THE WOODS

Ive decided to change my essay to how the woods are considered to be evil and home of the devil, but since Hawthorne is a transcendentalist he actually is saying that the nature and the woods are good and allow people to be who they are and not become prisoners of society.

Hypocrites and Their Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy tends to show up a lot throughout the book, with almost every character showing it. Pearl is the only character in “The Scarlet Letter” who isn’t a hypocrite.  For my essay I want to show that Chilingsworth, Dimsdale and Hester are all hypocrites and that is the reason their life's don't have a happy ending.

Hester is a hypocrite because those who she "loves" she loves in a hypocritical way and she hurts everyone by keeping so many secrets. Dimsdale is a hypocrite because he is such a powerful man and yet he is too weak to own up to what he has done.Chilingsworth is a hypocrite because he is supposedly Dimsdale's doctor and he is supposed to help him, but instead he is torturing him.

The Rose Bush

For my essay I am going to write about the rose bush and how it is the glimpse of hope throughout the book.  At the beggining of the book the rose book is by the prison door and is a glimpse of hope while the prison door represents society crushing people.  Later in the book the ides of the rose bush comes up again when pearl cries for a red rose at the governers mansion.  Then at the end of the book the rose bush idea comes up once again when pearl is the happy ending of the story.

public shame vs private

I was thinking about doing private shame VS. Public shame. Hester is publicly humiliated from her scarlet A on her chest. I want to talk about how both of these are effective. Also, i want  to show how a punishment is worth it to make a better person. I also want to talk about dimmesdale, how he is not publically humiliated, but in private he is always in shame. The public does not know about his shame. only chillingworth knows about dimmesdales shame. private shame is worse then public shame. dimmesdale always is suffering when he is alone. he suffers worse then hester does in the public. hesters public shame is not that bad. she does not conform. as for chillingworth, he confoms into society and therefore is gulty. he has private shame. to have shame, you must be humilitated, and to be humiliated you must have sined. To sin you need to have a secret. and that secret creates the shame that hester, dimmesdale, and chillingworth experiance. they all exoperiance their own types of shame, and they experiance them in different ways.  129(good page)  dimmesdale conforms and is shameful. He conforms into society by trying to get revenge on dimmesdale.

Amber's Post

Ok, greetings everyone. I have two ideas of what I would like to write about, and would really appreciate input and feedback. My first idea is to write about the author’s view/ opinion on romance, and flow into the idea that romance is self detrimental either (1) in a society without moral relativism (some transcendental Nature vs Society ideas there), or (2) including feminist views that men are too weak to sustain a romance. I could write about either of these examples for how romance is portrayed as unattainable, or I could write my whole paper about moral relativism and the individual vs society. Quotes: “It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object.” “Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart!” “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness. Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers - stern and wild ones - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.”

the affect and similarities of love and hate in the Scarlet Letter

"It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be both the same thing at bottom." Hawthorne says this at the end of the book, talking about the decay of Chillingsworth. With this, and other moments throughout the book we see that love and hate are the same at the bottom through the authors eye, and both hold the same amount of intimacy, they are dependent for the food of affection, and when this is gone they all fall apart. When Chillingsworth has nothing to hate or to seek revenge he shrinks away and dies. I will talk about how both Chillingsworth and Hester are rotting away, but the one thing that keeps them going day in and day out is intimacy, even though what drives Hester is lovwe, but what drives Chillingsworth.

i simply have no ideas, hook a brother up

Theocracy and Patriarchy vs. Free Thought

The Puritans' theocratic and patriarchal society suppresses free thought. Hester wasn't able to develop her own ideas about how society should be reformed until she was pushed away from its oppression. We see this when she, "[assumes] a freedom of speculation," which "would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the scarlet letter." (325) Also in the chapter "Another View of Hester," we see that she is not used to "[measuring] her ideas of right and wrong by any standard external to herself." (315) In my essay, I want to explore the idea that free thought is stifled by the Puritan society. When Hester visits the city, we see her being pushed back into her place in society. Most notably at the end of the book, Dimmesdale says, "God is merciful! Let me now do the will which He hath made plain before my sight." (509) This quote perfectly shows the connection between theocracy and men in the Puritan society. Dimmesdale, who is arguably the weakest man in the book, says that only he has seen God's will. This mentality keeps women from leading in Puritan society.

Dimmesdale is the worst character.

Dimmesdale is the worst character in the book, not in the sense that he's poorly developed but in the sense that he's the villain. Dimmesdale is the start of Hester's problem but at no point does he really help her, and he never solves the problem. After sleeping with Hester he allowed her to be cast out from the town and shamed, while he continued his good life being praised. He didn't help her raise their child at all. This made Hester a single mother, pushed away from society, with no help from the man she loved. Then when he finally mans up enough to come clean he's dying! He did that so that he could die while everyone knew his secret, not to help her. Though he did try to come clean he never did a good enough job and everyone thought he was being honorable, therefore he received more praise. So I was thinking I'd write my essay on this idea of how much of a coward Dimmesdale is. The end. Thanks for reading.

Pearl (beginning to end)

I was thinking that I would like to write my essay on Pearl. Everyone thinks that she is the devil’s child or a witch child because she is the baby of Hester and Dimmsdale who had sinned and along with that sin came Pearl. Is she really though the example of a new beginning and new way of life. I want to write about how Pearl could be the new Ann Hutchinson, changing how things for women are. Also how through out the book Pearl changes. She goes from being a wild child, running around all the time and in the end she gets married and rich, she ends up with the happy ending. One other thing was how Pearl is always relating to the rose. She had said once that she was picked from the rose bushes, and that is where she had come from. pg. 327 "Then, she might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect." pg.219 "...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. 523 Talks about where Pearl might have ended up and what her future was like or might have turned out to be like.

