Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880)
1. research:
Lydia Maria Child was an American abolitionist, women's right activist, opponent of American expansionism, Indian rights activist, author and journalist. Although she never thought about becoming an author, she began with writing her first novel called Hobomok -- an article in the newspaper "The North American Review," which discussed the field offered to the novelist by early New England history, caught her eye -- because of her brother it was published soon, after six weeks.
I am interested in this female author because she actually was not an author, and she just became one. When I noticed that topic, I thought about Anne Bradstreet, whose poems were published in the same way as Child's novel. She became famous, and she did what one could do to get more women rights. Both authors had similar goals.
The other reason why I am interested in her is that Child devoted herself to write about theory and methodology of education -- I am also interested in that. Additionally, she published many works about education, training and improvement of the female sex.
2. research: (03/16/10)
From:
http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/detail?vid=3&hid=107&sid=39b6eb0d-5d1d-442c-89c3-1681f360ed75%40sessionmgr114&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLWxpdmU%3d#AN0018749091-3
• Born Lydia Francis in Medford, Massachusetts, youngest of six children
• Parents were Susanna Rand and David Convers Francis (a baker)
• Largely self-educated in contrast to his brother Covers (went to Harvard, became Unitarian Minister and professor)
• After mother’s death she moved to a sister in Maine; in 1824 she moved to his brother and his wife in Massachusetts
• There she changed her name, added ”Maria” to her name and wrote her fist book Hobomok
• In 1826 she started the children magazine Juvenile Miscellany
• In 1828 she married David Child, he was interested both in radical abolition and in saving the Cherokees
• In 1831 her book An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans led to emancipations of slaves, equality of races and oppose laws prohibiting mixed marriages; wasn’t longer accepted by the society and led to the end of her children magazine
3. research (03/22/10)
From:
http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/detail?vid=3&hid=107&sid=39b6eb0d-5d1d-442c-89c3-1681f360ed75%40sessionmgr114&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLWxpdmU%3d#AN0018749091-3
• In 1835 she finished a pioneering History of the Condition of Women in Various Ages and Nations
• In 1841 she moved to New York to publish the National Anti-Slavery Standard
• In 1836 she finished her philosophical romance, set in ancient Greece, Philothea
• In short she was an abolitionist, an early feminist, advocate of Native American rights, writer of transcendentalist fiction
• Views often made her controversial, major figure in 19th century -> reform movements
4. research (03/24/10)
From: http://www.jstor.org/stable/362527
"She believed that 'home education' could aid women measurably."
Montag, 25. Januar 2010
Montag, 4. Januar 2010
The Scarlet Letter
My partner who proof reads my blogs is Latianna Nichols.
CHAPTER 1
The first chapter of the book is called "The Prison-Door". The author describes the situation mentioning a lot of different details; it is similar to an introduction. The following action takes place in the seventeenth century in Boston. Dreary looking Puritans gather outside a prison door and wait for it to open. Outside next to the door a rosebush stands in full boom and the narrator remarks that it is possible that "this rosebush (...) had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchison, as she entered the prison door." He plucks on of the roses and offers it to the reader as a "moral blossom".
CHAPTER 2
What do you think about the women on the market square who differ from normal females at other times?
I think at that time you had to be aware of these women because they were self-confident and strong. Not everybody could certainly be their friend or to know how to handle them. They worked hard and probably insisted on being outspoken and one could not interfere with that.
CHAPTER 3
What do you think about Roger Chillingworth ?
Chillingworth identified himself as a physician because he learned from Indians' treatments. So he went upstairs to Hester's jail, and at this time, her three month old baby (calls little Pearl) cried a lot, so he prepared some medicine. He also wanted to take it so that the baby can calm down, but Hester mistrusts him because she thought that Roger will kill her young child. After that, there was a conversation between her and Chillingworth, and before he went downstairs, he smiled two times. For me, that was a little bit confusing, and I am also not sure why he came to her. Maybe it is Hester's older husband, her baby's father. I think this scene was important for the entire story although you do not know why he behaved thus strange and odd. I think Hester was as confused as I am...
CHAPTER 4 & 5
Write about Hester's qualms.
Moving on from chapter three and four you see that Hester is going to try to make a life. Now she is out of prison and little Pearl is older than before (a little child now). In my point of view Hester is trying to make their life as well as possible but instead of that people, the public, do not stop picking on her. Because of the Scarlet Letter she is recognized by every single inhabitant and he mocks her so that Hester feels more and more painful and guilty.
In my opinion Hester's and the child's life is not the business of these people. They just behave stupid and it seems like they have nothing to do. Hester is not a murderer, isn't she?! She "just" had an affair with another man. I think one of her most important qualms is that she worries about her child's life, actually about how their life is going on. That would be my most important qualm, too...
