Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie was a good read, I could relate to some of the character's in the story as well as some of the events described in the story. I think it is eerie how his sister's spirit haunts Tom after he leaves his Mother and Sister behind in the apartment. It makes you wonder if his Father feels any remorse from abandoning his family. I doubt Tom will find the relief he seeks out to find, and only sense of adventure he will experience will be from writing about how he didn't do right by his Mother and find his Sister a husband. Without Tom's help Laura is sure to remain unmarried and lonesome for the rest of her life. In a way Tom follows after his Father's foot steps, which is in my opinion exactly what he should of inspired not to do. How could he have been so selfish? "Overcome selfishness! Self, self, self, is all that you ever think of!" Tom could of been a success had he over come this characteristic which defined him to his Mother. Their Family was having so much trouble getting through the troubled times they were experiencing, with his departure as well as his Father's there would be no one to provide for the family. Laura was terribly shy and his mother was reaching an elderly age where work would not be readily available and offered to her, especially at a time were the economy was suffering. With that said this play is a tragedy, and in that sense it greatly succeeds. An attempt to find Laura a male suitor was a complete failure, and can be summarized best with the dialogue of Amanda when she says, "That's right, now that you've had us make such fools of ourselves. The effort, the preparations, all the expense!...All for what? To entertain some other girl's fiance! Go to the movies, go! Don't think about us, a mother deserted, an unmarried sister who's crippled and has no job! Don't let anything interfere with your selfish pleasure! Just go, go, go--to the movies!" (95). I think the use of "the movies" was used to be comedic and I found there to be some comedy throughout the play. The movies are Tom's escape from his life at home which can sometimes be seen as a prison or as Tom puts it a nailed coffin. Tom finally got tired of looking at people live their lives on the movie screen, and decided he had to do some living of his own. Tom's adventure was his escape from his coffin however, like Houdini. Tom does not live to enjoy the triumphs of his escape however, wallows in the light of his remorse, (like the glass unicorn) Tom is crippled.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Rough-Rough Draft
Kevin Gonzalez
Instructor Stacey Knapp
English 1B
May 4, 2011
Rough-Rough Draft
I am interested in taking the formalist critical perspective in my research paper. I plan on writing about the symbols that are used in the novel and how they affect the meaning of what is implied. What the letter A stands for, and how the meaning of this symbol change throughout the novel. I want to have particular focus on the concluding passage of the novel. I plan on researching how the structure of the novel adds to the tension and ambiguity of the text. I also plan on looking for paradox, and irony. Overall I plan on focusing on close reading of the text, the structure of the text, and the context in which it was written. This first rough draft is going to serve as a compilation of my ideas and interests towards the novel, and will hopefully be a good base and give birth to my further research and focus.
Roger Chillingworth is a pseudonym made up by Roger Prynne, husband to Hester Prynne, so that he may save his good name from being tarnished by the act that Hester and her lover Dimmesdale were involved in. Chillingworth is the character that suffers the most in the novel. Although Hester wears the consequences of her infidelity on her chest, and the reverend possesses his anguish internally, Roger is the character that is tormented the most by the occurrences. This tormented soul’s anguish remains ambiguous in the novel.
Chillingworth after entering the jailhouse, beseeches to Hester by offering medicine for her baby by saying, “Here, woman! The child is yours,--she is none of mine, neither will she recognize my voice or aspect as a father’s” (51). This sentence is a part of the first cluster of words that Roger says to Hester after their two years time spent apart. This sentence shows that Chillingworth is showing remorse maybe that the child isn’t his, and wouldn’t therefore not recognize him as a father and show affection or trust towards him.
Ambiguity is something Hawthorne uses a lot to bring interest to the text, and also meaning. This ambiguity brings about further questions for the questions you may already have, thus answering a question with a question and creating a paradox. His ambiguity also gives many possible solutions to the questions a reader may ask, which may bring about frustration and may also bring about possession of the reader’s attention or curiosity of the truth. Some of these chases of knowledge end up at a dead end, perhaps purposefully created by the author as a form of ultimate ambiguity.