Be Yourslef

This was my idea. Any advice would be helpful! According to Hawthorne, the Puritan society sees nature as evil, because nature says be yourself. The way the woods are depicted as the devils land, in which people sign the devils book, adds to this idea. As well as the way they look at little Pearl’s free flowing jumpy naturalistic movements as devil like. However, the woods, in reality allow Hester to let down her hair and think for herself. In the case of Pearl, nature loves her: all the animals come to her, the flowers “plea” to decorate her hair and the sunlight falls on her face. The puritans consider nature as evil because nature tells us to be ourselves and think freely. Here are some other instances that I might use and relate to the bigger idea. -When they go into the woods, Dimmesdale feels free and like a new man, but when he goes back into society he feels evil, and wants to do acts of wrong, like he did sign the black book. -The beginning scene of the prison door instead of a natural scene. -Mrs Hibbins thinks she is a witch cus she went into the woods but who knows if she really is-she just thinks that her trip to the forest caused her to become evil -The sunlight on Pearl but not Hester in the trip to the woods shows how society has made Hester conform and nature doesnt like the conformity.

Chillingworth Shouldn't Be The Bad Guy

Hi friends. I want to know what your guys think about my essay idea. I was thinking about writting about how Hawthrone makes you want to idolize the wrong people. For example he makes you want to hate Chillingworth, but in reality he is for the most part a respectable guy. Chillingworth is rich, has a hot wife and is a successful pychisan. I would be pretty mad to if my wife cheated on me. So why is Roger a bad guy? Hawthorne makes you sympathize for the wrong people.If Dimmisdales death at the end of the book is suppose to make you sad, it fails. Dimmisdale is a coward and his character does not make you want to sympathize with him at all. But Hawthrone trys to convince you to feel bad. Why is it that he trys to convince us Roger is an evil guy and Dimmisdale is a good guy? Thats my idea, so tell me what you think.

The Nature of the woods

I am thinking about writing on the relationship between nature and society. I want to elaborate on the view of the woods in specific from the Puritans culture. They see that the woods are somewhere that people can be themselves and go against society, like Hester and mistress Hibbins do, so they put a label on it as the "devils playground" as a place to avoid because they want to keep people in the grasp of their society. I also want to talk about the details of how Hester is herself in the woods and can show her true values and how nature is one with pearl as she is the only person who is herself and holds no hypocrisy. I also want to mention Emerson's ideas on nature and the way Hawthorne imitates some of his ideals, and how pearl mainly is the image of the ideal person in Emerson’s thoughts. I am going to utilize the scene where Hester and Dimsdale meet in the forest and their love is revealed and can be shown in the open and safety of the forest especially on pg. 405, where hester is allowed to literally let her hair down, to show her true sense of character. Also elaborating on mistress Hibbins I want to talk about the irony of how she goes to the woods to go against society and be herself, when in reality she follows societies view of the woods being the devils home and goes to the forest to sign her name in the devils book, as well as mention the view of the forest from pearl as a place of beauty and a sort of fairytale. The three different vies and opinions of the woods and nature, in comparison to society will be the main focus and what ties my paper together.

I am thinking of writing about the relationship between Pearl and the Scarlet letter on Hester's breast.  Of course there are the obvious physical traits like the fact that Hester dresses Pearl in this scarlet color with gold embellishment, just like she made the Scarlet letter look beautiful. Another example is when she tries to hide the scarlet letter with Pearl. (in the beginning of the book) This shows a direct link between the Scarlet letter and Pearl by saying how she was trying to cover up one sin with another.  But instead of just listing all of the direct similarities between the two, I want to state the underlying connections also. For example, when Hester is at the river and takes the Scarlet letter off and attempts to throw it into the river. Pearl immediately goes and retrieves it and gives it kisses and insists that Hester wear it again. I think that pearl feels like if Hester throws away the Scarlet letter, she is also throwing her away.  Pearl has this insight on things that not everybody has. I think she can see the connection between herself and the scarlet letter.  Another example is how Pearl can detect the sins or shame in people. The same goes for the Scarlet Letter. They both have a sense for people and its almost like they can see the inside people- at their true selves. 

Any thoughtsssss..???

The power of secrets and the force they carry with them, like a thousand flamming stalions storming through the night across the flat plains, under the thousands of stars which light their way towards thecastle of which they call their home land, with goals of killing puff the magic dragon

THE POWER OF SECRETS I think for my essay I am going tthe secrets to try to develope an idea around the secrets throughout the book. My thesis would be something like: "Secrets destroy a mans integrity, and therefor to protect a mans integrity they are forced to become a hypocrit in everyday matters, and there life styles"First I would deveople the idea around Dimsdale and his secret of being the father of perl. And how his secret makes him a hypocrite of his religious beliefs and his relgious practices, which so many adore. I would elude to the textual refrences on pages 283-284.Also I could talk about how his secret eats him up on the inside and eventully kills him along with his integrity, by looking at the section "Most of the spectators....more than a new-born inafant's"(519).Next I would talk about Chillingworth's secret of being the husband to Hester, and how because he covers up his true idenity of a sensible man he completely changes himself, showingly in "No man....may be the true"(433)and "i have thought....upon thy bosom?"(141). Mainly focusing on how him pretending to be a docotr is the oppostie of what his intentions are. Then I would start on Hester's secrets, her biggest of which being the idea of women being treated equally and how this is a hypocracy for her because outwardly she appears like she has taken on these ideas of shame and such but inwardly she has developed these ideas about society and how she has seperated herself from it, and how society needs to be reformed. pages 385-389 in addition to that i will refrence 325-327. Lastly i would talk about how perl is the only character who is not a hypocrit, and because of that she is the only one who lives a happy life in the end and that the idea of being true to one's self is the most important thing. I would look for examples in the flood of sunshine chapter, and the endding of the book along with Dismdales last words on pages 505-515

