Being Nice to Strangers
Throughout this literature class we have been reading stories of love & war, history & heroes, and Gods & Goddesses. This literature that has been introduced to us is about much more than that. It is about life. Everyday life. Our lives. If you understand the literature as it is meant to be understood, then you would be able to put yourself in the characters’ shoes. You would be able to relate with the choices they have to make, the feelings they feel, and the burden of society they have gone through.
You are able to do so because these literature works are masterpieces, and masterpieces last forever. They aren’t just stories told only for the times when they were written, they are for all times: past and present. Even if it does take an educated person like Dr. Fajardo-Acosta to get the deepest meaning across to us, once you understand it, everything clicks. You think to yourself, "That’s like the situation I went through last week," or "That’s how I feel." And you begin to realize that these works pertain to you and everyone else. You realize that you aren’t the only one that has gone through something or that feels a certain way. Than you start to crave more. You want to learn, read, and understand more.
I believe that deep down all human beings are good. Their ways or thoughts may be tainted but who are we to judge. That concept of judging others is very important in literature. Of course, you can’t possibly stop all judgmental thoughts but the key is to limit them and to realize when you are having these thoughts. We as humans are critical people of ourselves and of others. They way we criticize depends on what we have gone through so far in our lives. We think the way we do and perceive others by what has happened to us, whether it was good or bad. We are all conditioned to think the way we do, whether it is the religion you were born into or the experiences that you went through as a child that are stored deep down inside. Whatever it may be and whether you know it or not, they affect you and the way you think, act, and see other human beings.
Let’s take Oedipus for example. As a child he was pretty much tortured and thrown into the woods to die.
I disagree with this statement. To a certain extend, I think Oedipus’s suffer is what he deserved.
Another interesting aspect the reader might recognize in these stories is the theme of acceptance and integration to something either known or unknown to them. Most of these stories deal with having to change who they are or what they would become like Nilsa, the boy, and others, they have all had to choose what they wanted for there life and accept the fact that if they did not take serious measures they would not be integrated into society prosperously.
The scarlet letter is worn by Hester as a repercussion of her adulterous sin to make known her crime of passion throughout the whole story. Hester has the choice to leave town and would no longer have to wear the scarlet letter. ?On the outskirts of the town, within the verge of the peninsula, but not in close vicinity to any other habitation, there was a small thatched cottage? (71). The cottage is Hester?s home. Hester feels by staying, she is not letting society control her and acknowledging what she has done. Hester?s action of staying in town shows her strong, self-determined spirit. Hester refuses to deny the sin because it defines who she is.
This story had no fluff. It had no happy ending. It was in no way uplifting. It was a book about hopelessness, and how tragic life can be. None of the characters find happiness. No one is rescued from their misery. What makes this book powerful is that sometimes that is the way life is. Sometimes there is no happy ending, and sometimes there is no hope. It would be nice if that were not true, but it is. And this book shows the gritty side of life, the sad reality. Sometimes things do not work out the way we would like them to, and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it. As depressing as this may be as a theme, it is important to realize that it is true. While optimism is usually admirable, too much may be ignorant. Hopelessness exists. It can certainly be seen in real life, and it can certainly be seen in this book.
...ome aspect of war, from battling with enemies to how battle spiritually destroys young men. The one positive point of this novel is how friends cared for one another when going through tragedies and stressful experiences. It also portrays how strong a soldier needs to be, in order for them to be in the war.
demonstrates how the characters of the book are reckless and view love as something that can
For years after the letter was first revealed on the scaffold, Hester was associated with the sin and the scarlet letter. Because the Puritans contoured religion, social life, and government together, each member of the society was involved in the religion, social life, and government—everybody in Boston saw the “A” on Hester’s chest in the same light.
Understanding concepts of this story is important to do because it allows the reader to understand how the characters in the story are exactly feeling. The first main
The puritan community wanted Hester to feel guilt. By marking Hester with the scarlet letter, they knew it would cause Hester to to be the center of attention. All eyes would be on her while hushed whispers and attempted hidden pointing swept through the town (Magill Masterpieces 5). Although considered to be unjust humiliation, the community assumed it would cau...
...his high fly exciting time in history is known as one of the better times in African American History. Ragtime was cheerful and a upbeat type of music, nothing like no one ever heard before. Ragtime and the Blues are considered to be the maternities of Jazz. Blues and Ragtime were the fore competitors of Jazz in closely corresponding periods introducing the idea of syncopation. Syncopation is the dislodgment of a common recurrent intonation away from a robust beat onto a weak beat. Introducing the idea of syncopation and the bringing together of European and African American traditions. Ragtime was a balanced blend of all type of music, but jazz is what it truly inspired.
This includes the historical period of the writing of the novel, the symbolic meaning of the plot and other parts of the narrative, and the characters which help us understand the way we should act in society being just, empathetic and
...ecommend reading this book is because the book takes some important themes in our lives. The book is probably the best book to read since the last decade. The story is kind of fascinating through its characters and human emotions.
Drawing upon our readings and class discussions, write an essay that focuses on a specific idea or textual effect in any one of the novels we have read (if you wish to reflect on any two novels, you may). Your essay should develop a coherent project that shows your understanding of the issues we have been analysing in class, and makes thoughtful use of the works of literary and cultural theory we have been reading.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a female protagonist named Hester Prynne is subjected to public humiliation and alienation from the Puritan society because she committed adultery. This “sinful” act is further enhanced when her husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes to Boston, and Hester is forced to keep the secret identities of her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, and her husband concealed from the community. Over the course of her seven-year journey, she becomes more independent, more free, and a model of feministic power to the Freudian society that had once marked her bosom with the letter “A” to shame her. Hawthorne depicts the contrasting views of the patriarchal Puritan society, which is characterized by the town and Dimmesdale against
As the puritans began to see Hester as a caring woman, and as someone who was concerned for the betterment of her community, the letter “A” no longer stood for adultery. "The scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world 's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too” (Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter). This shows that with all the good deeds that Hester has done, the puritan community didn’t belittle or scorn Hester Prynne anymore. The puritan community “refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification” (Baym and Levine, pg.539). The letter became a symbol of her calling. Hester “brings food to the doors of the poor, she nurses the sick, and she is a source of aid in times of trouble” (The Scarlet Letter). This led the puritans to believe that the letter “A” stood for able. She was an able woman. She was no longer looked down upon or negatively talked about. Hester was respected by her community for the sensitive and nurturing woman she was. “Eventually, the letter even achieved a kind of holiness” (Shmoop Editorial Team). She was even a Sister of Mercy. The scarlet letter had “the effect of the cross on a nun 's bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril. Had she fallen among thieves, it would have kept her