I don't know if you'd agree with this point, or not, Dee, but there are people that try to put others down, which I think is what Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to show (in a religious) way. With Hester he is showing that you can not put someone down unless they let you.
After not blogging for nearly 2 weeks..I thought I'd make this point..but first another quote..
I think that the townspeople parade her as an epitomy of sin because they want to take the light off of themselves. I'm sure that Hester isn't the ONLY person in the town that has committed the sin of adultry. I kind of think she's a scapegoat to what other people do as well. They figure if they point the finger at her then they are less likely to be in the limelight. That could be a possible reason for her pride. It might be why she didn't seem ashamed infront of the entire town.Posted by: Liz Ludovici at 12, 2005 11:10
Now for the point. Do I disagree with Liz? No, I do not. Why? Because, well, because I simply can not step into Peabody's Wayback machine and ask Nathaniel Hawthorne what he was thinking when he wrote the Scarlet Letter.
Nor can I walk up 201 Salem Road in Boston, or to the Commons House and go "Hello Mr. Hawthorne, My name is Louis Gagliardi and I work for __________________ newspaper. I want to ask you a few questions about your book, the Scarlet Letter."
Why?
Because:
1.) Peabody's Wayback Machine was apart of the Rocky and Bullwinkle/Underdog cartoons (ah..underdog..the only cartoon character i know that got his powers from drugs..)
2.) Hawthorne's dead
3.) I think Hawthorne would be surprised that people still require a reading of his text...
My point is is that many things are open to opinion when dealing with the so-called classics.
Posted by lougagliardi at September 13, 2005 08:17 AM | TrackBackDepends on if you believe in God or not.
Posted by: Lou Gagliardi at September 14, 2005 02:20 PMyes she is very very strong on the outside. She seems like she has it all together. But, look what is inside her heart. It is on her mind all the time. Yeah she is a scapegoat...you got that right and i she knows that. She sees the sin in others when she looks at them....just like in "Young Goodman Brown." Is it the outside or the inside that really matters here though? Yeah she is tough, she has a great spirit, but you cannot hide guilt in your heart. God sees it.
Posted by: michelle koss at September 14, 2005 02:05 PMSimply calling it a classic doesn't make it so. If a critic called My Yellow Ball by Jimmy Thompson a literary classic, it doesnt make it so.
I called it a so-called classic, because I am not impressed by the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne at all. I am more impressed by Poe, Dickenson, King, Kipyard, etc. than I am with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The only thing Hawthorne did for me was give me a good last name for my heroine.
Posted by: Lou Gagliardi at September 13, 2005 01:37 PMWhat makes it a so-called classic?
Posted by: Neha at September 13, 2005 01:30 PM