Thursday, October 7, 2010
Final Thoughts on The Scarlet Letter
Personally, I was moved by Hester's perseverance and her patience of 7 years. Her strength to endure never ending hardship also emphasized the feministic theme of the novel. The feminism portrayed in the novel was unique. Hatred towards men, believing that women should be paid the same as men, and thinking that men violated women's rights, which are stereotypical feminist's opinion are not embraced in the Scarlet letter. Rather than actively protesting towards unfair treatment, Hester acknowledged her sin and contributed for the society even with facing her own difficulties. Without leaving Massachusetts, Hester lived with people's ignorance towards herself for 7 years. Then, she changed her reputation of "Adultery" to "Able" and "Angel". In the novel, we cannot find any part which describes Hester's outer resistance towards her society. She changed her reputation with only silence. This explains to us how powerful a woman Hester was and it gave me the biggest impression through the novel. I think all American high school students need to read the Scarlett Letter. It indirectly shows the background of Puritan society and how the towns in the New England settlement, which has close relationship with our history.
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I agree that Hester is a very strong woman. It's incredibly admirable that she changes the town's opinion of her in such a graceful manner. However, I don't know if I completely agree that all students need to read this book because of that. The qualities this kind of action displays are good good: patience, forgiveness, acceptance of flaws; but those are not characteristics that are typically seen as distinctive American qualities. Hester was a strong woman, but that does not necessarily mean she is showing us part of our history as Americans. Hester seems to be an anomaly in her society, despite having excellent qualities.
ReplyDeleteI undoubtedly agree that hester prynne was a strong woman. However, I do not agree that this makes her a feminist character. I believe that she is more of a demonstration of fighting hatred with peace. This is similar to that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, or many other peaceful protestors. In her sense, heater was protesting in the best way that she could. It's really hard to protest in another way when everybody ostracizes you from society. I also agree that hester had a lot of perseverance in order to make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. All the other peaceful protestors also had a great deal of perseverance. Hester could see the improvements being made in the society by how the townspeople would change the meaning of the "a" from adulterer to angel or Abel. This helped her push through with the hard times. Personally, the biggest message that the story gave to me was how one can fight hatred with peace and win.
ReplyDeletei disagree with the statement that hatred towards men is a stereotypical feminist ideal because it is not. feminism is only the believe that women and men are equal. I agree with Jessica that just because Hester was a strong woman should not dictate whether or not some one should read The Scarlet Letter. There have been many accounts of bravery and strength and if we say that this book needs to be read because it shows strength than every other book needs to be read because it also shows strength and bravery.
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