CHAPTER 8
The entire chapter is about Hester's daughter Pearl. Governor Bellingham and the magistrates want to take Pearl from her mother to dress her more darker and to teach her religious lessons. Of course her mother wants to keep the child and she explains that she already taught her some lessons, also with the help of the Scarlet Letter. Bellingham asks her where does Pearl come from, and the child answers by herself: "After putting her finger in her mouth, with many ungracious refusals to answer good Mr. Wilson's questions, the child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison-door." Roger Chillingworth was also there and smiles; but his face changes and seems darker now. Because of Pearl's answer Bellingham is sure that it is necessary to take her away from Hester. At this point Hester is looking for help and wants Reverend Dimmesdale to support her. Dimmesdale does so and says that her daughter is as much a curse as she is blessing. Then Pearl takes his hand.
In chapter 20 we learn that Dimmesdale decides to go back to town and leaves Hester in the forest. Writing a sermon for the Election sermon, which is an important event for a clergyman's career, shows that he concentrates on starting a new life.
The headline of this chapter is called "The Minister in a Maze". The maze represents the confusion and distress Dimmsdale faces in his life and in the past. Hester admits to the minister that Chillingworth is her husband. Hester wanted to leave the settlement together with Dimmesdale to start a new life in Europe; but Dimmesdale went to town. At the moment he is still confused and sometimes upset. His life is a like a maze where you cannot find an exit and are looking for the right way.
How did Hester change?
Hester changed in the last pages: She became more self confident concerning her scarlet letter. When she goes to town to listen to Dimmesdale's sermon, she tries to seem confident. In her final hours wearing the scarlet letter, she had begun anticipate her imminent freedom from shame, although the crowd, that surrounds her, still reminds her that the "A" has not yet lost its "power".
CHAPTER 1
The first chapter of the book is called "The Prison-Door". The author describes the situation mentioning a lot of different details; it is similar to an introduction. The following action takes place in the seventeenth century in Boston. Dreary looking Puritans gather outside a prison door and wait for it to open. Outside next to the door a rosebush stands in full boom and the narrator remarks that it is possible that "this rosebush (...) had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchison, as she entered the prison door." He plucks on of the roses and offers it to the reader as a "moral blossom".
CHAPTER 2
What do you think about the women on the market square who differ from normal females at other times?
I think at that time you had to be aware of these women because they were self-confident and strong. Not everybody could certainly be their friend or to know how to handle them. They worked hard and probably insisted on being outspoken and one could not interfere with that.
CHAPTER 3
What do you think about Roger Chillingworth ?
Chillingworth identified himself as a physician because he learned from Indians' treatments. So he went upstairs to Hester's jail, and at this time, her three month old baby (calls little Pearl) cried a lot, so he prepared some medicine. He also wanted to take it so that the baby can calm down, but Hester mistrusts him because she thought that Roger will kill her young child. After that, there was a conversation between her and Chillingworth, and before he went downstairs, he smiled two times. For me, that was a little bit confusing, and I am also not sure why he came to her. Maybe it is Hester's older husband, her baby's father. I think this scene was important for the entire story although you do not know why he behaved thus strange and odd. I think Hester was as confused as I am...
CHAPTER 4 & 5
Write about Hester's qualms.
Moving on from chapter three and four you see that Hester is going to try to make a life. Now she is out of prison and little Pearl is older than before (a little child now). In my point of view Hester is trying to make their life as well as possible but instead of that people, the public, do not stop picking on her. Because of the Scarlet Letter she is recognized by every single inhabitant and he mocks her so that Hester feels more and more painful and guilty.
In my opinion Hester's and the child's life is not the business of these people. They just behave stupid and it seems like they have nothing to do. Hester is not a murderer, isn't she?! She "just" had an affair with another man. I think one of her most important qualms is that she worries about her child's life, actually about how their life is going on. That would be my most important qualm, too...
CHAPTER 8
The entire chapter is about Hester's daughter Pearl. Governor Bellingham and the magistrates want to take Pearl from her mother to dress her more darker and to teach her religious lessons. Of course her mother wants to keep the child and she explains that she already taught her some lessons, also with the help of the Scarlet Letter. Bellingham asks her where does Pearl come from, and the child answers by herself: "After putting her finger in her mouth, with many ungracious refusals to answer good Mr. Wilson's questions, the child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison-door." Roger Chillingworth was also there and smiles; but his face changes and seems darker now. Because of Pearl's answer Bellingham is sure that it is necessary to take her away from Hester. At this point Hester is looking for help and wants Reverend Dimmesdale to support her. Dimmesdale does so and says that her daughter is as much a curse as she is blessing. Then Pearl takes his hand.
CHAPTER 9
Chillingworth is accepted by community/the townspeople. He helps them with his skills as a physician and he is also interested in Reverend Dimmesdale health so that they appreciate it. When Chillingworth wants to help him because he will die soon, Chillingworth first disagrees and does not want the medicine but then he agrees. Later they spend a lot of time in a house together. Some townspeople doubt in his skills and think that he makes use of "black art". This chapter shows how Dimmesdale doubts in him and how Chillingworth continues to try to take revenge on him for the adultery and the birth of Pearl.
