Kristin Moseley Professor Hooks English 101 20 July 2009 The Scarlet Letter: Literary Criticism Published in 1850‚ The Scarlet Letter is considered Nathaniel Hawthorne ’s most famous work‚ and the first quintessentially American novel in style‚ theme‚ and language. Set in seventeenth-century Puritan Massachusetts‚ the novel centers around the travails of Hester Prynne‚ who gives birth to daughter Pearl after an adulterous affair. Hawthorne ’s novel concerns the consequences of the affair
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God was strictly obeyed by the Puritans. Those found guilty of breaking this law‚ and any other of the Ten‚ were severely punished to a degree determined by the leader of the church. Hester Prynne‚ the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter‚ is exposed as an adulteress-which creates the main conflict in the novel. Hester willingly sins against the laws of the church‚ thus causing the tragedy. Puritanism started in the sixteenth century as a movement to reform the Church of England
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Huckleberry Finn should be banned from schools. There are several issues in the novel that schools should not permit their students to learn about and study. These issues are extreme racism‚ Huck questioning the rules of society‚ and teaching bad morals. Huckleberry Finn contains several racist comments. In today’s society‚ there are people who will take these comments very offensively Huck says‚ “according to the old saying‚ ‘Give a nigger an inch and he’ll take an ell.’” Huck is stating that
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Huckleberry Finn is not and never was a racist novel nor is it unfit for public schools. Huckleberry Finn is a novel of great depth that can be viewed in many lights by different readers. Hence‚ subjectivity had caused significant conflicts among readers. However‚ it is sure that the underlying intent is not to put black people down or represent them in a negative light. Huck Finn is not a book about race but a book about society. Twain’s satirical style was “a theater of dancing contraries
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Dimmesdale’s Arguments: 1. In chapter 8‚ Dimmesdale‚ Mr. Wilson‚ and Governor Bellingham are visited by Hester and Pearl at the Governor’s mansion. When pearl is asked “who made thee?”‚ she responds that she was not made‚ but rather "plucked . . . off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison door.". This causes the governor and Mr. Wilson to immediately become horrified and ready to take Pearl from Hester’s custody. As Pearl protests her God given right for Pearls custody‚ she pleads that
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“Not all who wander are lost” (J. R. R. Tolkien).This quote by J. R. R. Tolkien claims that those who “wander‚” choose to live a life of wholeness and in dependability. This concept is clearly displayed In Mark Twain’s novel‚ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn‚ where Huck Finn proves he is a transcendentalist through refusing to conform to society’s expectations‚ exhibiting self reliance‚ and showing a deep appreciation for nature. Henry David Thoreau‚ a father of transcendentalism‚ once decided
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Plot of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” (Twain 0) This is a notice found at the beginning of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain. It sounds as though the author wanted to be free to write as he pleased without being judged. His need for freedom is characterized through the two
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Fathers are an important aspect of every person’s life and have a great influence their children. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn‚ a novel by Mark Twain‚ Huck in a way has two fathers. While Pap Finn is Huck’s real father‚ Jim also becomes a father figure to Huck because Jim is Pap’s foil. He becomes what Pap is unable to be by protecting him and teaching him right from wrong. While Pap Finn and Jim both become fathers to Huck‚ they influence Huck in many different ways. Pap lets Huck get away
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directly connects the scarlet letter on her mother’s bosom and the sun’s failure to shine on her to the absence of sunlight in her life‚ through her sin of adultery. Though Pearl’s symbolic nature allows her to identify these truths‚ her position as just a child prevents her from understanding the intricacy that these truths hold. Pearl sees her mother as an example of what every adult is characteristic of. In this sense‚ Pearly believes that all grown women wear this scarlet letter of an equivalent
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Sadly all good things must come to an end‚ and that is the case in the final chapters of Huckleberry Finn. After returning the gold to the dead man’s daughter and escaping the two thieves‚ Huck stole the money from the King and hid it in the dead man’s coffin. Huck and Mary Jane developed a plan to tell the townspeople everything‚ but that took a sudden change when they all of a sudden exhumed the body to truly identify the man and in turn‚ exposing the money. As the townspeople tried to figure out
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