Scarlet Letter Chapter 5

I.Why Hester choose to stay in the colony?
        After reading the chapter, I think the main reason Hester choose to stay in the colony is that she still feel some connection with the community here in America. I am guessing maybe she does not want to leave her lover here and go back to Europe.The book says that she won't leave because of  her "half a sense of truth, and half a self-delusion." I am not quite sure about this part.

II.How's the community treat her?
        Although the community supports her sometime, it still treats her with different judgement; the letter always catch people's eyes. Hester moves to a house far away from the town so she won't be bothered. People still envy her incredible needle-work. 

Scarlet Letter

Characters:
    -Hester Prynne:
          A young woman, who married Chillingworth without love, is adulterous. She cheated on her husband while he was gone.
    -Roger Chillingworth: 
          An old man who married Hester. He threatened Hester that once he found out her lover, he will take the revenge. 
     -Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale:
          A young man who is incredibly respected in the society. He was trying to make Hester speak out who the mystery guy is.
Story:
     The story line seems really obvious now. Chillingworth finds out that his wife cheated on him, and even gives birth to a baby. The society is really curious who the man is, but Hester will never ever say a word. 
Prediction:
      I feel like Dimmesdale is the father of the baby! My prediction is that Hester will still keep her mouth shut for her lover, and her husband will continue to look for the truth. He might be able to discovery Hester's secret lover, and make their lives miserable. 
   

Whitman part II

       I still do not totally understand a lot of what Whitman is trying to say. He always listed endless examples to make his point, such as rivers, birds, and plants. I realize that he wanted to create a different kind of writing than that of the Europeans. He thought the American poets were responsible for giving the world something new. However, he knew that America contains too many things that it is impossible to write down by him only, but he will be the leading one. 
       This concept of Whitman is similar to that of Emerson's "minds of past." They both believed that the scholars/ poets are the leading figures who should show the new direction to the Americans.  
       Mr. Cook...can you clarify what Whitman thinks the poets (the elites) should do? thanks~

Whitman's "Preface of Leaves of Grass "

       I found it difficult to follow Whitman's idea of "America" even I read the text twice, but I will do my best to write down what I understand in the first three paragraphs. Please correct me if I am wrong.
       In the first paragraph, Whitman stated that America has been through a lot of things, and it "does not repel the past of what if has produced under its form or amid other politics of the idea of castes or the old religions." America has learned a lot from the lesson, and is ready to leave those things to find others that are appropriate for the present.
       He then acknowledged the great things in America in the second paragraph. He said that"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem." America is a nation with patriotic people who cheer for their freedom and with good agricultural that can feed the people and their descendants.
       I think Whitman really emphasis the freedom in America. In the third paragraph. he said that America is the best not because of its "executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors," but the common people who are friendly, enthusiastic about the freedom in this new nation.
        However, I thought this idea contradict to Emerson's idea of the importance of the scholars/ poets that they are the central of the society? I am kind of confused.....

The American Scholar (Part III)

       I had a discussion with Mr. Cook and David today after the class about the purpose of Emerson's work. We concluded that he wrote this paper to address the importances of the scholars and to point out their flaws.
       Just like the beginning story of "body"and Mankind versus men, the people in the society is now separated from each other. Mankind should work as a system that includes every person and his profession. Emerson says the scholars are like the brain of the system, implementing knowledge to benefit the rest of the society. Likewise, the farmers, lawyers, teachers, doctors are using their profession not only to make a living, but also to give out what they have to the society. The scholars who are the leaders should emphasis this idea. In fact, they only sit around and "think" about philosophies alone without publishing to the society to benefit others. The purpose of Emerson's speech is to point out the significant of revealing scholars' influences to the whole society.
  

The American Scholar (Part II)

       Today in class, we talked about the "influences" that Emerson wrote in his American Scholar. I found it difficult to follow his ideas  while just reading it. Most of the time I have to read through a sentence more than two times and look up some words.

Emerson....and The American Scholar

       My first impression of Emerson is that...he is so smart!! How can a human being's mind function so well like his. Emerson emerged as an important scholar in the nineteenth century, and even now, his influence on the American literature is undeniable. At first, I can hardly understand his written work without help! However, after the class discussion, I found his ideas about American scholars interesting.
       During the class, we talked about the introduction and the first influence-Nature. Emerson believed that human beings should function as a large system. He explained it by starting out a story (a fable) comparing the system to human body. In the past, humans had been worked together, and they were all contributing to improve the public. However, he says that most people were focusing only on their personal accomplishment, but forget he/she was also a part of the body.Just like a hand that has a lot of fingers. If they work separately, then the hand itself will lost it's capability to function as a hand.
       In part one, Emerson was trying to emphasis the importance of nature that is associated with the mind. He states that the nature the human minds are connected with each other. Only by learning about circulation of the universe, can human fully realize how their minds work.

The Poor Indians....(Apess+Occom)

       Both passages illustrates the poor conditions of the Indians that are mostly caused by the white men. Although both Apess and Occom were educated unlike others, their points of view for the Indians were quit different.
       Apess stood up for the Indians and criticized the white men who had been living by the Christianity, but only followed the rules if they wanted to. He expressed the races equality; no one was better than any other. I found it interesting how he named his work as "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man." He was sending the massage to the white men that they are just a bunch of fools in Indian's eyes. I was really surprised of his idea that Jesus was a colored man, such a slap in the white men's face. However, Occom who was also well educated wrote in a different tone. He showed his sympathy for the poor Indians. He acted like he is "white men produced," and now helping out his brothers.
       These two Indian men ended up differently after the same education background. Apess's work expressed much anger than the one of Occom; however, they both succeed illustrating the flaws of the white men.  