Happiness in the Scarlet Letter

In the Scarlet Letter I believe that only Pearl can be truly happy.  I believe this because she is innocent and free from guilt, and as a baby she is described "Whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of providence...out of the rank luxuriance of guilty passion"(173).  I believe that since she has not sinned, and that she was only born into sin, she has a chance of being happy.  One character who is incable of being happy is Dimmsdale, and the reason is that he is being eaten up by the guilt of his sin.  Even from early on in the book we see that he that guilt is devouring him, "Be not silent from any mistaken pity...Than to hide a guilty life."(129) this quote is from the first scaffold seen and it shows us that Dimmsdale is to weak to tell everyone else, but he desperatly wants everyone to know.  Then we have Hester, and she is unable to live a happy life because she is in constant reminder of her shame because of the Scarlet Letter, and her daughter Pearl.  Even though Pearl reminds her of her sin she is also the only source of happieness Hester has, "But she named the infant "Pearl", as being of great price...her mother's only treasure!"(173).  This quote shows that Pearl is the cause of her mothers joy, yet she is also the reason for much of her sadness.  And finally Chillingworth is unable to be happy because is so set on revenge he ends up destroying himself.  When Dimmsdale says "May god forgive the!...Thou, to hast deeply sinned"(513) This shows that since Chillingworth made it his goal to make Dimmsdale miserable not only has he led a life of sin, but in the after life he will probably not get redemtion. 

Sunshine

For my essay on the Scarlet Letter, I plan to display how sunshine is portrayed upon different characters in the novel. The sun is a disregarded factor in the story, though it is the basis for looking deeper into oneself in this story. "But, on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems... This rose bush by strange chance, has been kept alive in history." The sunshine is what allows this bit of beauty to thrive in such a miserable world. In each of the characters, at different times, we see them acknowledge the sunshine as more than a light. It comes to portray when nature is happy with their actions or not. "No, my little Pearl!" said her mother. "Though must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee!"We notice that the sun shines on Pearl quite often, but, for the most part, hardly on Hester. Hawthorne writes that after Hester removes the lettering the forest with Dimmesdale, "All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now." This can be interpreted to mean that nature is finally pleased with Hester. A load of shame is released and she can finally feel light and freedom. I want to uncover the reasons for the sunshine and how it affects the characters. 

Scarlet Letter Essay Idea

Scarlet Letter Essay Idea: I want to talk about how the Scarlet Letter shows feminism throughout the Scarlet Letter. I want to show this through Hester in the novel and how in the end this idea of feminism is lost in the "pissing contest" between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. But is somewhat reesstablished in the last few sceens when Hester returns to New England.I want to talk about it using refrences like how Hester talks aobut wanting to change society and how she wants to change the "very nature of the opposite sex" on pg 327. I also want to talk about how in the Puritan society women were not equal and how Hester wanted to create a world where womens rights were possible. In the end Hester returns to New England and helps women who come to her cottage with issues of women who were "wonded, wasted, wronged, misplaced or erring and sinful passion (pg. 527)". Hester all the way to the end continues to keep up the belife that in the future women will have more rights. She comes up with this idea because the Scarlet letter causes her to be removed from society and think a little bit more in peace. I think that Pearl is the continuation of Hesters wish for the refomrn of society, because in the seen where Dimmsdale dies, Pearl pledges to grow up and be a women in the world. This pledge was for both her mother and father (pg 513).In this seen I also want to point out how Dimmesdale just shushes Hester as she talkes to him on his death bed and instead speaks about himself and just himself (pg 507). This was a very forward novel because back when Hawthorne wrote it because there was really no such thing as feminism. I think this novel is a great representation of how women wanted rights and were not allowed them and were forced to stay within the limmits of there rights given to them by the men of that time. I want to talk about the feminism in the Scarlet Letter through Hester and Pearls's journey throught the novel, and how they are treated by the men of the novel.

Scarlet Letter

I'm going to write about how Pearl is the individual that conflicts with society, and will succeed Hester as the "angel and apostle of the coming revelation." By following Pearl throughout the book, I will use Pearl's rebelliousness to show the point she doesn't conform to society. The chapter "Pearl", which describes her wildness, is where I plan to start. The scene at the governor's house where Pearl says she came from the rose bush and also puts her hand on Dimmesdale's cheek, the part when Dimmesdale and Chillinworth see Pearl out the window dancing on tombstones, the forest chapter where Pearl refuses to come to Dimmesdale, the end of the book when Pearl kisses Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth leaving his inheritance to Pearl are all scenes demonstrating Pearl's role in the book. An important quote is the dialogue between Chilingworth and Dimmesdale on page 263. Chillingworth asks, "What in Heaven's name, is she? Is the imp altogether evil? Hath she affections? Hath she any discoverable principle of being?" Dimmesdale responds, "None-save the freedom of a broken law." Pearl doesn't obey soceity or its laws. She is strong willed and independent, and absolutely fit the description on page 527, "lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise, moreover, not through dusky grief, but the ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end!" From the end of the book we know Pearl has a happy successful life, she is married and has children. Pearl was intelligent and beautiful, and she did live in joy from all the scenes we saw of her. Therefore we know Pearl will be the leader of the new revelation. She embodies Hester's thoughts about transforming society in her very actions. Her role in the book is central to the theme of society verses the individual.

