Scarlet Letter D.J. # 20 - Chapter 10: Part 2.

“This man,” said he, at one such moment, to himself, “pure as they deem him,—all spiritual as he seems,—hath inherited a strong animal nature from his father or his mother. Let us dig a little farther in the direction of this vein!” (pg. 113 paragraph 3) The book repeatedly mention that children are the way they are because of there parents. (Pearl is a demon because of the wrong her parents committed. Chillingworth is saying that Dimmesdale has inherited an animal like nature from one of his parents.) This relates to present times, because people are the way they are because of there parents in the present as well. The difference is now people are the way they are because of the way there parents raised them, rather then back then where children are supposedly the way they are just from the way there parents were or because of the bad things there parents did.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 19 - Chapter 10: Part 1.

"So she drew her mother away, skipping, dancing, and frisking fantastically among the hillocks of the dead people, like a creature that had nothing in common with a bygone and buried generation, nor owned herself akin to it." (pg. 118 second paragraph) Pearl earlier in the story called Chillingsworth a "Black Man," but also told her mother that he could catch her and she needed to get away. The story says that she has nothing in common with the dead people buried in the graveyard, but I think this is wrong. Once you die you escape from the society. Pearl had already escaped due to the fact that she was a born outcast because of her mother's sin. She danced, and skipped through the graveyard to show the freedom that she has, which is the freedom the people in the graveyard have.

vocab 10/24/11

1) Dearth - N - an inadequate supply; scarcity; lacking - the dearth of money made the hobo sad.

2) Magnate - N - a person of great influence, importance - the president is a magnate in the eyes of the congress.

3) Veneration - N - the act of showing respect - the veneration towards tupac at his funeral was great. 


4) Opaque - ADJ - not transparent or translucent; impenetrable to light; notallowing light to pass through.
a natural inclination or tendency - the brick wall was opaque because the brick house with no windows or lights was pitch black

5) Florid - ADJ - reddish; ruddy; rosy - The rose was florid, it was like the Scarlet Letter on Hester's bosom

6) Esoteric - ADJ - understood by or meant for only the select few who havespecial knowledge or interest - Some things that K.C. say are esoteric.

7) Malleable - ADJ - adaptable or tractable.

8) Evanescent - ADJ - vanishing; fading away.

9) Vitiated - to impair or weaken the effectiveness of. - to impair or weaken the effectiveness of.

10) Propensity - N - a natural inclination or tendency.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 18 - Chapter 9: Part 2.

"His first entry on the scene, few people could tell whence, dropping down, as it were, out of the sky, or starting from the nether earth, had an aspect of mystery, which was easily heightened to the miraculous" (pg. 106 2nd paragraph) If you were to fall from heaven, that is like what happened to Lucifer (the devil), but to arise from the ground you would be coming from hell. Every one in the town is thinking that he is a good person because he is a skilled doctor, so they are not asking to many question of his origin. His medicine is from nature which in unlike the normal puritan medicine, but he knows what he is doing so again, they do not ask questions. It is obvious to a reader, but not to the towns people that he is evil.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 17 - Chapter 9: Part 1.

"He chose to withdraw his name from the roll of mankind, and, as regarded his former ties and interests, to vanish out of life as completely as if he indeed lay at the bottom of the ocean." (pg. 104 3/4 down the page) The bottom of the ocean has shadows and that means that it is dark and scary and very few things can live down there. I believe the author is talking about hell when he talks about the bottom ofthe ocean.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 16 - Chapter 8: Part 2.

"the physician as well as friend of the young minister, whose health had severely suffered, of late, by his too unreserved self-sacrifice to the labors and duties of the pastoral relation." (second paragraph on pg. 96 but continues on page 97) Dimmesdale is obviously loves his job as the Reverend, so you would think that someone who is so devoted to what they do would never do anything to lose it. Sadly peoples emotions can sometimes control them, and he must have loved Hester because I don't think he would do something like this without being in love. Whats ironic is that him and Roger are friends. They are unaware of whom each other are. What Roger does not know is that the man standing next to him is the person he has been searching for from that day in the prison, and the man that he is going to "not get revenge on".

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 15 - Chapter 8: Part 1.

"The child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses, that grew by the prison door." (pg. 99 paragraph 2) She refused to answer Mr. Wilson's question many times. She knew who had made her, who her heavenly father was, but instead decided to be stubborn, this is like Hester when she was first put on the scaffolding and didn't tell the town who the father was. Then she told him that her mother had plucked her from a rose bush by the jail. I believe that the author is trying to say that the rose bush is like the town and the roses are like the people of the town. If you get plucked from the bush then you are free from the town and the other people in it and you are free to do what you want, like Pearl.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 14 - Chapter 7: Part 2.