The symbol of the letter A in the novel has many meanings that can be interpreted in different ways. With the line at the end of the novel “ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES” (166) offering the most room for interpretation. This line translates to “On a black background, the letter A in red” (166), and is engraved on a tombstone which is mysteriously shared between buried corpses. “It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both (166).
The answer as to whose body is buried next to Hester’s is deliberately ambiguous. We are not informed if it’s the Reverend Dimmesdale’s, Hester’s sinful lover, or if it is Hester’s husband’s body. It could be that the body is Dimmesdale’s body because the narrator notes that the space between them serves the purpose of illustrating that “the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle.” Hester was married to Roger Prynne and therefore had no right to mingle with Reverend Dimmesdale, like she did, who was certainly not her husband! The space between Dimmesdale and Hester’s body could symbolize the laws of the land and give the quote a meaning that the letter A symbolizes law which prevented the love birds from being able to fly away together, leaving behind American soil. Their bodies are buried in America and remain in America because it is the American law that was established that forbid adultery.
The other possibility as to whose body is buried next to Hester’s could be that none other than her husband’s Roger Prynne. Bethany Reid notes that, “wouldn’t Puritan Boston more likely bury Hester beside the man who—in endowing her daughter—has named himself ‘husband,’ and named himself ‘Roger Prynne’?” (575). She also notes that, “Although generations of readers have assumed that she shares the A with Dimmesdale, should we assume that Puritan Boston would lay to rest even their able, angelic adulteress beside their late, beloved pastor?” (575). No doubt Puritan Boston would have had a problem laying the two sinners bodies together. The townspeople refused to believe that their beloved pastor committed the act, even after hearing his confession! Thus they showed how much influence their religious leaders had on them, and how they were so eager to blindly follow their religion to the point of condemning someone who could not have physically been able to pull off such an act as giving birth without an earthly father. They would surely be more likely to give credit to the Black Man as being the father of Pearl before their beloved Dimmesdale.
Besides this point, it would be more natural for a husband and wife to be buried next to each other. The Prynnes must have shared the tombstone right? This way, the space between them which symbolized the statement that “the two sleepers had no right to mingle” could be stating that Hester and Roger had no right to have been in a relationship together; that their marriage shouldn’t have even happened in the first place. Hester was definitely unhappily married, and Roger didn’t pull through on his promise to be loving to his wife. Thus they were not a good couple and some force must have propelled the two souls to marry if not for love. Hester may have been promised happiness from Roger before marrying, and we all know that an intellectual man with a “considerable amount of property” could have been appealing to young Hester who could have needed or yearned for stability in her life. Hester could have also been an appealing life partner for Roger Prynne, him being regretful of the time he spent as a book worm that never experienced the joy of being with a woman. Both were wrong in going into the marriage because their reasons were not for love. Thus the space between them could be seen as the lack of love one another shared.
A third possibility, greatly contributed by my imagination, is that all three bodies were buried in the burial-ground. The space between them actually being a third body whose existence was ambiguously left out. Could Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Prynne have been buried next to one another to signify how, “ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES?” All three had their own part in the party. The answer might be who knows… all I know is that I yearn for the truth to be revealed, which might serve as applause for Nathaniel and his use of ambiguity in his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter.
Instructor Stacey Knapp
English 1B
May 4, 2011
Rough-Rough Draft
I am interested in taking the formalist critical perspective in my research paper. I plan on writing about the symbols that are used in the novel and how they affect the meaning of what is implied. What the letter A stands for, and how the meaning of this symbol change throughout the novel. I want to have particular focus on the concluding passage of the novel. I plan on researching how the structure of the novel adds to the tension and ambiguity of the text. I also plan on looking for paradox, and irony. Overall I plan on focusing on close reading of the text, the structure of the text, and the context in which it was written. This first rough draft is going to serve as a compilation of my ideas and interests towards the novel, and will hopefully be a good base and give birth to my further research and focus.
