Scarlet Letter

In the Scarlet Letter, sin is a recurring theme; if you are a sinner the book gives us a message that your sin should be on public display. For example, by making Hester wear the A on her chest for everyone to see she constantly subjected to the judgment of those around her. Also, she is constantly used as an example of a sinner in sermons. To me it seems that they are just making her wear the A to humiliate her, which I think is useless because Puritans believed that life is predestined, including whether they end up in heaven or hell. Why use her as an example when her life is predestined?

Benito Cereno 10/20/2011

Today was one of our final class discussions about Benito Cereno. Our main focus today was to separate the three themes found in the short story. The theme that stuck out the most to me was the theme of racism. I believe Delano could not see the truth behind revolt by the Negroes because his racism got in the way. His mindset on how "Negro slaves could never overpower those who were their white owners" kept him from seeking the truth. In your opinion, what was the most important theme to why Delano could not catch onto the Negro revolt?

Washington Irving and Content vs. Bradstreet/Wheatley and Social Status

Today in class we talked about Rip Van Winkle, specifically the Preface by Washington Irving. We talked about why the writing was different from other writings of his time, along with how it carried some traits of a typical fictional story from the early 19th century. After discussing the uniwue characteristics of this story, and Washington Irving in general, I think that it would be fair to say that the type of writing done by Washington Irving is just as innovative of that of Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley. In the late 17th century, Anne Bradstreet was making her mark as one of the first female writers of her time, beginning her own revolution for the community of aspiring women writers by beginning to publish her work. In the late 18th century, Phillis Wheatley was being discovered as a rare enslaved writer, showing that even black, women slaves can create literature. Washington Irving made his grand appearance by the content of his writing, not by his identity. He was a typical American male, but unlike Bradstreet and Wheatley, the surprise in his writing was the contact that nobody before him would ever dare to write. His writing took more of a risk than any fictional writer before him. He wrote exactly whatever story was on his mind, and not just a story that would be acceptable to his audience. Is this innovative form writing regarding content (the writing involving one's own, creative ideas, no matter how insulting or offensive to another group of people) as important as the innovation of Bradstreet and Wheatley (the focus on the innovation of the author and their social status rather than content)? Or do you believe that content is always changing, but new social classes birthing literary innovators is a more significant change?

Benito Cereno

From reading the first few pages of Benito Cereno, I noticed that the personalities of Captain Delano and Captain Cereno are practically opposites. But most of what we know about Cereno is perceived from Delano's perspective. Do you think this alters the way we see Cereno, either by making him seem "better" than he is becuase Delano sees everyone in the best possible light, or making him seem "worse" than he is becuase it makes us see how much his personality contrasts wtih Delano's?

Rip Van Winkle

When i first read Rip Van Winkle, i just thought it was a interesting short story. After talking about it in class and analyzing it, i began to pick up on lots of hidden meanings and 'sacred cows' in the story. I started to wonder how it was recieved at the time it was written and if readers also saw these hidden meanings. was the story well recieved? i was wondering what everyone's thoughts were...

To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth

At the end of the third stanza Wheatley writes, "Such, such my case. And can I then but pray others may never feel tyrannic sway?" Originally when I was looking at this in class I didn't notice the question mark, but that changes up the whole meaning of the verse, at least for me. It's almost like she is questioning herself and her beliefs in freedom. She is trying to help people obtain freedom who stole hers from her, and caused tyranny on her and her family. Also, if they do obtain freedom she won't, nor will she be treated any differently. Do you think that she should still try to help them obtain freedom? Why or why not.