The Scarlet Letter

Well, what a sad situation we have here. Hawthorne seems to point to the very personal consequences of sin as the most extreme suffering. Indeed, for all involved it was excruciating pain they endured. Notice how cleverly the author names the characters.

The way each of the three involved handled their pain and hurt seemed so unnecessary. Hester bore her shame openly, yet penitently. The way she held on to her sin and lived for it daily was a way for her to justify herself and enjoy her misery. But to her credit she handled her social circumstances with strength and honor. Her obsession with her sin had an effect on her relationship with Pearl which was a repercussion of her choice to cling to her past. Chillingsworth killed his spirit with revenge. Dimmsdale had the greatest consequence in my opinion. He allowed himself to become slightly insane. I can think of no greater torment than that created by ones own psyche where the adversary was allowed to gain possession of the mind and heart. It may be a type of pain those assigned to anything other than the Celestial Kingdom at the final judgement may experience in varying degrees. The guilt that will not be relieved. It is all by choice. God is waiting to forgive.

There are many other angles to examine in this novel which is probably one of the reasons it has withstood the test of time and remains as a classic. For example; there is far more to discuss on the choices the three made, sin's repercussions on the innocent, the social response to sin, deathbed repentance, revenge, forgiveness, the difference between facilitating God's laws and man's laws, and the religious beliefs of the period verses superstitions, or were they combined?

This is a great book for discussion.

On Pride and Prejudice

I read Pride and Prejudice last week and I really enjoyed it. I loved the vocabulary and the way the characters spoke and thought about things.

When I first started reading this quite a while ago, I couldn't understand what they were saying. The sentances were so long that by the time I finished a sentance, I couldn't remember what the beginning of the sentance was about. But I think the reason I enjoyed it so much this time is that I had practiced reading other books and I was now able to understand a bit more than I had before. Maybe watching the movie helped too.

Don't we all have a bit of Lizzy's prejudice and Mr. Darcy's pride when we first encounter new situations or new people? Concerning Lizzy's prejudice: It isn't until we have all the facts that we can make a true judgment of a circumstance or a person's character. If we try to judge before we have all the facts we will hopefully change our opinions to match up with what is true just as she did. Our perceptions become united with the true reality and our attitudes and beliefs transform. Even though like Lizzy, it may be embarassing or difficult to accept, I believe it is usually a very positive experience if one is open to it. It goes the same for Mr. Darcy: Because he was teachable enough to make the truth of his actions known and then correct them under torture of injured pride, he experienced a very positive outcome.

It is truly amazing how impactful to change feelings and words associated with those feelings are. She was instrumental in changing Mr. Darcy's damaging pride to a sensible humility. He was a character that was willing even in injury to his pride to consider his mistakes and try to make them right. We find that he was a good man all along and just completely misunderstood by those who did not truly know him. I think it was his pride that kept him from allowing himself to be really known by others who he mistakenly thought were beneath him. I am sure there are all types of pride that creep into the mind and then the heart of the unaware christian. (Consider Mr. Collins reaction to Mr. Bennet at the elopement of Lydia.) It's nice when we are blessed enough to be corrected before we seal our fate too terribly in the wrong direction.

It is interesting to note that if Lizzy had not had some prejudice against Mr. Darcy's pride she would have never known of his goodness because she would not have spoken so strongly to him at his request for engagement and he would not have checked his behavior to show her his goodness. Lizzy's prejudice and Mr. Darcy's pride actually worked together for their good as it was resolved in the end. If you think that without Lizzy's negative opinions of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Darcy's snobbish demeanor, they never would have come together in the way they did, and we would not have such a wonderful story to learn from. Thank goodness we do! What a delight!