Roger Chillingworth is a pseudonym made up by Roger Prynne, husband to Hester Prynne, so that he may save his good name from being tarnished by the act that Hester and her lover Dimmesdale were involved in. Chillingworth is the character that suffers the most in the novel. Although Hester wears the consequences of her infidelity on her chest, and the reverend possesses his anguish internally, Roger is the character that is tormented the most by the occurrences. This tormented soul’s anguish remains ambiguous in the novel.
Chillingworth after entering the jailhouse, beseeches to Hester by offering medicine for her baby by saying, “Here, woman! The child is yours,--she is none of mine, neither will she recognize my voice or aspect as a father’s” (51). This sentence is a part of the first cluster of words that Roger says to Hester after their two years time spent apart. This sentence shows that Chillingworth is showing remorse maybe that the child isn’t his, and wouldn’t therefore not recognize him as a father and show affection or trust towards him.
Ambiguity is something Hawthorne uses a lot to bring interest to the text, and also meaning. This ambiguity brings about further questions for the questions you may already have, thus answering a question with a question and creating a paradox. His ambiguity also gives many possible solutions to the questions a reader may ask, which may bring about frustration and may also bring about possession of the reader’s attention or curiosity of the truth. Some of these chases of knowledge end up at a dead end, perhaps purposefully created by the author as a form of ultimate ambiguity.
The symbol of the letter A in the novel has many meanings that can be interpreted in different ways. With the line at the end of the novel “ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES” (166) offering the most room for interpretation. This line translates to “On a black background, the letter A in red” (166), and is engraved on a tombstone which is mysteriously shared between buried corpses. “It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both (166).
The answer as to whose body is buried next to Hester’s is deliberately ambiguous. We are not informed if it’s the Reverend Dimmesdale’s, Hester’s sinful lover, or if it is Hester’s husband’s body. It could be that the body is Dimmesdale’s body because the narrator notes that the space between them serves the purpose of illustrating that “the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle.” Hester was married to Roger Prynne and therefore had no right to mingle with Reverend Dimmesdale, like she did, who was certainly not her husband! The space between Dimmesdale and Hester’s body could symbolize the laws of the land and give the quote a meaning that the letter A symbolizes law which prevented the love birds from being able to fly away together, leaving behind American soil. Their bodies are buried in America and remain in America because it is the American law that was established that forbid adultery.
The other possibility as to whose body is buried next to Hester’s could be that none other than her husband’s Roger Prynne. Bethany Reid notes that, “wouldn’t Puritan Boston more likely bury Hester beside the man who—in endowing her daughter—has named himself ‘husband,’ and named himself ‘Roger Prynne’?” (575). She also notes that, “Although generations of readers have assumed that she shares the A with Dimmesdale, should we assume that Puritan Boston would lay to rest even their able, angelic adulteress beside their late, beloved pastor?” (575). No doubt Puritan Boston would have had a problem laying the two sinners bodies together. The townspeople refused to believe that their beloved pastor committed the act, even after hearing his confession! Thus they showed how much influence their religious leaders had on them, and how they were so eager to blindly follow their religion to the point of condemning someone who could not have physically been able to pull off such an act as giving birth without an earthly father. They would surely be more likely to give credit to the Black Man as being the father of Pearl before their beloved Dimmesdale.
Besides this point, it would be more natural for a husband and wife to be buried next to each other. The Prynnes must have shared the tombstone right? This way, the space between them which symbolized the statement that “the two sleepers had no right to mingle” could be stating that Hester and Roger had no right to have been in a relationship together; that their marriage shouldn’t have even happened in the first place. Hester was definitely unhappily married, and Roger didn’t pull through on his promise to be loving to his wife. Thus they were not a good couple and some force must have propelled the two souls to marry if not for love. Hester may have been promised happiness from Roger before marrying, and we all know that an intellectual man with a “considerable amount of property” could have been appealing to young Hester who could have needed or yearned for stability in her life. Hester could have also been an appealing life partner for Roger Prynne, him being regretful of the time he spent as a book worm that never experienced the joy of being with a woman. Both were wrong in going into the marriage because their reasons were not for love. Thus the space between them could be seen as the lack of love one another shared.