"And she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerating and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it." (pg. 94  4th paragraph) I believe that the armor is supposed to symbolize the town as a whole. when Hester looks into the suit she sees that the "A" is huge and takes up almost all of the chest plate. The town sees her sin as the thing that defines her and when they look at her that is all that they see. Hester feels that it is a big part of her life but it is not what defines her. i beleive that she feels that what came from the sin is what defines her, which is pearl. this is why she fights so herd to keep her later in the book.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 13 - Chapter 7: Part 1.

"She resembled, in her fierce pursuit of them, an infant pestilence, the scarlet fever, or some such half fledged judgment, whose mission was to punish the sins of the rising generation." (pg. 91) This little scene of anger right here reinforces that Pearl is a demon or that she is a witch. The towns people think that pearl is going to spread her evil to the rest of the children if they don't get her a better home or at the very least, kill her. The question i have is why do they call her an angle? Angels are supposed to mean good fortune or be the worriers of god for the puritans, and not a demonic little child. The puritans are acting the way they do because thats what they think god wants them to do, but why would god send this "angel" to them?

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 12 - Chapter 6: Part 2.

Pearl: I think the author named her this for two ironic reasons. the first is that pearls are usually perfect, but in the book she is compared to a which and she is called and evil child. i think the author did this to show the difference between dark and light. Because of her name you think she is going to be a sweet little girl but on the contrary she in quite the opposite. The other reason is that pearls are usually reserved for the rich and privileged people in life but in the book the "pearl" goes to one of the worst people in the town and because it went to one of the worst people in the town the pearl was tarnished.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 11 - Chapter 6: Part 1.

The sixth chapter is all about Pearl (Hester's daughter), and how she grew up. As you read, you recognize that Pearl is different from normal children, Hester Prynne is confused by her daughter. She doesn't understand why her child is so strange. To me it seems that Hester is afraid of Pearl because she is so unpredictable. Later in the book, Pearl is described as a child like an elf and something supernatural living in her own fantasy. I think that Pearl is just like Hester, and everything she does is like a mirror of Hester's soul. So it is her "wild side" that wants to rebel against the Puritan society and the strict rules that make it impossible for her to live in peace with the man she loves.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 10 - Chapter 5: Part 2.

"She possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself." (pg. 74) "But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigor with which society frowned upon her sin." (pg. 75) Hester was skilled with a needle and thread, she was asked to make everything besides things for a wedding. (things that are pure), and after what Hester Prynne did, every one thought she was a horrible person. This exception doesn't really says a lot about how the people of the town felt about weddings and how important they are. Besides the fact she couldn't make wedding dresses, the town made her live outside their town and wear an A, so obviously they've proved that they frown upon her sin.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 9 - Chapter 5: Part 1.

"To-marrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next; each its own trial, and yet the very same that was now so unutterably grievous to be borne." (pg. 70) Even though Hester just got out of jail she is about to go through years of torture living in her own society that is worse than jail. Everyone is talking about Hester behind her back and to her face, even the children were. And if that was not torture enough, she had nobody to talk to, which made her feel depressed. I believe that Hester is strong willed and if it were anybody else they would gone crazy and probably killed themselves, but just because she is strong that doesn't mean being completely isolated doesn't hurt.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 8 - Chapter 4: Part 2.

"I see no vengeance, plot no evil against thee." I personally don't think Roger is telling the truth, there is obviously something about him that makes Hester un-easy. The question is, why is he so desperate to find the man that got Hester pregnant if he does not want revenge? He seems to be a very smart man, so i think that he has a plan to get revenge on the man and ignore the deal with Hester. You can tell he once loved Hester and he is jealous of the man who got her pregnant. In the previous chapter Hester's husband mentioned that, "the man who was married to the women was a fool to think that he could keep a young woman happy", so maybe that's why he is upset, that he couldn't keep his young woman happy and now he is mad that someone could.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 7 - Chapter 4: Part 1.