If Anne Bradstreet came out of the poems....

I am a woman. Is it a reason to be excluded?
I am a woman who is writing poems and even publishing them. Does that sound strange?

I grew up in an England castle where my father worked. I realized that I am very well educated compared to other young English girls. Neither I nor the girls go to school, but I spent much of my time learning in the castle library with eight tutors and my dear father, Thomas Dudley, who was always willing to teach me something new. I admitted that I am a very inquisitive person, so I always tried to satisfy my hunger for knowledge by reading others' works. Thanks to my father, I was privileged enough to have unlimited access to the great library where I embraced myself to the writings of many well known authors.

However, I traveled to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with my parents and husband in 1630. Now here I am, in the New World. Although I have suffered by my sickness, I still take care of my children and my house really well. There is no reason that I can't spend my own time doing my favorite thing -- writing, since I fulfill the "requirement" for a Puritan woman.

I love writing poems about Puritan and my faith. I express my emotion through the poems. (To My Dear and Loving Husband) Sometimes for my husband, my children, or even myself.

I am lucky to be educated, unlike those women around me. I disagree with the critics who put women into secondary category in the society. Women should not be excluded in the intellectual field; in fact, anything! (The Prologue) If a man can do it, a woman is always capable of doing so too.




first publication: The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up 

(NEW WORDS:hoist on your own petard)

Participating in the Project..!

     Our group is responsible for creating the new site, collecting others data, and organized the materials. I was responsible for the organization and edition. In addition, we are also responsible for the "Colonial Era" part. Our group divided the materials into several sections. Demi and Eunji did the research while Jungsoo and I typed and organized the page. Moreover,  I though that it will be easier for us to put everything together on a Google doc, so I created one and shared with everyone in the class.
    Our group is now in the process of changing the document of every group into the same format and putting on the site. So, I think we are in a good shape now!

Ideas? the study guide for D period American Literature

    This is my first time having a class project. At first, it was kind of a chaos since we couldn't came up with a satisfied idea. However, after dividing into groups, we finally had it going on.
    In my opinion, this is a great idea combining everyone's work together, so we don't have to all do it alone. With a common web area that we can share all our work, we all, as a class, can discuss the materials together. Moreover, working as a class can make sure the context of our study guides is precise. On the other hand, doing study guides as a class project required every one of us's hard work. If any group slacks off and refuses to reach the class's expectation, it will cost the other people extra time to do the extra work.
    It is really important that the class is always on the same page whenever we are working on the project. I believe we need  a  calender to follow and even set up the regular format and how detail we want to go.

Mary Rowlandson & the Indians

Mary Rowlandson, a woman that was captured by the Indians for 5 months, wrote a series of story about the captures. It is really different form many of the novels because it is based on a real story and with a objective perspective. She did not write it in the first person, but as a spectator. I found it really interesting that it is not in a journals' form but more like a story book. I am looking forward to read through the whole book and find out more details about this lady.

A Lady with Pride-Anne Bradstreet

     We read about the poems of Anne Bradstreet in class today and  I was impressed by her courage. Back to her time period, it was almost impossible for a woman to speak up. Although it was not her notion  to publish the poems, she later approved it and wrote a poem that indicated the equality of men and women. Her actions inspire me to not be afraid of being the minority and also remind me always let my voice heard whenever it is needed.

Food Inc.

        I watched Food Inc. a long time ago, but once again, I was shocked! We all knew about the process of making meat product is horrible, but we tend to ignore the fact and result he whole immoral treatment to the animals. The stories in the film describe the negative influences of fast food industry and also bad habits of eating, which, in fact, will result deseases and might happen on one of us. Americans generally have worse eating habits than others. Take myself as an example, I have never eat so much fast food in one month. Back in Taiwan, my mom always tried to cook us every meal, so we seldom eat out. However, I have no choice here but eat the food that is provided in dining hall. I realize that the faculties have been trying to improve the food quality in dining hall, but actually, it is still not health at all. Under my observation, first, I think we do not eat enough vegetable a day. Most of the food they served that can make us "feel full" is meat. Although they provide salad bar, it is still very different from cooked vegetables. Second, dining hall ofter serve us food that can fill our appetites in a short term, which we always feel hungry after study hall. This is actually a really serious problem because we will eat a lot of junk food at night which will cause serious health problem in a long term. Food such as rice, noodles that are made from amylum (rice-like food that are made from flour) is necessary in every meal. This category of food maintains our satiety, so we will stay full for a long time.
      Although I am not a vegetarian, I still try to eat less meet, and eat healthier. I understand the importance of eating healthy, and I would like to share with people around me about it.

Christianity + John Winthrop = A Model of Christian Charity

        "A Model of Christian Charity" is a sermon of John Winthrop delivered somewhere on the ocean before the puritans arrived in America. In the sermon, he illustrates the reason behind the Puritans' unwillingness to accept the need for state and church separation. Moreover, Winthrop acknowledged a natural existent of separation between social classes. He believed that God created the separation for a reason, to bring the classes all together and they can help each other.
         I was really confused when I first read it. I couldn't understand the thesis and had no clue what why he wrote this. However, after the discussion with the class, I realized the background differences between now and then; the church was everything back to the time. They were much more into religion, so they believed that god created everything in the world.
         Although I am still not 100% sure about the context, I get the main idea of Puritans' world in the 17th century-the god and the Christianity are everything. 

Freedom? or Sustainability?

When I got the essay prompt, I had no clue what so ever, and I thought I will fail  this assignment! BUT, after the class discussion, I came up with some ideas that might fit well to the topic.

HEY the world! i am here!

This is the first time to keep a blog. I started a long time ago, but it did not work out well.