A third possibility, greatly contributed by my imagination, is that all three bodies were buried in the burial-ground. The space between them actually being a third body whose existence was ambiguously left out. Could Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Prynne have been buried next to one another to signify how, “ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES?” All three had their own part in the party. The answer might be who knows… all I know is that I yearn for the truth to be revealed, which might serve as applause for Nathaniel and his use of ambiguity in his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Annotated Bibliography
Reid, Bethany. "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading
The Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings: Authoritative
Texts, Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2005. 558-576.
Print.
-This essay has to do with Roger Prynne and his decision to remain silent or reticent about his uncordial marriage with Hester Prynne, and how he remains ambivalent towards Pearl and his wife. Bethany brings up Nathaniel's relationship with his father or lack thereof, and provides an explanation as to why the novel is ambiguous. There is interesting information as to why the ending scene in the Novel is ambiguous. It has to do with Chilingsworth struggle compared to the other characters in the book, and how Nathaniel's beliefs are intertwined.
"Via this refusal to name, Hawthorne inscribes not a father so much, or fathers, as his own inconquerable ambvialence toward them" (576).
"Although generations of readers have assumed that she shares the A with Dimmesdale, should we assume that Puritan Boston would lay to rest even their able, angelic adulteress beside their late, beloved pastor?" (575)
"But wouldn't Puritan Boston more likely burry Hester beside the man who--is endowing her daughter--has named himself 'husband,' and named himself 'Roger Prynne'? The A would then symbolize the importance of the letter of the law" (575).
"Chillingworth fails to understand the nature of his own tragedy" (570).
"Chillingworth, too, is loyal: he will remain by Hester's side until death parts them" (569).
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Leland S. Person. The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings:
Authoritative Texts, Contexts, Criticism. First ed. New York: W.W.
Norton &, 2005. Print. A Norton Critical Edition.
Bercovitch, Sacvan. "The A-Politics of Ambiguity in the Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings:Authoritative Texts, Contexts, Criticism. First ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2005. 576-97. Print. A Norton Critical Edition.
The Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings: Authoritative
Texts, Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2005. 558-576.
Print.
-This essay has to do with Roger Prynne and his decision to remain silent or reticent about his uncordial marriage with Hester Prynne, and how he remains ambivalent towards Pearl and his wife. Bethany brings up Nathaniel's relationship with his father or lack thereof, and provides an explanation as to why the novel is ambiguous. There is interesting information as to why the ending scene in the Novel is ambiguous. It has to do with Chilingsworth struggle compared to the other characters in the book, and how Nathaniel's beliefs are intertwined.
"Via this refusal to name, Hawthorne inscribes not a father so much, or fathers, as his own inconquerable ambvialence toward them" (576).
"Although generations of readers have assumed that she shares the A with Dimmesdale, should we assume that Puritan Boston would lay to rest even their able, angelic adulteress beside their late, beloved pastor?" (575)
"But wouldn't Puritan Boston more likely burry Hester beside the man who--is endowing her daughter--has named himself 'husband,' and named himself 'Roger Prynne'? The A would then symbolize the importance of the letter of the law" (575).
"Chillingworth fails to understand the nature of his own tragedy" (570).
"Chillingworth, too, is loyal: he will remain by Hester's side until death parts them" (569).
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Leland S. Person. The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings:
Authoritative Texts, Contexts, Criticism. First ed. New York: W.W.
Norton &, 2005. Print. A Norton Critical Edition.
