The Message of Ishmael
Quinn gains a unique perspective on humanity through the main character of the novel, Ishmael. Ishmael is a gorilla. And Ishmael is a teacher who communicates with humans telepathically. On the surface, this hardly seems to be a character who would appear in a serious book; more likely a children's story, a fable, or perhaps a bad science fiction novel. Yet Ishmael is none of these, and Ishmael is a strong character, with a powerful intellect and a serious purpose. The character of Ishmael needs to be non-human in order to be effective. Looking in on civilization from the outside gives him a perspective from which to criticize humanity without hypocrisy. To hear the oppressor repent is not nearly so effective as to hear the voice of the oppressed demand freedom and restitution.
As Ishmael opens, the author writes of a day in his life when he found what he thought a truly ludicrous advertisement in the personals section of a newspaper:
TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.
Investigating with the purpose of exposing fraud, he came upon Ishmael in Room 105 of a nondescript office building. Ishmael was sitting calmly, nibbling on a slender branch. Momentarily shocked, Quinn stumbled towards a chair. He glanced into the gorilla's eyes, and much to his disconcertment the eyes calmly spoke to him. Nodding in answer to an unuttered question, Ishmael spoke silently "I am the teacher."
In language of the sort one might expect from a well educated man speaking with a friend, Ishmael told Quinn the story of his life. A large portion of it was spent in captivity, before a wealthy elderly man befriended and educated him. At the end of Ishmael's tale, Quinn was still somewhat befuddled.
I sat there for a minute, then I said, "I'm trying to figure out what this has to do with saving the world."
Ishmael thought for a moment. "Among the people of your culture, which want to destroy the world?"
"Which want to destroy it? As far as I know, no one specifically wants to destroy the world."
"And yet you do destroy it, each of you. Each of you contributes daily to the destruction of the world."
"Yes, that's so."
"Why don't you stop?
"I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how people are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things. All my generation is experiencing these things with me..."
Although seen as a holy magistrate, Reverend Dimmesdale committed the sin of adultery. Not only did he violate his reverence for Hester Prynne’s soul (Hawthorne 234), but he also wronged her husband, Roger Chillingworth. In addition to this, Dimmesdale hid his sin while Hester suffered public humiliation and degradation. His cowardice acts invited the war over his soul, which attacked him mercilessly throughout the story.
must read it and try to understand it. Though this quote can relate to a persons personality, it also might not relate to a person at all. All people are different and think differently than others. Almost everybody in the world has a different understanding of what is wrong and what is right,
In time, the Puritan community comes to see the letter as meaning "Able" or "Angel" and not just a symbol of guilt. Hester’s sensitivity with the victims of society turns her symbolic meaning from a person whose life was originally sinful and sombre, to a strong and understanding woman with consideration for the humanity of others. In Hester’...
As a believing Puritan, Dimmesdale saw himself as “predestined'; for damnation. Hawthorne explained how the poor man “kept silent by the very constitution of [his] nature.'; Dimmesdale wanted to be with Hester, but he was weak. Hawthorne spoke about Dimmesdale’s bloody scourge in his closet, and how he beat himself with it. Hawthorne seemed to suggest that Dimmesdale’s “real existence on [earth] was the anguish of his inmost soul.'; Chillingsworth was a leech of evil, and Dimmesdale was his host. Chillingsworth continuously tried to get a confession from Dimmesdale: “No-not to [you]-an earthly physician.'; Chillingsworth sin was by far the greatest, as Dimmesdale stated: “That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of the human heart.'; This being the “unpardonable sin.';
Throughout the realistic novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding has repeatedly used many of his characters as a representation of many abstract ideas that relate to the whole human society, as in how we form civilization, and how easy it is for us to turn away from it. These ideas are expressed through the characters´ descriptions, their conversations, and actions. Simon, one of the main characters in the book who still retains to his civilized way of thinking contrasts to many other boys who have subdued to their nature of savagery, is the representation of natural goodness, spiritual figure in a non-religious way, due to his spiritual vision, his awareness of the beast’s true identity, and the way he interacts toward other boys.
Dimmesdale's physical state and reactions also gave the reader clues to Chillingworth's role in Dimmesdale's demise. Upon Chillingworth's arrival to Boston, Dimmesdale immediately showed symptoms of atropine poisoning, or, to the reader at the time, signs of his guilt and adultery. As the doctor-patient relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale grew, Dimmesdale's health faded. "His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed, on any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain." (p. 119). Also, as time progressed, Dimmesdale's symptoms became more severe and resembled like those attributed to atropine poisoning.
In the book, The Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, when the book states, “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or Savages?” (91), this quote shows the author is trying to give the message that in our society, we tend to act as humans, and at the same time, animals. For example, in December 1955 until December 1956, a woman named Rosa Parks had inspired many people to peacefully protest the lack of civil rights for the African Americans of her time by not riding the public buses because African Americans were forced to sit in the back of the bus; therefore, behind all of the white people. Rather than leading violent riots about the issue, she chose to find a peaceful solution, unlike white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
"One of the ways of helping to destroy a people is to tell them that
The Scarlet Letter is a unified, masterfully written novel. It is structured around three crucial scaffold scenes and three major characters that are all related. The story is about Hester Prynne, who is given a scarlet letter to wear as a symbol of her adultery. Her life is closely tied to two men, Roger Chillingworth, her husband, and Arthur Dimmesdale, her minister and the father of her child. Her husband is an old, misshapen man who Hester married while still in Europe. Chillingworth sends her ahead of him to New England, and then does not follow her or correspond with her for two years.
Hester acts as the protagonist, Pearl as the symbol of sin, Dimmesdale as the victim, and Chillingworth as the antagonist. In the puritanical society of Boston, Hester is publically humiliated, and Dimmesdale struggles with internal guilt. Chillingworth attempts to afflict Dimmesdale as means to seek revenge. In contrast, Pearl guides Hester and Dimmesdale to the acceptance of their sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne characterizes Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth through their mien, disposition, and function in order to mold the storyline of The Scarlet
...Now go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder man” (Hawthorne, 192). Chillingworth’s plan for revenge is based on Dimmesdale not confessing to his crime.
“Yeah, before their arrival to our world. Before their arrival… the world was the world… The most ugly, beautiful thing in all its dysfunctional glory. And after the arrival of the volunteers in 2029 that all changed. The world as mankind had always known it was over. It was replaced with was an environment where nothing was left to chance. Every aspect of man’s new world became planned out for him, every roadblock removed, every unpleasantry eradicated. Now does any of that sound logical to you? A world that was once so heavily flawed turned into an errorless paradise in only a few short months, maybe a few years at best.”
Hawthorne's statement through Chillingworth offers insight into Dimmesdale and Chillingworth along with a representation of Hawthorne's disapproval of the Puritan values. This disapproval is the driving force of the novel, and it underlies the relationship between Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the prevailing greater justice of God. The contrast of the Puritans' justice and God's makes the message of the story greater than a love story or a story of a sin. With this theme, The Scarlet Letter becomes a comparison of the flawed justice of humans and the divine justice of God.