CHAPTER 10
How do you think does the conversation between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale go on?
I think Dimmesdale does not really want to continue the conversation. Against it Chillingworth will plan to "meet" him again so that, as a result, he is able to "control" him. He probably also wants to confuse his "enemy" so that his memory is not able to think well and he does what Chillingworth wants him to do. I think Chillingworth tries everything to avoid to be in contact with Hester; maybe he wants Hester to be defenceless so she depends on him.
CHAPTER 11
What is Hawthorne trying to show with the speech and the happening?
In this chapter Hawthorne describes the two characters, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, more clearly: The author focuses on showing Dimmesdale's painful agony. He is not strong anymore and feels still guilty; in the end weak Dimmesdale confesses that he is Hester's lover and Pearl's father and punishes himself with a bloody whip. Chillingworth sees that his plan on wreaking vengeance on Dimmesdale is successful and he has no longer doubts about his guilt. Chillingworth is personified as a (human) evil; "Chillingworth is a poor, forlorn creature (...) more wretched than his victim." The author also uses irony in this chapter: Dimmesdale's suffering has given him sympathies that cause him to understand the sins of others, which results in eloquent and moving sermons.
CHAPTER 12
In class we watched another part of the movie and we also talked about the things that it illustrates. One of these aspects was the Anti-Transcendentalism. Hawthorne was one of the authors who dealed with Anti-Transcendentalism that rebelled against the philosophy that man is basically good. Transcendentalism focused on the fact that individual conscience better is than logical reason.
Romantic incorporates love, personification of nature, as well as maintaining the focus on the individual. The author uses Pearl to represent nature; she is wild and has an untamed spirit.
Puritanism plays a big role in the story - it is written in this time period. For example, when Pearl and Hester go to town, the children stopped playing and surrounded Pearl. The Puritans do not think that Hester deserves such a beautiful child. Additionally the inhabitants think that Pearl is automatically evil because she is the product of adultery. When they see the Scarlet Letter, the A, they want to replace it with an A made out of rheumatic cloth.
CHAPTERS 16, 17, 18
In this chapter Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest and finally convinces him that he has to leave Boston behind and change his name and that they will start a new life in Europe together with Pearl. In my opinion usually it is good to leave the past behind and to focus on the future but in this case I think it is not a good decision. It won't be easy to get away and to live with a new identification. Especially Dimmesdale, as a pastor, will be easily recognized. On the other hand he is Pearl's father, and a child needs him. I also think they will always remember the scarlet letter and what happened in the past.
CHAPTER 18
Hester threw her "A" from off her breast and let her hair out of her cap. At this moment she seems content and we can see her beauty. Pearl has an "A" on her breast made of grass. When Pearl came back to her mother and to Dimmesdale, Pearl is scared and unable to recognize her mother. The "A" was something that her mother always had and since she is so you, she cannot fully grasp adultery or shame, and so she just wonders why her mother unpinned the scarlet letter. She also may read her mother's abandonment of the letter as an omen of her own abandonment.
SYMBOLS
Transcendentalism: Hester Prynne represents Transcendentalism. It is shown through her rebellious nature and skeptical attitude towards authority. In the forest she feels free and enjoys it and nobody could bother her.
Romanticism: Pearl Prynne represents Romanticism. She is describe as beautiful and wild and seems free. She is also connected to the nature, you can recognize that especially in chapter 17 and 18, where she plays in the forest.
Enlightenment: Roger Chillingworth represents the Enlightenment. As a physician, once he offers Dimmesdale "medicine"/a drug, with what he wanted to kill him. Chillingworth was very knowledgeable about medicinal roots.
Puritanism: Arthur Dimmesdale represents Puritanism. He believes he is a sinner for committing adultery and kept it as a secret, because of that he often wondered, why the people trusted and respected him.
CHAPTER 20
In chapter 20 we learn that Dimmesdale decides to go back to town and leaves Hester in the forest. Writing a sermon for the Election sermon, which is an important event for a clergyman's career, shows that he concentrates on starting a new life.
The headline of this chapter is called "The Minister in a Maze". The maze represents the confusion and distress Dimmsdale faces in his life and in the past. Hester admits to the minister that Chillingworth is her husband. Hester wanted to leave the settlement together with Dimmesdale to start a new life in Europe; but Dimmesdale went to town. At the moment he is still confused and sometimes upset. His life is a like a maze where you cannot find an exit and are looking for the right way.
How did Hester change?
Hester changed in the last pages: She became more self confident concerning her scarlet letter. When she goes to town to listen to Dimmesdale's sermon, she tries to seem confident. In her final hours wearing the scarlet letter, she had begun anticipate her imminent freedom from shame, although the crowd, that surrounds her, still reminds her that the "A" has not yet lost its "power".
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