Another View on Hester

Ch 13 does not go far into the story line to say, but takes time to give the reader prospective on Hester and what is going through her brain. Hester sees Dimmesdale in a state that makes her feel guilty, but she isn't sure whether or not to help him. Hester knows that Chillingworth is not healing his "friend", and she knows that he is gaining his trust so he can execute his revenge causing the most damage to him. We also are told that Chillingworth has sunk down morally to execute his revenge on Dimmesdale, while Hester supposedly has risen up after her sinful action. Discussion wise, we didn't get to talk long, but I did find the section talking about Hester's A important; comparing her A to the cross of a nun in my opinion is a bold statement. As Hester is portrayed helping the poor and needy, I kind of get the feeling that it is almost not sincere, like her thinking is not all there, and that her sanity is a tiny bit shaken.

Hester's new persona

From the chapter we read in class today, we got to see that as 7 years have passed since Hester stood on that pedestal holding her "sin" in her arms, the community that cast her out and take all normalcy out of her life, has come to forgive her. To the community, Hester's scarlet "A" is not clear, its seen as a sign that she is indeed different from others, but it is seen in a positive way, compared to the cross around the neck of a nun. Hester is a symbol of almost saintly status from what I got from the text, of course she sinned in the eyes of her people, but in comparison to the average person, her deeds towards the poor, sick, and afflicted place her on a higher moral standard in my eyes. I am no where sure of this, but while reading this, I felt that Hawthorne was pressing his transcendentalist ideologies because the concept of being accepted by God after a sin without going directly through the church is tradition of the Catholic and Puritan sects of Christianity, but her good deeds and love for her child seem to make me think Hawthorne is leaning towards the forgiveness from God that is preached in new Christian sects. I think the point of this chapter was to show that Hester is not looked down upon in her community, but is seen as a person who cares and tends to the people that need it, not a sinful woman deserving isolation.

Scarlet Letter Drawings Project

To my disadvantage, I have little skill at drawing and I also had no computer in class, so I was locked into reading off others. In class I reread chapters so I could help paint a better image of the settings and story for Nina and Eunji to actually draw on our paper. That night I also read chapters 8 and 11 and wrote out summaries for Nina to draw out today. Chapters 8 and 11 were not exactly clear to me, the reappearing rose bush in the courtyard just confused me, I can't understand what it means or symbolizes yet. I also wasn't sure if the Governor's  wife was the "Black Man" that was holding that witch like stuff was indeed Chillingworth because that is the same thing Pearl called him. Also I noticed that Dimmesdale, when Hester made him stand up in her defense, said that Pearl was a blessing and a burdening reminder, but when they walked out the house, Hester stayed away from the offer that was given to her, that would have most likely seemed sinful, because she had to tend to Pearl, so Pearl saved Hester from sin. Also, we found out that Dimmesdale has  "something" on his chest that seems to drive Chillingworth into absolute revenge mode/insanity.