In class yesterday we talked a bit about eyes (sight) and mirrors (reflection) as symbols in The Scarlett Letter. Our discussion focused on how the characters’ perceptions of themselves and their surroundings are shaped by the peculiar, perhaps deceiving, sense of sight. I would like to continue on this vein and explore how Hawthorne portrays […]
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s extensive writings are like the lumbar spine in the body of American (and, for that matter, global) fiction that was still very much in utero when he first placed paper under his quill: essential supports to the increasing weighty system of nerves and nodes and cerebration that grows above it, and locus of […]
First, I apologize to all for my second tardy post but at the same time, I’m pretty happy that it’s come this late. Last weekend, I traveled upstate with a few friends and after a debauched weekend where four gentlemen brilliantly courted a young woman, she now has my copy of The Scarlet Letter. It’s […]
The Scarlett Letter addresses the issue of essentialism versus constructionism. Most of the characters seem to be essentialists, believing that there is a definite right and wrong, guilt and innocence; that there is sin. Even Chillingworth, the open-minded man who half-adopted Indian traditions, believes strongly that the adultery that Hester committed (though admittedly inevitable) was […]
As I read Godbeer’s essay I kept thinking about the Salem Witch Trials and how the witchcraft bubble exploded with such force, why people were so quick to condemn their neighbors and sell them out. Whether on some occasions it was due to a calculated personal hatred of a specific individual or a desire to obtain their capital, it […]
For as long as the two have existed, the worlds of science and religion have been at war. It is not because of mutual hatred or a desire to dominate human consciousness (although I’m sure this plays some part in certain battles). Rather, it is that the two lines of thought are constantly contradicting each […]