The fourth chapter contains one of the most important scenes in the book so far. In this chapter Hester’s husband is introduces, his name is Roger Chillingworth, he comes to her prison cell as a doctor. He was called because of the baby, it was sick because it was feeding on its mothers breast milk and her mother was sad, so the baby apparently caught her sadness. While Roger was mixing up medicines for the baby, he is talking to Hester about her sin. During the talk it becomes clear that all he is interested in is getting revenge on the man Hester was cheating with. Though she refuses to reveal his name, he seems sure he will be able to find out who the man is, “with a smile of dark and self-relying intelligence”. Before he leaves her alone in the prison, he brings her to make a pact with him: She won’t tell anybody about his existence in Boston and leaves everyone thinking he died in the sea. This helps Hester husband find the man she was cheating with because when he is anonymous in the town, and no one knows he is in search of this one person, he can blend in without attracting attention.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 6 - Chapter 3: Part 2.

"Again, at the first instant of perceiving that thin visage, and the slight deformity of the figure, she pressed her infant to her bosom with so convulsive a force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it," Hester has now noticed a familiar face in the crowd who we find out later is her husband, who she hasn't seen it years. He is standing with an Indian man, they are similarly dressed meaning that her husband has spent a lot of time with the indians. It makes you wonder about the relationship they had in the past. Later in the book, her husband said, "that whoever her husband may have been must have been foolish to think he could keep a young wife happy". This maybe shows a little regret seeing how when he left she was obviously tempted by another man and he may have thought that he could keep Hester happy and make it so she would not cheat, but as we can tell, he did not.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 5 - Chapter 3: Part 1.

"A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them" In the bible a snake makes Eve eat the apple and get her and Adam kicked out of Heaven. The snake tempted Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge and told her, "that it would make her more like God and it wouldn't lead to death". She decided to listen and ate the apple from the tree. The snake was the deceiver in the Garden of Eden, and symbolizes evil and persuasion. The snake in the story is related to the man, hints that he's evil.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 4 - Chapter 2: Part 2.

"Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped." The towns people are expecting her to look horrible, but she is beautiful and the way she is dressed is also extremely beautiful, and nobody understands why. To them, she is a horrible person for the sin she had committed. They think she is a whore who sleeps around with anybody, the standards of how a whore looks is bad, so her beauty shows that she is not a whore, and that she is and pure.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 3 - Chapter 2: Part 1.

In the second chapter the plot begins. The plot starts with Hester Prynne (Not a dude, sounds like a guys name, but its not!) stepping out of the prison with the whole town staring at her. On her chest she had a big scarlet letter, the letter was an "A". It stands for “adulterer”, this was because of the sin she had committed.

The letter is described as “so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effort of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore” (pg. 50) and that it had “the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.” (pg. 50)

The letter "A" has the same color as the rose-bush, mentioned in chapter one. It has nearly the same effect as the letter does. It catches everyone’s attention and directs it to the sins of the world.

Scarlet Letter D.J. #2 - Chapter 1: Part 2.

As well in the first chapter the author brings up a wild rose bush "But, on the other side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose bush... their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in... came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of nature could pity and be kind to him"(pg. 45-46 Lines 28-34). The rose bush is a symbol for many things in this chapter. One of them is hope, this beautiful rose bush out side of an old and nasty looking jail. The people who are in the jail see it and it makes them think of all the beautiful things that they will never see again. It makes them think of all the good things in the world. 

Another thing the rose bush symbolizes is that through all the destruction of nature by the people, this beautiful rose bush survived. I think the author, calling the rose bush “wild” makes the prisoners look at it in envy, because according to the puritans all things in nature are pure, and the fact that they are going to jail means that they aren’t pure anymore.

Scarlet Letter D.J. #1 - Chapter 1: Part 1.

In the first chapter of The Scarlet Letter the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, describes the location of the story. One of the main things he describes is the prison; which is built on, ‘virgin soil’ (pg. 45 Line: 8-10). He calls the prison ‘the black flower of civilized society’ (pg. 45 Line: 27). 

A prison is supposed to be an evil place where prisoners who have broken the law in horrible ways are supposed to go. If you were ask someone to think of these people, I’m sure they would think of them in grey and black prison uniforms that are very depressing, which is how Hawthorne describes them ‘A throng of men, in sad-colored garments…and studded with iron spikes’ (pg. 45 Lines: 1-5). That explains why Hawthorne used the word ‘Black’ in the quote, ‘A black flower of civilized society’, but why did Hawthorne call the jail a flower? I believe he chose this because, the Puritans’ idea of their new colony was a utopia. The prison is like the black sheep of the family (colony), the only place in and around Boston, where the founders couldn’t hide the badness of their creation. A different interpretation might be that Hawthorne chose the flower because it grew because of the society. The society is to blame for the fact that the world needs buildings like this.