Scarlet Letter Essay topic

I am going to write about the relationship between Pearl and the sunshine. I believe that Pearl is related to the devil and she knows that. But she doesnt want to be associated to the devil, thats why she keeps reaching for the sunshine.And the sunshine comes in so many parts of the book because it is giving her many chances. A few specific parts that I'm going to use are... "Thou must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee." The mother has also sinned and therefore is associated with the devil as well, and that is why she has no sunshine to give Pearl, she is trying to get her own to clear her name. And on page 201 with the scene about the goveners house. And of course, I will use the fact that there is a chapter called "A Flood of Sunshine". "Yonder she is, standing in a streak of sunshine." Even as an infant Pearl was in the sunshine "...Hesters infant, in the unadulterated sunshine." And pearl wants to meet at noontide all throughout the book, which happens to be the highest point of the sun.

Hey there,you sexy human being! I'm thinking about writing about Pearl's connection with the scarlet letter vs. her connection with nature. I guess this all comes down to the idea of Nature vs. Society. I'm gonna talk about how all of these kind of have a connection with each other (I think?. So, Pearl has this connection with the scarlet letter. The scarlet letter has this connection with Hester. But at the same time, Pearl has another connection nature because of the wild rose bush. And the sun! But the thing is, how can this connection be possible if the sun clearly didn't get along with Hester? (remember how the sun disappeared when Hester was reaching for it? So basically, I'm going to focus on hwo this all comes to be; how this all connects with Pearl.

Scarlet Letter essay idea

I was thinking of maybe writing about hypocrisy in the Scarlet Letter; more specifically, how hypocrites are doomed to exposure and the psychosomatic effects of that hypocrisy, and the link between the body and mind and how one reflects the other. Dimmesdale is probably the best example of this; although he never really explicitly confesses to his sins, the signs of them begin to appear outwardly through his hand on his heart and the mysterious symbol on his chest. This also occurs with Chillingworth. Although he starts out slightly disfigured, he becomes more and more grotesque and ugly as the story goes on and he is consumed by his need for revenge. He's also a hypocrite because he goes under the guise of a doctor trying to help Dimmesdale, but he's really trying to torture him and  prolong his suffering, which shows in Chillingworth's increasing disfigurement. Hester also reveals her inner feelings outwardly. The scarlet letter is a form of this; as the young wife says at the beginning, she feels every stitch of the scarlet letter in her heart as well. But as well as this, her inner feelings of rebellion and nonconformity and the overturn of society are revealed in the forest when she throws away her cap and the scarlet letter. But in society when she is ostracized and judged by the public, it is revealed in her appearance, which seems almost dead. Pearl also could be an example of this: she is exactly the same on the inside and outside without hypocrisy.

I don't really know though; I was also considering writing about sunshine. 

Scarlet Letter "Reformation and Reflection" essay

Possible options: Sunshine (How it changes and reflects on different characters throughout the story)

The sun is a small factor in the scarlet letter, and it is too commonly overlooked. The sun doesn't just serve a purpose as a detail for scenery, but as a larger meaning of reflection in the characters.
Evidence:
Pg 91... "But, on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems... This rose bush by strange chance, has been kept alive in history."
-Whats keeping this morsel of beauty alive? Sunshine is preserving the small piece of positive light in this gloomy prison scene.

Chapter 18 (Flood of Sunshine)
-

Pg 201... "No, my little Pearl!" said her mother. "Though must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee!".

Pg 347... "Did the sun, which shone so brightly everywhere else, really fall upon him (Chillingsworth)"

Another idea..
Discussing the harshness of society and how they treat Hester and adultery. Maybe taking into consideration that if this happened today (Which it does), lets say in a super small community, would we see the same results. I wanna go into the subject of punishment and how Hester actually turns the letter A to her advantage. By the end of the novel, the town's people are bragging about their Hester. There is also a possibility to show how Hester has reformed according to society's standards, but also to her standards.

Why doesn't she flee?
Why does unfaithful love keep her tied into society which has absconded her?

*Still working on quotes ... I will add.

Society's Pressure to conform results in Hypocracy.

Society's pressure to conform leads to hypocracy and two- sidedness. This is an issue that is very relevant to The Scarlet Letter. To start off, Hester, one of our main characters, breaks the law and is forced to wear a scarlet letter. The goal: To incorperate Hester back into the conformity in society. The result: Hester develops a diffrent veiw on the world as she is shunned from society and lives alone in the cottage in the woods. Hester becomes very two sided and hypocritical, because when she is in society, she covers her hair, and embraces the scarlet letter. She helps the poor and the sick and she appears to be so well liked by society that they even consider revoking the Scarlet Letter. But when we see hester in the woods, we see her take her hair down. We see her rebel against the ideas of society. Since society is so judgemental of opinion, we see many of our characters hiding their real opnion. Unlike the rest of the charaters, pearl, who was raised outside of soceity, is a good example of a free spirted soul, who the public think was "born from the devil, or a devil child." Dimmsdale, who is seen as the holy, pure minister is one of these characters as well. The towns people are intrigued by his sermons and speaches because they are so deep and emotional. Little so they know that Dimmsdale's inner character is one of the biggest sinners of the whole book. He knows exactly what the townspeople are going through if not worse, and he can speak with deep passion about it. We see that Dimmsdale is a coward about soceitys judgement. He wants to conform because the only time he can admit his sin is on the scaffold in the middle of the night. His scream comes out as a small whimper. There was no chance of anyone finding out. Dimmsdale dies from the guilt of his sins, and because of his job, he cannot admit. Some of my direct text references are pg. 326 where we see Hester begin to analyze the role of a women. Page 405 where hester removes the scarlet letter and lets her hair down in the Forest. Page 489 where it taalks about the whole orb of life. 475 where we see the opposite of conformity and puritain society. 407 where pearl is one with nature. 389 where hester starts talking like ann hutchinson. I need to find a couple more direct text reference to support my claims, but that is a start.