Bercovitch, Sacvan. "The A-Politics of Ambiguity in the Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings:Authoritative Texts, Contexts, Criticism. First ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2005. 576-97. Print. A Norton Critical Edition.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Difficulty Paper
I finished reading the Scarlet Letter a couple of days ago, and I already feel like I've forgotten what I've read. I had difficulty reading the whole book, so I guess I could write about anything. I'd like to focus this difficulty paper on the last chapter, XXIV. Conclusion, since it's the last thing I've read from the Scarlet Letter (aside from skimming through some of the essays). So basically the chapter starts out with Nathaniel giving a few explanations of what the interpretations of the townspeople were from the scene they witnessed on the scaffold. These interpretations or testimonies included: having seen the symbol of the scarlet letter imprinted on the ministers bare chest, in which the implication of origin of it's application were varied. One side of the stories has you to believe that the minister had inflicted, "a hideous torture on himself" by taking some of the burden of penance from Hester Prynne from the dreadful day she was sentenced to wear her ignominious badge of the scarlet letter! Others believed that the minister was haunted by remorse which gnawed away from his innermost heart outwardly onto his flesh, which is what I believe as well, by the visible presence of the scarlet letter. "ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES." On a black background, the letter A in red. The book ends with this quote which is what is engraved on Hester's tombstone. "One ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow." I believe that these quotes along with Hester being buried next to an old sunken tombstone are important aspects of the conclusion. It also says that there was a space between the two graves, "as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle." This quote especially leads me to believe that Hester had been buried next to the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. There was only one tombstone placed for both graves. The black background has to be referring to the deep dark scandal that had withered away at the hearts of the two scoundrels involved in the affair. The affair being the letter A (which stood for adultery) in red which was engraved on the chests or bosoms of those involved in the affaire d'amour. Hester having the scarlet letter sewn onto her dress, serving as a visible brand of sin whose brand burned from the exterior through the chest cavity which lead into the heart; while, Mr. Dimmesdale's affliction yearned to escape from the lurid indentation of his sin which he held captive within his edifice.
I now believe that the single tombstone placed for both graves bears the significance that Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale's lives were and forever will be defined by their shameful act. It's interesting to think of who they've betrayed. The reverend no doubt betrays his relationship and devotion to God by interfering with the sanctity of marriage between the Prynnes. While Hester, betrays her devotion to her husband and her vow. Roger Chillingsworth is perhaps the most perverted. He didn't make any attempt to please his wife before her affair, and after he found out about it, he still continued to follow his own ambitions. Chillingsworth betrays his wife in not working on pleasing her. He was a lot older than Hester when they married, and I believe this is were his betrayal started. It didn't say so in the book however, I believe Chillingsworth must of made some kind of promise to Hester that had to do with her being happily married to him. He didn't go through with his promise. He wanted to be happy, and sort of attempt to turn back the sands of time by marrying a young woman that would make up for the time he wasted burying his nose in books. I don't believe love ever existed in their relationship, and I would of liked to have read that Hester had run away with Dimmesdale like they had dreamed. However, in the world that the two lived in, such fancies would of been impossible or maybe highly plausible? None of the townspeople could of possessed any ability to follow or even hear of any information about the whereabouts of the two lovers. They would of been successful in their escape. The only question would be if they would of been able to live with themselves with that decision. Reverend Dimmesdale would of been unfaithful to his religion, as well as Hester because they mingled with the sanctity of her marriage vow. They might of written of their names in the book of the Black Man, if they wished to take the ferry across the sea of fire.
