logan-taylor

= = = = = Week 2 Student: Logan Ghast = Pages Read: 72-115

The protagonist in the story is Hester Prynne. She is a young, feminine woman… tall and beautiful with thick, long, glossy black hair and dark eyes. She is a proud, brave, and stubborn person. She is a unique character and I can’t say that I know or have ever known anyone exactly like her. I appreciate her traits of proudness and braveness. I admire the way that she walked out the prison, showing her child and the scarlet letter, both symbols of her sin, openly with a “haughty smile”. I also respect how she could be brave enough to go through her public ignominy and also, not reveal the father’s name even though it would have lessened her punishment.

Summarize this week’s reading. Remember to be brief and include only the key points and highlights. In this week’s reading, we learn more about Pearl, Hester’s child and go up to her current age in the story of three. It is a possibility, we learn in this section, that Pearl might be taken away from Hester to be brought by someone who may teach her the Puritan way of life better than Hester. Hester, being opposed of course, goes to Governor Bellingham’s to argue the matter. After convincing by Mr. Dimmesdale, a clergyman of the church, Bellingham decides to let Hester keep young Pearl to raise.

Hester also found out her husband did not die at sea. The mystery man that comes into the story really is her husband and he is not mad at her for what she has done but is mad at the father who won’t come forward. He threatens to kill the man if he finds him not worthy.  Hester goes to the house in order to convince the Governor Bellingham that she is a good mother. I think she feels that Pearl is her burden and she doesn’t want anyone else to have to deal with her evil. Pearl is also very symbolic to Hester. Pearl is more of a reminder of the deed than the scarlet letter. = = = Week 1 Student: loganghast = Pages Read: 43-72

The story takes place in what is now Salem, Massachusetts in what I would say around the late 1600’s. It has to be around this time in the past because they do not have any of the technology we do and also, the members of the community are Puritans and, the Puritans migrated to America around the same time of the Pilgrims, which was in the 1600’s. Being that the members of this community are all of the Puritan religion, they have a Puritan church. The communities rules are very strict and even the most minor offense, usually some sort of sin, is punished with public humiliation all the way up to death. I have never been to a place like this nor would I want to because the rules are too strict and I’m not particularly religious so, I probably wouldn’t get along too well in a place like this one in the story.

In what I got done of this week’s reading, I found out that the main character, Hester Prynne, has been charged with the sin of adultery and as punishment must spend time in the villages prison, endure public humiliation, and forever wear a scarlet capital A on her chest. She is questioned of who the father is but she says she will never reveal his name. So far, I am finding this book to be very interesting. I also think Nathanial Hawthorne is a very good writer. I like his style, how he puts a lot of detail in his work. Some of the vocabulary is hard to understand because they're old words that we never even use anymore and the dialoge is confusing sometimes because they talk how people in the 1600's probably talked. Overall though, I am enjoying the book so far.

People living in this area and time period definitely had the fear of God in them. I agree with pretty much all of your observations. I think it is important to realize that people were unhappy with her punishment and felt that it was not harsh enough. Also the fact that she won’t tell the name of the baby’s father is very brave. If she were to tell the name her punishment would be lessened but he would be in trouble. The book is interesting but can drag at times because of the characters’ speech.