholar in that time period should be confident and brave.

An American Scholar 4

I believe Emerson gave his speech to all the scholars in American. It showed the right behavior of what a scholar should be, and how to become a really eligible scholar.

First, Emerson talked about the nature, which was considered to be a boundless and connected thing in his opinion. And the endless research by human made great process of society.

In addition, Emerson mentioned that the book was the best thing to describe the mind of the past. However it has both good and bad use. People could learn a lot from the previous things. Just like what Newton said, I have been further because I am standing on the shoulder of a Giant. So the books that Emerson pointed out were filled with endless treasure. But a coin always has two sides. Although the books have a majority of advantages, it still need to be fixed as probably could not fit present. And the scholars should not be controlled by some views in the book excessively. Also, as we know the book will be studied in college for everyone, and grasp the knowledge of the book, definitely will lead a good result.

Finally in the speech, Emerson indicated that the scholars should be inspired by the really life experience, not just sit there, thinking or reading books. Action is absolutely one of the most important parts of being a successful scholar, without the true life experience, they will never comprehend the essence of scholars.