This is the third time I'm going over this post, which exemplifies how difficult the final passage of The Scarlet Letter is. Another interpretation of the final passage is that the grave Hester is buried next to can be that of Roger Chillingsworth aka "Master Prynne." How could the townspeople have buried Hester next to anyone but her husband? The townspeople continued to refuse to want to believe that their reverend had been involved with Hester Prynne, and I don't think they would of allowed the two love birds to be buried next to each other even though there was some separation between the two graves. The body must of been that of Roger Prynne. "Yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle." This last passage is very ambivalent, and the argument could go both ways. It seems like all three of them had no right to mingle in the entanglement of their manage a trois. Rereading the final passage a couple times, as well as reading Bethany Reid's essay towards the back of the book, "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading The Scarlet Letter" I have more questions as well as multiple answers to the subject that confused me. Bethany proposes that perhaps it doesn't matter which body was buried next to Hester's and that perhaps Nathaniel purposefully left it ambivalent (after examining his biography) as to whose body it was and what that body represented. Nathaniel had his own ambivalence towards who his own Father was, and some people have suggested that Nathaniel might of symbolized away to bring his Mother and Father closer to each other through this scene. It seems that it will remain a mystery, as we all know Nathaniel is long gone and we can only speculate what his intentions were.
I now believe that the single tombstone placed for both graves bears the significance that Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale's lives were and forever will be defined by their shameful act. It's interesting to think of who they've betrayed. The reverend no doubt betrays his relationship and devotion to God by interfering with the sanctity of marriage between the Prynnes. While Hester, betrays her devotion to her husband and her vow. Roger Chillingsworth is perhaps the most perverted. He didn't make any attempt to please his wife before her affair, and after he found out about it, he still continued to follow his own ambitions. Chillingsworth betrays his wife in not working on pleasing her. He was a lot older than Hester when they married, and I believe this is were his betrayal started. It didn't say so in the book however, I believe Chillingsworth must of made some kind of promise to Hester that had to do with her being happily married to him. He didn't go through with his promise. He wanted to be happy, and sort of attempt to turn back the sands of time by marrying a young woman that would make up for the time he wasted burying his nose in books. I don't believe love ever existed in their relationship, and I would of liked to have read that Hester had run away with Dimmesdale like they had dreamed. However, in the world that the two lived in, such fancies would of been impossible or maybe highly plausible? None of the townspeople could of possessed any ability to follow or even hear of any information about the whereabouts of the two lovers. They would of been successful in their escape. The only question would be if they would of been able to live with themselves with that decision. Reverend Dimmesdale would of been unfaithful to his religion, as well as Hester because they mingled with the sanctity of her marriage vow. They might of written of their names in the book of the Black Man, if they wished to take the ferry across the sea of fire.
This is the third time I'm going over this post, which exemplifies how difficult the final passage of The Scarlet Letter is. Another interpretation of the final passage is that the grave Hester is buried next to can be that of Roger Chillingsworth aka "Master Prynne." How could the townspeople have buried Hester next to anyone but her husband? The townspeople continued to refuse to want to believe that their reverend had been involved with Hester Prynne, and I don't think they would of allowed the two love birds to be buried next to each other even though there was some separation between the two graves. The body must of been that of Roger Prynne. "Yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle." This last passage is very ambivalent, and the argument could go both ways. It seems like all three of them had no right to mingle in the entanglement of their manage a trois. Rereading the final passage a couple times, as well as reading Bethany Reid's essay towards the back of the book, "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading The Scarlet Letter" I have more questions as well as multiple answers to the subject that confused me. Bethany proposes that perhaps it doesn't matter which body was buried next to Hester's and that perhaps Nathaniel purposefully left it ambivalent (after examining his biography) as to whose body it was and what that body represented. Nathaniel had his own ambivalence towards who his own Father was, and some people have suggested that Nathaniel might of symbolized away to bring his Mother and Father closer to each other through this scene. It seems that it will remain a mystery, as we all know Nathaniel is long gone and we can only speculate what his intentions were.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Difficulty Paper
I had difficulty understanding what was going on during the beginning of the Scarlet Letter. The language is what initially threw me off. I was having trouble understanding the meaning of what was going on, and I would often catch my mind wandering off onto other thoughts. From what I can deduce, Hester Prynne was being held imprisoned for committing adultery. That part I understood. The part I had trouble visualizing was the very first scene in which Hester's cell mates were talking. I read trough this scene, and continued to read on, and I now possess an understanding and familiarity with the way Nathaniel writes. I'm sure all I have to do is re-read this scene and I'd get a better grasp of what was going on. I still find my mind wandering off when I'm not engaged in the reading. I have to be carefully reading along and re-reading sections to understand whats going on, I also find that there is a lot of hidden meaning going on, and have found similarities with the Scarlet Letter and his short story Young Goodman Brown. I want to continue my close reading and begin annotating the text, however I'm not sure exactly what to write down. I'm on p. 92 and about to begin XI. The Interior of a Heart. I read through the first part of the book titled "The Custom-House" and I found that to be a more difficult reading than the actual story. As far as difficulty, I found Chapter II. The Market Place to be especially confusing.
