Is Guilt Passed Down?

               

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author known for writing romance and allegorical stories. Much of Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing evolves around things from his family and past, pertaining to guilt, sin, and evil. Hawthorne struggled to cope his family's lack of respect for the traditional Puritan rules, which is why the basis for most of his work is human corruption and the evilness of people. Stories like The Scarlet letter and The Minister's Black Veil, reflect the guit he felt due to the burden he had to face from his family's past. Nathaniel felt so guilty and ashamed at one point that he changed his original last name, Hathorne, to Hawthorne. Hawthorne was able to finally relieve himself of the guilt from his ancestors through his writings.

Aissata Diallo ❤️ 

Is there a thing such as too much guilt?

By basing many of his pages out of his own family history, Hawthorne was able to relieve himself of the heavy burden of his family’s past. Hawthorne admitted that he had felt guilt for sharing blood with the witchcraft judge, his ancestor, John Hathorne. This inherited guilt made Hawthorne feel some type of guilt for committing a crime he didn’t do, but rather a crime his ancestor committed. His family’s background as Puritans served as a heavy influence on his writings. Puritans, with all their strictness, “simplicity” and taboo of the joys of life, emphasized on sin, pride and shame. Because of Hawthorne’s background, he often wrote pages of the moral corruption in human nature, such as in the novel The Scarlet Letter. Perhaps, Hawthorne felt that generations and generations of guilt ran through his veins as he was born into a somewhat discriminatory community. 
                                                              ❤❤❤Guadalupe Cervantes

                                                     

Why do the puritans have to be such bullies??

In "The Scarlet Letter", many people would read the first chapter and be confused as to why the prison and the cemetery are located near each other in a place that the people there call "Utopia". Well, the puritans are very strict people, their beliefs are practically imprinted on everyone that lives there, and anyone that decides to disobey their rules will be punished. In chapter 2, the reader in introduced to Hester Prynne, a lady that had a child that came from a man that was not her husband. Since, the puritans were so religious, they saw this as an act of major sin. She was to be punished and was to make an example of what not to do in their society, or else they will also get punished along with her. The puritans had a political system that was also based on religion. It seemed that everything they did was based on religion. You see, in their society, if a person commits adultery they will get sentenced to jail and probably even killed for it. For the people there, they would bash Hester with hate, yet she wore that letter "A" with pride because she knew that what she has done was wrong, but she don't care because the good that came out of it was her child wo will later bring in such hope just like the rosebush symbolized.

                                                                                                                                  ~ Itzanami Sotelo

There's No Escape!

In "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthrone, the settings are in both a funeral and a wedding. The theme of the story is "don't judge a book by its cover". The setting ties in with the theme because at the funeral, while he was looking over at the dead body of the girl. Mr. Hooper was afraid of what her glance could've been like if she didn't have her eyes closed. Although she was dead, he couldn't help but feel judged by everyone else in the room, including the dead maiden herself. For example, on page 3 paragraph 4, Hawthrone states, "As he stooped, the veil hung straight down...that he so hastily caught back the black veil?" At the wedding, he was drinking a cup of wine, however, before he took the first sip, he caught a glimpse of his reflection. This made him instantly feel overwhelmed and felt like he was being judged by the others in the room including the groom and the bride, so he drop the cup of red wine and hid right back in the darkness. This can be found on page 4 on paragraph, stating "After performing the ceremony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips ... and rushed forth into the darkness." This is how the setting ties into the theme in "The Minister's Black Veil".
~Itzanami S.

Was It Fear? Was It Guilt? Was It Emotion?

Guadalupe here, tackling topic #3

The preacher, Edwards, uses several rhetorical appeals to frighten sinners to repent. Because Edwards objective is to persuade sinners to repent, he uses emotional appeals such as ethos, logos and pathos. For example, on page 88 of the 11th grade literature book, Edwards uses fear, a form of pathos, by exclaiming, "...ten thousand times greater than the strength of the sturdiest in Hell, it would be nothing to withstand," which implied that sinners are powerless against God's wrath. Not only that, but Edward uses forms of hyperbole and simile to provoke guilt in the heart of sinners throughout his sermon.

Fear Thy God!

Imagery is the use of figurative language in a way that appeals to the readers' senses. Imagery allows the reader to create vivid mental pictures of the story as they read, which ultimately brings the story to life. In the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, the preacher, Jonathan Edwards utilizes imagery to persuade his audience to come back to the mercy of God. On page 88, the text states, "There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you." Edwards creates this frightening image of God's wrath, appealing to the sense of sight, with hope that sinners would see the error in their ways and repent to Good to receive His mercy.


The sermon was very insightful. I would highly recommend you to read it, but before you do, watch this short video with information about the sermon.

Aissata Diallo ❤️

Protecting People - Strong or Weak ?

In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne committed adultery, a sin highly dishonorable in the Puritan community of Boston. She is then forced to wear the letter A on her chest for the rest of her life, and live in exile from the rest of the people,

According to the text, Hester is protecting 2 men - the man she committed the sin with, and the man she was married to, Robert Chillingworth. I believe that this makes Hester Prynne a much stronger character. Hester was publicly shamed for her sin, has the burden of an "illegitimate child", and must learn to live with her own company. With all the problems that Hester has, she still decides to add another load onto her back by choosing to protect the 2 men, while simultaneously taking a load off of the other men's backs. Anyone, and a woman at that, who would choose to save someone else from being shamed like she was is truly a person of strength. Hester Prynne is that exactly.

I also, believe that the only person Hester should protect is her husband, because she committed adultery. Even though her husband was not there, she should have remained loyal to him, and not sinned. However, Robert seems to have a much darker side, even Hester noticed it, so she may only be protecting him to protect herself and her daughter. I can also understand why Hester would want to protect her fellow sinner as well. More than likely, Hester has feelings for him, so she would not want him to go through the torture she was going through.

Aissata Diallo ❤️