Essay Idea(not done)

I was thinking about doing private shame VS. Public shame. Hester is publicly humiliated from her scarlet A on her chest. I want to talk about how both of these are effective. Also, i want to to show how a punishment is worth it to make a better person

Scarlet Letter Essay I am wanting to write my paper with a main focus on Pearl. In the begining of the book we see that woman are being oppressed and we read through the issues that Hester goes through. I am including how Hester has lived her life in shame and sorrow. I will explain how poeple see Pearl as the "devil child" then later the reader see's that she is truly the new start to womanhood. She is taking her life to a different level then Hester. Becoming the woman Hester never was, "Pearl was not only alive, but married, and happy, and mindful of her mother, and that she would most joyfully have entertained that sad and lonely mother at her fireside." If anyone could comment that would be awesome! Need some help and ideas here (:

Scarlet letter- inward vs. outward

For my scarlet letter paper I am going to write about the inward vs. outward characteristics of the characters. They all act one way but on the inside they believe something else. Hester acts like the rest of society by helping the poor and paying her penance,  but on the inside she believes that the women should have their own ideas, and that the men must not be so controlling. It is also a very ironic book, when Dimsdale is trying to tell his congregation that he is the father of pearl, it is ironic because he is venerated within their society, no one really gets what he is trying to say. This is on page 241, it says " Mr. Dimsdale was, a true religionist, with the reverential sentiment..."  Also it is ironic that living away from society was supposed to make Hester realize what she did wrong, but really it makes her form her own ideas. I will be writing about the inward vs. outward of the characters and how it is all very ironic.

My idea so far (not complete)

I decided to write about the public vs. private shame and the consequences of each. Even though Dimmesdale doesn't get the public shame treatment we see Hester excperiences, we see a different kind of pain. I want to go into depth about what Hester and Dimmesdale are feeling and how it effects the extent of pain. I can also reference certain characters and what harnessing feelings do to them, however I want to mainly talk about Hester and Dimmesdale. I want to use specific references such as pg. 129 when Dimmesdale his self states the pain of keeping secrets is worse than confessing. = Please give feedback telling me what you think. Pg. 97 "At the very least, they should have put the brand of s hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead." The local women dont quite understasnd the full extent of punishment and how branding her head with a hot iron is often better than letting the pain harness in ones soul. Also we get an example of what public shame feels like when Hester has to walk by her haters, "for, haughty as her her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon. However immidiettly after it quotes how, "there is a provision, alike marvillous and merciful, that the suffers should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present tourture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it." pg. 105.
Also their are examples of the self punishment Dimmesdale inflicts upon himself,"In Mr Dimmesdale secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge."

Scarlet Letter Essay Idea

       I think I am going to write about how the punishment of shame and humiliation compares to the punishment of guilt. Hester wore her punishment in public and everybody knew who she was and what she had done. It was terrible at first but people saw how nice and kind she really was, and at one point, the letter 'A' symbolized something more like Angel than Adulterer. With Dimmesdale, he had to conceal his secret and be reminded every day what he had done, but indirectly. Every time he saw Hester or Pearl, he was reminded of his sins. In fact, at one point Dimmesdale started loosing his mind. Near the end, he finally confessed for his sin and he seemed immediately relieved. However, in the end of the book, he died because of the scarlet area on his chest. Everything that he had been holding in and hiding away had eventually eaten its way out of him and killed him. On the other hand, Hester eventually came back to the town and continued with her sewing. This is all ironic because in the beginning, Dimmesdale intended to stay happy because he kept his shame a secret and all of the fall would come down on Hester. However, in the end, Dimmesdale died for his sins and Hester came out on top.  

Scarlet Letter Essay

HELLOOOOO EVERYONE. I want to talk about private versus public shame. Im going to link this to the big idea of conformity and how when you are publicity shamed you end up looking at society from the "outside" which changes your view of it. Because you are pushed away from society through public shame you are forced to think on your own and not through others. This makes you rethink society and you stop conforming with it. You develop your own ideas. When you have shame but it is private you are forced into the inward outward change in yourself. Inside you are a sinner, but outwardly people view you as something different. You live within society conforming with everyone else trying to hide your secret of sin. Hester has the public shame because she couldn't hide a baby. I am going to talk about how her views of society and the town she lives in change and how she has no laws anymore because she broke them. Dimesdale on the other hand experiences the shame inwardly and this makes him crazy. He has physical changes from his inward attempt to hide his sin. I will compare these two characters and also talk a little about how heater's public shame affected Pearl as a child.

Scarlet Letter Paper

The dont really want to talk about a theme, so I think I will focus on a character. Chillingworth was the most interesting character to me, and I want to focus on revenge, and how it really forms his life. It seems like when he comes back from being tortured and sees that his wife is the center of the public shame,and she has been impregnated by someone unknown,this revenge just takes over. He had this need to punish the man who did that to his wife. I thought it was interesting how the need for revenge formed him. How over time he starts to look worse and worse, and more and more evil. And how eventually when he had lost his person he was punishing he eventually died.