Upon a second reading, I understood that there is a gathering of people waiting for Hester Prynne outside of the jail house, so that they may watch her punishment of standing at the scaffold for three hours for her act of adultery. Nathaniel notes that the Puritans were known for giving harsh punishments. I originally didn't understand what was going on with the women that were talking during this scene. I thought they were being held prisoners as well with Hester the first time I read it. On my second reading I can see that they were standing outside by the scaffold waiting for Hester's entrance. Nathaniel describes them in a negative light, saying their ugly and man-like, the contrary of Hester's appearance. One of the women says to the townspeople that Reverend Dimmesdale gave Hester a kind sentence, and says that she would of given her a harsher punishment. The ugliest of the women goes as far as saying that she should be killed for her actions. I found it interesting that one of the footnotes describes a real life person as having the name Hester Craford (1688) who was to be punished for the same crime by being "severely whipped" by none other than William Hawthorne. Hester Craford was also expecting a child which coincides with Hawthorne's character of Hester Prynne. The rest of the scene goes accordingly.
"The women who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the altogether unsuitable representative of the sex" (p. 38). I found this line to be really funny, especially after looking up a picture of Queen Elizabeth I.
Upon a second reading, I understood that there is a gathering of people waiting for Hester Prynne outside of the jail house, so that they may watch her punishment of standing at the scaffold for three hours for her act of adultery. Nathaniel notes that the Puritans were known for giving harsh punishments. I originally didn't understand what was going on with the women that were talking during this scene. I thought they were being held prisoners as well with Hester the first time I read it. On my second reading I can see that they were standing outside by the scaffold waiting for Hester's entrance. Nathaniel describes them in a negative light, saying their ugly and man-like, the contrary of Hester's appearance. One of the women says to the townspeople that Reverend Dimmesdale gave Hester a kind sentence, and says that she would of given her a harsher punishment. The ugliest of the women goes as far as saying that she should be killed for her actions. I found it interesting that one of the footnotes describes a real life person as having the name Hester Craford (1688) who was to be punished for the same crime by being "severely whipped" by none other than William Hawthorne. Hester Craford was also expecting a child which coincides with Hawthorne's character of Hester Prynne. The rest of the scene goes accordingly.
"The women who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the altogether unsuitable representative of the sex" (p. 38). I found this line to be really funny, especially after looking up a picture of Queen Elizabeth I.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper, Revised
I have chosen to do my analysis on The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I am going to be using the readers response critical lens in my analysis of this short story. I am going to start out by saying that this story is very creepy, however it is beautifully written, and I was very much drawn into the story, close to becoming possessed by it. The protagonist of the story is a woman who is married to a physician named John. Her name is not stated, neither is Johns last name, however they are indeed married and have a maid named Jennie, who is Johns sister. I believe the protagonist name in this short story is intentionally left anonymous to allow the reader to believe that it could be anyone. The name John is also a very common name, and might serve in the same sense of anonymity to represent any physician.
