Lavender's AP Lit Class Blog
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
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.
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This has a pod point, but does Pearl really know that she is considered to be associated with the devil? I think she is rebellious and doesn't accept the pre-determined fate.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you've got a good idea to go off of so far and you could go even deeper into the relationship between the characters and the Devil and maybe make a couple of references to Dimmesdale as well.
ReplyDeleteAlso there are a couple more mentions of the sunshine in the text on pages 365, 473 ("Pearl...was brought back to her former mood by the shimmer of the sunshine"), and 509.
I liked how you are saying pearl is the devil, I like your approach on this. Make sure you explain your thinking on why you think Pearl knows she is a devil.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the tenor of the comments above, Meghan. You have a good approach to the novel, and recognize your need to reach into the text for apt and specific passages that will help you develop and defend your thesis that sunshine means...what (you need to figure this bit out first, as it will establish your interpretive argument). Take a minute to look at the comments I've made on other posts whose authors are also looking at the symbolic function of sunshine in the novel.
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