Thesis: The Scarlet Letter

I am going to talk about the topic of how effective shame is as a punishment, both private and public, as a punishment. I am going to touch on both Dimsdale and Hester's differing punishments. Also I am going to talk about the self punishment inflicted by both Hester and Dimsdale in self-penance for there crimes. i was also going to talk about the differing views on Hesters punishment like the good wives on pg 97 and 103. I am especially going to talk about what Hester feels instead of what is being percieved by the public like the on pg 105 a where she says "she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep..."and at the end of that page Hawthorne says to the reader "there can be no outrage...more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame; as it was the essence of this punishment" also i wound use the quote from Dimsdale when he is talaking to Hester from the scaffold on pg 129. and quote on pg 117 109

essay idea

i am writing about the irony of religion in this book. In most peoples lives religion provides us with comfort. Tells us that there is meaning in life and that even when we die we will just leave this world to meet up with all our family and loved ones in heaven. the irony is that dimsdale believes in his religion with so much power that he is being crushed by it. He knows he has sinned and that he shall never gain the fogivness of heaven. Yet because society never found out he had sinned they still accepted him and he had to carry his burden in secret. unlike hester who was shunned and her secrets were out in the open. they were not crushing her because she cast of the shackels of society and became her own person. so while it may seem worse having everyone know you are a sinner. having it out in the open instead of trying to hide your shame. dimmsdale still belived in the might of heaven and that he would be sent to hell for all of this sins. yet because hester has been repenting since the day she stepped out of the jail by wearing the scarledt letter and being an upstanding member of society we have seen her transformation. From the A stading for adultery to able and finaly to angle. and trhough all her suffering she may have gained passage to heaven for herself. if neither of them belived in their religion their sharred sin wouldnt have bothered them and they could have lived their lives in happines instead of in shame and pain. look at dimsdale giving his sermon telling all the people how they should be pure. while the intire time he knows he is the most impure and corrupt person in the church.

Thesis/content discussion Scarlet Letter Essay

Thesis: The change in meaning of the letter A in the scarlet letter leads to hypocrisy and controversy amongst the main characters in the book. The letter A, initially means adultry, atleast amongst the main characters in the book, over the course of the book it comes to mean angel, however it also stands for or is believed to be a sign of sin. The letter is imprinted on hester's chest and could show the transformation of hester herself and how she and others see her A from start to finish. I may change my thesis to explain the relationship between the change of meaning in the A and the change of Hester throughout the book, along with her hypocratic view on the letter on her chest throughout the book. `

Scarlet Letter

I am going to write about non-conformist people in the book. Within the first couple of pages in the book, we see the rose bush. The rose bush resembles nature(obviously) and since it resembles nature, it resembles Transcendentalism, and non-conformity. Pearl is one of the non-conformists and is different from everyone else as we see in the book. The big idea is that shes a transcendentalist who goes against conformity and goes against society. Another person who is considered a non-conformists is Hester Prynne . We can consider her a non-conformist because of the prison door. The prison door represents society, and it locks up all of the non-conformists. "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.219. That sentence shows  that Pearl is one with nature, a transcendentalist, and someone "who goes against the grain"(non-conformist).

stffu

i think i will be writing about either sadism in the scarlet letter and how the strict, heavy-handed rule of the magistrates actually breeds more dissenters, or, the fact that the scarlet letter is a flawed novel in that hawthorne builds up our expectation for hester and her character, and leads us to an abrupt, and frustrating ending, in which the focus is moved to separate characters. The theme of the book is centred around fundamentally sadistic principle found in puritan society, and hesters oppression within. Her internal progressively feminist ideas created a stark contrast to the patriarchal, theistic society. in fact, it is at one point said that hester would be more strictly punished if her thoughts were known.

The Road

     For the Transcendentalist Essay Assignment I am going to use Walt Whitman's quote, " Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you, you must travel it for yourself", and compare it to Emerson's quote, "It cannot be recieved at second hand. Truly speaking, it is not instruction, but provocation, that I can recieve from another soul.", to talk about how we cannot be forced or led to believe something that we do not wish to believe. All of our decisions have to be made by us for us.

To what extend is god?

Obviously religion today has taken bashings and many changes. Back during the first colonies in America religion was a reigning force, so important it controlled many aspects in life. However as time has passed it has become much less prevalent than it was back then. I notice that Emerson and Thoreau often times not necessarily question Gods existence but more shave away some of the greatness he is given. I look to work off Emerson's Quote about how everyone is capable to achieve what Jesus did. Also how Emerson talked about the blasphomy of the so called "Miracles" performed.

Essay Idea: Simplicity vs. Society

For my essay, I would like to write about Thoreau's idea of simplicity. He claims that, "An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest." To start out, I want to explain this idea by connecting it with Thoreau's lifestyle. He reduced his life "to its lowest terms" while living in the woods in a half-built cabin. Then, I want to contest that simplifying your life to the level Thoreau suggests isn't viable in today's society. Today, you can't just forget everything and go live in the woods keeping, "your accounts on your thumb-nail." I want to justify that society is inherently complex because of its structure and expectations.

Do you have any suggestions? Why do you agree or disagree?

Robin's conformity idea

I was thinking about writing an essay relating to conformity, even though a lot of people are already doing that. I would refer to Whitman's, Thoreau's and Emerson's opinion on conformity. I think that we (especially our generation) tend to conform to those who may appear popular or cool in order to make ourselves more similar to that person. However, I do think sometimes conformity is acceptable such as having a strong role model to help you strive to do good. Having a strong and good role model in my opinion will help you to achieve your goals. However, I think too much conformity that we see in society and the media can take away our individualism.

conformity

I wanted to write about Emerson's idea of conformity. I know that a lot of people were intrigued by this idea but it stuck with me throughout all of the reading we did. Life as a high school student is engulfed in conformity, everyone has this idea that they have to fit in or to be cool to survive their four years here. However this just leads to loosing your true self, the sense of who you are. I could ask anyone who they are and the answer would be altered by the views of todays society, and i admit i fall under the same category. Is it not impossible to not conform to todays life? everything is a trap, school, popularity, wanting the latest technologies, sports. you can so easily get caught up in the crowd. so I want to write about being able to break free of this, being yourself and avoiding these to the best of our abilities. any thoughts?

