Though I haven't finished Scar Tissue yet I decided to pick up The Scarlet Letter over the weekend. It was a book that I had long dreaded reading, but knew someday it was one I must overcome. It had never been assigned to me in high school and listening to my peer’s say how everyone has obviously read it before made me feel like I was missing out on something, even though it was a something most people groaned about.
After reading it I, unlike most people, actually enjoyed it! I got right into the story and felt as if I could sympathize with Hester's alienation at some points. Although she had sinned and was forced to wear the scarlet letter on her chest, she held strong and taught her daughter from her mistakes. I also loved that one of the main themes dealt with identity. By accepting her sins, Hester then could do some soul searching to find her true self. Though this seems like an outdated text it can really help to provide students that the feeling of insecurity of not knowing who you are is okay at times and eventually you will find yourself. When they find who they truly are, it might not come with the sublimity of sunlight and the profound expression of ripping the scarlet A off of their chest, but it helps to work towards that goal.
It also helps to show how you can change the way others look at you to show them who you really are. Hester's society had characterized her as a woman who had committed adultery and that’s about it. Though she was forced to wear the letter, she had complete control over how people viewed her wearing it. She seemed to wear it loud and proud, not of the sins she committed but of how she was turning herself around to teach her daughter to do the same. Even when she was allowed to take the letter off, she refused because that would mean she accepted it as a symbol of shame and sin rather than forgiving herself and allowing this piece of fabric to become part of who she is.
Over all I actually loved this piece of work. Although my students may hate me in the future for assigning it, I think I will anyway. I am somewhat grateful that my teachers in high school never assigned it to me because I wouldn't have read it in the same lens as I did now. I wouldn't comprehend it completely and just throw this valuable piece of literature far from memory. I can't wait to read it again in a couple of years in order to see what else I can learn from it!
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteWhat a positive approach you took to the book, and I'm pretty sure that at least some of it is because you read the book on your own terms. Because of that, I really hope you reconsider assigning it! That is, it's an awesome book by one of the masters of American literature, but most people are asked to read it long before they are ready. You were able to see the identity issues and make them your own. Could everyone? I also hope you do read it again when you're older and see what life lessons it has to offer. Let me ask in terms of Hawthorne's style and structure of the text, what things struck you as particularly effective in terms of craft?
It seems to me that the fact I could read this on my own terms was what helped me to love and understand this book. If it were assigned to me and I had a deadline to follow I'd read through it too quickly and probably not understand the role of identity in the book like I did. I know to me the problems dealing with identity were pretty prevalent but I'm not sure that everyone could pick up on this as easily as I did. I just happened to have the theme of identity in mind while reading it because I had written an essay about another book dealing with identity almost right before picking up the novel. What really got me into the book was the introduction "The Custom House." It helped me to understand that this was a work that was retold by someone who happened to stumble upon history and fall in love with the story behind this woman. I also liked how we find out in the very few first paragraphs what had happened to Hester and that she has been going through the ridicule of the social society in which she lived for some time now. I feel like if Hawthorne went through the motions of telling the reader exactly what happened between Hester and Arthur Dimmsdale it would bore the reader, rather than allowing them to let the story of this sin committed between Hester and Arthur become their own. He allows the story to flow within the readers mind with enough detail to keep the story moving but keeps the detail in check enough to let the reader visualize scenes on their own.
ReplyDeleteoh man.
ReplyDeleteprops on picking it up and loving it.
i read it in high school (against my will) and had trouble following the story because of the long complex descriptions hawthorne uses. if i were to pick up the novel now, though, i know i would love and salivate over his poetic language!
how odd is it that age can cause one to either love or hate a piece of art. art is fickle, like human nature.
one of my favorite passages from the novel was when pearl asked hester if hester signed the 'Black Man's Book'
"Oh, a story about the Black Man," answered Pearl, taking hold of her mother's gown, and looking up, half earnestly, half mischievously, into her face.
"How he haunts this forest, and carries a book with him a big, heavy book, with iron clasps; and how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everybody that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood; and then he sets his mark on their bosoms. Didst thou ever meet the Black Man, mother?"
I find it funny how humans, since as far back as we could remember, have blamed wrong doings on other beings. it is as if we cannot accept that humans are capable of choosing their own destiny and must create an excuse for everything done that is against societal norms, in this case, the Black Man.
I was terrified to pick it up at first to be honest! I've only heard about how people absolutely hate it and its so boring. I finally decided it was time to read it when I went back to my high school to talk to my favorite English teacher and she said she absolutely loved it. His poetic language is definitely something that made me love the book even more.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed how the Black Man had the blame put on him before you said something and now that I think back on it I totally see what you mean! Humans can never take blame for anything they have done wrong and in this book the blame is shifted off and placed on the Black Man.