The Scarlet Letter ch 5-7

While reading chapter 5, I began to feel even more sorry for Hester than I already did. The people in the town would not give her a break. It came to a point where she was considered a ". . . symbol. . . in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion" (76). This chapter triggered my emotions and opinions on her life, but Hester's own emotions weren't portrayed as frequently as I thought they should have been. Also, I do not get the part where the narrator explains that people often return to places where significant events took place. Is this because people are nostalgic and like to revisit these places to somehow relive the event they are thinking of? I also relate to Hester Prynn's situation, as in feeling like she deserves all this as punishment for doing something wrong. Although she isn't in the right, I feel as if the town and especially the women are blowing every out of proportion. The fact that Hester becomes a seamstress and provides clothes for poor people, yet the poor people even look down on her, is terrible. In my opinion, everyone needs to get over the whole situation because she isn't the only person who has committed a crime.

Chapter 6 made me grow to love Pearl. I was hesitant whether to love her or not because she is the cause of the whole situation, after all. Readers got to see Pearl's personality come out, even though she's still very young. It was also interesting to see how Hester's daughter would grow up under her circumstances. I expected Pearl to be more quiet and to herself, being that everyone shunned her and her mother. I was surprised to see that she was feisty and had a mind of her own. It was just very sad, because as they mentioned in the novel, the first thing Pearl noticed about her mother was the scarlet A on her chest. I somehow felt like this was a symbol of Pearl having to grow up and adjust to a different lifestyle based on the aftermath of her mother's actions.

Chapter 7 had me focused on the deeper meanings of what was portrayed in the story. The fact that Pearl is dressed in a scarlet red dress is very significant. To me, it symbolized her as the scarlet letter, a constant reminder of the incident. Pearl is the bittersweet outcome of it all. Also, when Hester looked in the mirror, the scarlet letter was distorted and exaggerated, making it the focal point of her appearance. This in itself, is self explanatory. The emblem has taken over her whole life. Hester has lost herself through all of this, and no one really takes the time to get to know Hester or her daughter just because of her reputation. The themes of guilt, blame, and judgement is of great significance throughout this whole book, and especially in the recent chapters and I'm interested to see how the people will react to Hester and Pearl's actions later on. Will the people eventually get over it or will they continue to play the blame game? 

The video is Blame Game by Kanye West ft. John Legend. Somehow, I feel like it portrays Hester's feelings towards Pearl. Although it's clear she loves her, there's an underlying feeling that Pearl's the cause the downward spiral that led to Hester's life being the way it is.

The Scarlet Letter ch 1-4

The first chapter of The Scarlet Letter basically served as background information of the jail. At first, the section seemed like a typical description of the town's gloomy and depressing prison. Hawthorne even states that "like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era" meaning the building didn't have a joyful or happy vibe, like everything else that had to do with crime and evil. The novel then goes on to describe a wild rose bush growing next to the front door. I thought this was really random, as it was a major transition from the depressing mood of the story to a beautiful piece of nature thriving in an unlikely place. The novel also makes a reference to Anne Hutchinson, who was a real person. Being confused as to how she related to the story, I researched information on her and found out that she was a Puritan who believed that salvation was based on a person's faith and not whether they followed rules and laws. I kept this in mind as I read on further. The second chapter introduced the main character, Hester Prynne. The fact that it was mostly the women in the town who were gossiping about wasn't a surprise at all. Time's clearly have not changed that much. I felt sorry for Hester during this chapter and even more sorry for her baby. Basically the whole community was standing around judging her as she walked towards the pillory. She seemed strong and held herself together until she began to think of her family. That's when I noticed her start to crumble. A man who's is not named is also brought up in her thoughts, which was strange. Chapter three gives readers an explanation as to why Hester has a scarlet "A" embroidered on her chest. The members of the clergy also spend a great deal trying to get her to confess who the father is. What I noticed was that she squeezed the baby so hard that it cried when she saw an Indian man. This was something she did in the previous chapter as well. Also the fact that she was so focused on the stranger led me to jump to the conclusion that he was the father of the baby, which sounds very absurd to say given the fact that this is only the third chapter, but you never know. What I didn't understand was that the people were hallucinating? On page 66-67 ". . . [the clergyman's] periods were rolling over people's heads, that it assumed new terrors in their imagination, and seemed to derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit." Does this mean that the "A" was glowing? Chapter four gives insight on the relationship between the stranger and Hester. It was a major plot twist because the man who I believed was the baby father actually turned out to be her long lost husband. What's even weirder is that he's not nearly as mad as he should be, considering he comes home to find out his wife cheated on him and now has someone else's child.

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