Tristans essay idea

Hello fellow class mates, as we embark on our inaugural I find myself rather excited for your feed back for my exciting essay ideas.


    I have decided that the major thoughts that come through in Self-Reliance such as
"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide."
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."
"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."
             I believe that these thoughts are misleading to people and is destructive to society as a whole

ESSAY

I am mainly going to focus on the quotes simplify, simplify, simplify, and Our life is frittered away by detail.  I am going to write about how many people focus on the stuff we don't need, I am also guilty of having to many things I dont need. I will be giving examples from my life and quotes from the reading.

Conformity

I was thinking of focusing on the idea of conformity. Also i wanted to touch on the fact that conformity is complex. The idea of total independance of thougth and body is almost impossible in this day and age with the internet and so on. Also i was going to touch on emerson's, thoreau's and whitman's differing views of conformity.

Transcendentalist Essay

I want to use the quote "Our life is frittered away by detail." I believe we have too much stuff and let that get in the way of what really matters. We pay too close attention to all the minor details in our life and therefore don't focus on what really matters. I think many of us believe that material items make us happy and that shouldn't be how it is. Happiness should come from the world around us and from within ourselves. This relates to my life because I pay too much attention to all the details and don't live in the moment. We are always planning ahead and thinking of the future but what we should be doing is enjoying the here and now. At this point in our lives I know it is difficult not to pay attention to detail but we shouldn't let the details  control our lives. With all the technology these days it is easy for that to happen; our society is making it more difficult not to get sucked into all the unnecessary detail.

Transcendentalists Essay Idea

I was thinking about talking about how learning second hand isn't always bad. About how Whitman had the right idea that you could learn second hand as long as you filtered it for yourself. That when you learn from somewhere else you are getting to a higher stage of understanding more quickly than if you were to start from the beginning all on your own. That way you can learn and understand more in less time because the mistakes to be made have already been made by your teacher. I was also going to talk about how Emerson had the right idea also that sometimes learning second hand can be bad because sometimes what you learn can be corrupted by the teachers views and beliefs that would differ from your own. For the main part of the essay I was going to tie this concept to our world. Thoughts?

transendentalist essay ideas

For my transendentalist essay I am thinking about writing it on the idea that you can't take things second hand. In the Divinity Address , Emerson stresses that you need to experence things for your self, they can't be recieved through someone else. When we all look at pictures of places we want to visit, we are taking the beauty of these places second hand. Instead we should go out and see and experence these places for ourselves. I think I would focus on writing about my experences living in Telluride. How we experence so much in terms to nature and being out doors, but we don't get to experence the city life. I would also bring up how we sit in classes for most of the day, learning things from other people, not experencing them for ourselves....

Living in our past

"The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes." That is the quote I am planning to use in my essay. I like the idea of us living in the past, and being young adults coming into the world we are living in our parents ideas. They overwhelm us with their ideas and we follow along because right now we havent come with our own ideas. Since there is an election coming up I thought this would be the perfect idea to write about. I want to bring Emerson to life in my story and have him touch on how we dont have our own ideas we are only thinking what we think is right which is usually what our parents think. I wanted to touch on how we live in a town full of liberals/ democrats, and there is that very small amount of people who are republicans, or who will admit they are republicans, because there is that little bit of parents who are republicans. I want to have it be the day of election, were it is in full discussion and people are arguing about who should win, whos better and why, and Emerson is just standing going my god this is stupid, come up with your own ideas, be your own person, do not take past beliefs, he is looking at how ignorant most of us can be when half the time we dont know what we are talking about.

I want to write my essay about the quote "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imatation is sucide." I have noticed throughout school, especially as young adults, we are very tempted to try and immitate our counterparts, and to do things in order to fit in. I think this quote applies to my life alot because I even find myself doing it sometimes. In the end though, we all realize that being yourself is better, and that tghe people who embrace their own potential go farther in life and are happier. You can never be another person, and by trying to acheive another persons standards you become unhappy. I just want to write about young adults temptaions to envy and immitate, like we all do, and how it relates to my own lifew with school and friends.

I relate to the quote: "The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour." I consider myself a morning person and I believe that I'm the at the freshest point of the day in the morning. It's the best time for me. I want to expand on this section from "Where I Lived and What I Lived For" by Henery David Thoreau. I want to talk about how I go about a day, when I'm at my highest and lowest points and how that morning comes around and thats the best time for me. My idea is that I will start off by explaining my day either from when I wake up to when I go to sleep and wake up again. I basically want to show that even if you aren't a morning person that the morning can still be the best part of the day.

Essay idea

For my essay i am going to connect the vinotok with emmerson. The Vinotok is a festival in Crested Butte. It is the festival of fall. They make a 50 foot tall bon fire and burn the grump. So i am going to connect and compare emmersons points on nature to our views. what is nature to us? is it like it was emmersons? im gonna answer thoise questions along with others

Transcendentalist Ideas Essay

Hey guys! For my essay I'm going to write about Thoreau's quote, "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" Our lives are very complicated these days. Our minds are constantly filled with plans for what we will do in the future, and we are always surrounded by technology. We spend so much time preparing and focusing on our future. It becomes easy for us to forget about today and think more in the long run. We also are always near a phone or computer, which makes our lives all sorts of COMPLEX! The constant connection to the people and the world around us makes it next to impossible for us to be alone in nature. We've become materialistic and dependent on our interaction with other people. In order to get a clear mind and reach our full potential we need to be able to think alone and experience nature first hand. Why can't I hold all this complex in my life? I need to simplify!

i am thinking about writing on the concept of nature. and how even though people like tharough and emmerson thinks we have completely lost touch with nature. but that is not neccesarily true people in modren day still long to be in harmony with nature and try to incorperate nature into their lives. look at many homes people grow plants in their homes just so things feel more like they would outdoors. humans evolved in nature so we will never truly be able to live without a connection with nature.

