Charming Billy Blog 2

Charming Billy Blog 1

Scarlett Letter Blog 2

Relationships

Often we can learn a lot about a character through his relationship with another character or characters. Discuss a relationship you see between two characters in "Gilead" and what the relationship tells you about the characters and the novel as a whole. 

Starting the "Gilead", I find the authors connection to his father to be a really interesting relationship. His father has since then passed away, all of his accounts and experiences with him being in the past tense. Even though these accounts are in the past tense, it seems as though his father is still there, which I attribute to his belief. In his fist introduction of his father he says, "my father was a man who acted from principal, as he said himself. He acted from faithfulness to the truth as he saw it. But something in the way he went about it made him disappointing from time to time, and not just to me." As he continues to develop what his relationship with his father is, it seems that he really looks up to his father and wants to follow in his footsteps although he originally described him as being a disappointment. There is one moment when he says that he wants to get his father's attention while he was in the midst of prayer, so he "took his hand and kissed it." This action took me by surprise, as in today's society you don't usually kiss other peoples hands, let alone your parents. In my eyes, it is a really intimate action and by doing so, shows how deeply connected they are spiritually. Most of the connection I see here comes from religion and their belief, his father was a preacher and himself following in his footsteps in becoming a preacher. Differences in belief however, created a stress between father and son and develop the son into who he is and ultimately the book as he is the narrator. The father had a very narrow view on how religion should be followed, being very true to the Bible and letting very few distract from it's words. The son however, had a more lax view on their religion, letting it to be more open for interpretation and inclusive. There is one story that really shows this divide, and I feel like marks the divergence from a very religious view to a more open one. The narrator tells the reader how he once was  baptizing a litter of kittens, this ceremony being open to all in his more open faith. When asking his father about what would happen to cats who were baptized, to which "he replied that the Sacraments must always be treated and regarded with the greatest respect." As the book continues on, we come to find that these differences in faith shape how the novel is written, creating a more open feel to the book, which doesn't completely exclude those who don't have a faith. The more flexible interpretation that is brought by the son/narrator makes the story more accessible to all, which in the eyes of a preacher would be what they want. They want people to know their faith and spread it around the world, so by this newly found relaxed faith of the son, it becomes more interesting and enjoyable for those who don't believe or have a weak belief. This new way of faith is showing that the son is a new generation of preacher and that the world is changing. It gives you the sense that as the story develops, the ways of faith will be altered and change into modern beliefs of today. 

Setting

Setting includes more than just time and place. It also concerns social conditions and customs of a given location and time period. Discuss the setting of The Scarlet Letter and how it contributes to your understanding of the book so far. 

The setting in The Scarlett Letter is in early New England, specifically in Massachusetts, where the people are very traditional in their morals and beliefs. Their religion was very important to them and closely connected with the law. The Puritan religion is closely regulated and followed, leaving society with strict social stigmas. It is quite a shock to find out that some crimes in the the Puritan beliefs can be punishable by death, when today there are only some places where the death penalty even exists. It was said in. The Scarlett Letter that, "religion and law were almost identical," which explains most of the society's actions. After hearing about what Hester Prynne had done, one man said, "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and in the statute-book." This shows how closely intertwined the Puritan religion is with the law, they basically rely on it for some of their sentences and how to go about punishing wrongdoers. Today, religion is such a big issue, the fact being that there are so many different religions and beliefs that not one can be used to solve huge social issues. In this time however, it was easy for this to be used since most of New England was of the Puritan faith and had the acme beliefs. Nowadays, is is very rare to find a street sharing a common religion, let alone a town or state. 

As strict and brutal as the legal system was at that time, there was a surprising amount of leeway and give to the court. In Hester's court ruling, one of the magistrates said, "Now, good sir, our Massachusetts magistry bethinking themselves that this woman is youthful and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall, and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea, they have not been bold to force the extremity of our righteous law against her. The penalty thereof is death. But in their great mercy and tenderness if heart they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory and then thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom."  Coming from a time where they burns witches at the gallows, like old Mistress Hibbins, this is showing that the rigid and strict laws have slowly began to slip. Giving Hester a softer sentence was showing that what law and religion says does not get the final word, but the actual people do. This is more similar to what we have today in our legal system, the jury being the ones who give the verdict of guilty or innocent. The jury however does not make the sentence as the judge does.  All of that aside, this part of the book is showing that the strict social conduct is slowly loosening, bringing about a new outlook in society. This outlook is later seen as Hester's needlework becomes popularly amoungst the people. As is showed up all thoughout society, from babies to the Governor, "her handiwork became what would now be termed the fashion." From being a social outcast to a fashion icon, Hester is the poster child for changing times and beliefs. Eventhough what she did wasn't accepted, and still not accepted, the idea that she was able to work her way back into society without the penalty of death for what she did shows improvement in society. This improvement, I believe will keep working its way through the book and have some profound effects on the characters and what the outcomes of their lives are. 

Note: I am reading The Scarlett Letter on my kindle, so I have not been putting page numbers on my quotes as the page numbers are weird and messed up. I can add in the page numbers if they are necessary. Also I was on the Greece trip, which is why this entry is turned in post due date.