The rising action of the short story is the protagonist's growing curiosity of the yellow wallpaper she is surrounded by in her room. It seems that the more time she is left to her thoughts, the closer she gets to reaching a breaking point of insanity. The story starts out innocently enough, where John believes she is suffering from nervous depression, and rents out a colonial mansion for her to receive rest and to not be distracted. He advices her not to think about her condition, and so she begins to think about the house. This is what gives root to her insanity. She is stuck in this room with yellow wallpaper that she hates, and becomes obsessed by the task of trying to figure out its pattern. This story sort of terrified me, I too spend a lot of time alone, and feel like I become obsessed by a repetitive notions at times. However, I luckily don't have any wallpaper in my room. I realized she was really going nuts when she believed she discovered that there was a woman shaking the pattern behind the wall, and that the pattern held her in the wall. She believes the woman gets out in the daytime, and is then confined to the wall at night behind the pattern.
I believe every aspect of this story was methodically calculated. I find that even the color of the wallpaper should be analyzed when trying decipher it's meaning. The color yellow is often used in medical terms to signify a quarantine. I believe this to be the reason Charlotte chose this color for the room. The physician does try to quarantine her from other's into the wallpapered room. It is also significant because she starts to see the yellow wallpaper as something that is used to quarantine the strange shadow of a woman behind the wall. The color yellow is sometimes used as a warning sign, as in the street sign yield or the yellow in stop lights, maybe she used the color yellow as a foreshadow that something dangerous would be lying ahead. A third connotation of meaning would be yellows association with insanity. I believe yellow is sometimes associated with insanity, some prisons use yellow attire for those who are mentally unstable, as in those who might want to commit to suicide. Yellow's association with insanity is not something that is widely regarded as being true. I want to put forth the thought that people might of started associating the color yellow with insanity after reading The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Although I did not do any research, I could see this short story having a great effect on people, especially when you take into account that it was written over a hundred years ago. It's certainly had enough time to create a following for this connotation, however I have no facts to back up my thesis.
The climactic moment of the story has to be when John opens the door to the room and sees that she has torn down the wallpaper, and is creeping on the across the floor. The resolution of this story has to be after she says, "I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. 'I've got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!'" John passes out, and she continues to creep along a path over him. The way she uses the word creep is fantastic. Upon first reading her use of the word creeping, I imagined the woman she described seeing outside as merely walking around with hunched shoulders. I imagined creeping to mean that she was walking around mysteriously as if she knew she was somewhere she wasn't allowed to be. However I looked up the word and realized its meaning was much more horrifying. Creeping means to move around on the ground slowly using your hands and knees, like an animal or creature. This made the story even more terrifying for me. I think my imagination of what the protagonist is seeing is more frightful than any horror movie I've seen in the past. The human imagination is much more terrifying that anything that could be manipulated on film. It kind of reminded me of the movie The Ring.
I read the authors reason to writing this story, and she confessed to going through a similar episode! She said that there was a physician that advised her to remain unproductive, and un-stimulated until she got better. She however, felt that she was going mad, and took the advice of a friend to go back to being productive. Having something to do is what ended up saving her from losing it, this is what inspired her to write The Yellow Wallpaper. I think it'd be interesting to put up some yellow wallpaper in my room after reading this story, and seeing the effect it has on me.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Imitation
Pick your clothes off of the floor.
My parents never really gave me any directions...
Estas tomado otra ves?
Donde vas?
Conquien andas?
Porque gueles asi?
No le pegues a tu hermano.
Go walk the dog.
Take your brothers for a walk.
Why are you hanging out so much with your uncle?
Why are you so friendly with the neighbors?
Are you in a gang?
Where did we go wrong?
What did I do?
Is it me?
What do you want me to change?
My parents never really gave me any directions...
Estas tomado otra ves?
Donde vas?
Conquien andas?
Porque gueles asi?
No le pegues a tu hermano.
Go walk the dog.
Take your brothers for a walk.
Why are you hanging out so much with your uncle?
Why are you so friendly with the neighbors?
Are you in a gang?
Where did we go wrong?
What did I do?
Is it me?
What do you want me to change?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)