Transcendentalist Essay Ideas

Hey classmates,

For the transcendentalist essay assignment, I thought of using Thoreau's quote "to a philosopher, all news, as it is called, is gossip", to talk about the state of today's news and media, and how it is rarely relevent to our lives. Instead, most news channels and sources tend to show a natural bias toward one side of the other, and sometimes fail to give us the "full story". We get caught up in the news of the day, and fail to live our lives in the present. The news becomes a distraction, a detail that prevents us from "simplifying" our lives. News becomes the same every day, some bomb went off in Libya, a drunk driver killed 3 people in a head on collision, repeat, repeat, repeat. We forget what real news is, fail to experience things first hand, and become numb to reality while getting caught up in the news and gossip of everything else but ourselves. We need to figure things out to ourselves, make up our own minds about the news and what it tells us, and find the full story to uncover the truth, instead of taking it second hand.

The Serene Ineficiency of Simplification

I think im going to write about how even though the idea of having a simplified life, and a more basic existance is a nice, and comforting hyptothetical, it may or may not be aplicable in life today. Times are to fast,& far more efficient than they were in the past; people are to connected... we have adveanced society in such a way that we find ourselfves in dependant rlationships with technology, advanced medicines, and global connections such as e-mail and facebook. Social media drives society, spreads ideas, and connects people. The internet makes information infinitley accessable at rapid speeds. Sciences have enhanced the lives which we live. Could it be that simplification would mean to drive society backwards? in such a swiftly advancing society to hold back is to fall behind. However, to a certain extent, could some things benefit from a level of simplification. Do we NEED to tell everyone on twittwer how good/bad our day was? Is it a waste of time to tweet everyone a picture of you at a concert? Is it possible that simplification of specific aspects of society could make us more efficiant; allowing to remove distraction and focus on more practical niches of life? idk.......

Transcendentalist Essay Idea

Greetings classmates,

I was thinking about using Thoreau 's quote, "Our life is frittered away by detail". The main subject I was planning to write about was the media and today's technological advances, specifically what affects teenagers. How the news is rarely positive or useful to the average american. The huge impact that cell phones, the internet, and television have upon our generation and how it is all a major distraction from living our lives. I was going to use facebook as a major point, how can you focus on your life when you're wrapped up in the detail of other peoples lives through facebook. Eventually I am going to tie it into Emerson's ideals about nature's importance in our lives, and how it is becoming less and less a part of our lives as we are swamped and overcome with detail. In addition I was thinking about tying the detail and media portion into Emerson's non-conformist ideas.  

Simplify

The quote "Simplify, simplify, simplify" has really stuck with me through all the readings so far. In the essay I'm going to take that quote and apply it to fashion and accessories in everyday life, and how we have way too much. There are a lot of people that have so masny clothes and accessories that only need about half of what they have. Some people dont have anything at all. People really need to simplify their entire life, but I chose to focus on fashion becasue I am guilty of having too many clothes and accessories myself. This way I have a connection with what I'm writing.

Transcendentalism

          My goal is to focus on statements that stood out to me from Thoreau's Where I Lived and What I Lived For. "Our life is frittered away by detail."  "For a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.""To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip" "I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute." I also want to analyze his mindset that we must live with deliberation. Because he so strongly feels that humanity has destroyed itself by fussing over every last detail, I can branch into his rights and wrongs. Thoreau, having decided that we need to simplify, gave us an idea of becoming one with nature, more so than we already have. To some, his idea seems to regard in similarity to the lifestyle of a hippie. But in all reality, he is morally thinking. If we don't heed his warnings to have minimal complications and worries of power, we may very likely crash and burn. I think I can morph these ideas into my own and analyze Thoreau's state of mind and how it came to be.

Nico's Stuff' Primarly I will focus on the ideas of seperating yourself from society an materlism. I am hopeing to touch on Emerson's "Nature" and the idea's of materlism and the need to seperate ourselfs from the ties to society. Also i am going to tie in Thoreau's "Where i lived and what i lived for" and his play on emerson's ideas and his evolvement of them. Im going to bring both of these fellas back from the dead in a new form and allow them to see what today's society is like in comparison to their hopes of where society would be today. I think it should be an interesting comparison to the lives they lived and the lives we live today, and i will focus mainly on myself.

My thoughts on Transcendentalism The transcendentalists talk a lot about imitaion and nonconformity. This makes me think about how in our society today, we spend a large amount of our time trying to imitate and fit in. An example of this is in high schools all across the US. I want to use quotes such as "For noncomformity the world whips you with its displeasure" and "inmitation is suiside" to adress how in today's society and in high schools poeple do imitate and are conformists. Things like clicks and being "popular" have been stressed in most schools to the point that people spend the majoity of their time trying to fit in and loose the unique aspects of their character. This is so different for the idea's of Thoreau and Emerson and how they believe that "imitation is suiside" and such.

Transcendentalist Essay Idea

My idea is to focus in on Thoreau’s comment to the news and how it inundates our lives. I will specifically focus on the major quotes in his paragraph anchored towards the news. "We are determined to be starved before we are hungry", "After a half-hour's nap... What's the news?” "News is as indispensable as the breakfast”, and "To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip.” I want to focus in on discussing the opinion of news in Thoreau’s piece and comparing it to the media's influence on life today. The media today, shapes most parts of our life. In todays society we only know as much or what we are told. Media influence effects social reaction to events, elections, and the severity of a situation. In my essay I will use Thoreau to explain why we are so attached to trivial things like the news. I might include an interview, playing off of the news, with Thoreau.