The ScArlet Letter AnAlysis Questions

1. A character demonstrates heroic qualities by proving they are strong either mentally or physically. Heroes have to make important decisions, put others before themselves, understand good from evil, care for the welfare of others and be courageous. Hester shows heroic qualities when she chooses to keep the identity of the man she had an affair with. By doing this, Dimmesdale, is kept away from harm, that the society would bring upon him, due to the crime he committed.

2.Roger Chillingworth is the novel's antagonist. He chooses vengeance and spite toward Hester and Dimmesdale. He hopes to ruin the man who had the affair with his wife. His vengeance makes him find Dimmesdale, and pretends to be a doctor that can cure Dimmesdale's bad health. However, Chillingworth makes up medicine and is a fake. He soon is demeaned as being the Devil and using black magic.

3.There should be laws about reckless behavior that can hurt other people around you. Laws that prohibit fast driving, texting and driving, drinking and driving, can help save others and yourself. Politically, the government has made laws that protect the well being of other citizens. With these laws, if anyone breaks them, they will be punished through fines and imprisonment.However, when it comes to what someone wants to do to themselves, the government and society should not have a say, unless someone except that person is being harmed. 

4.Puritan New Englanders would consider anything that seemed odd to be the work of the devil and witchcraft. Today, if a person has an problem, most of the time, doctors are able to find what is wrong with them. We now, have an understanding that people sometimes do worship the devil and practice voodoo. That is legally okay to do, and does not have any restrictions. Current movies like the Harry Potter Series,  Wizards of Waverly Place, Hocus Pocus,  and the Wizard of Oz are popular, the idea no longer scares us when it is fictional. The idea of witchcraft has been viewed by people and does not bring a reaction that the causes violence. 

5. Today and many hundreds of years ago, in the Islamic religion, some women chose to wear a scarf around their head, known as the hijab. This shows self-preservation and internal pride, however, current day issues about the religion, have made many people look badly toward a person that wears hijab. Most of time, people signify the hijab as being a radical Muslim and bring to the conclusion that, that person wearing a hijab is associated with terrorist. Women who chose to wear a scarf want to send out a message that they do not care of what others think and wear it purely to follow their religion.

6.Pearl's character seems to unrealistic to be a young little girl. The way she speaks and thinks is to high for a young child to think. Pearl is most definitely not like the other girls in her society, this is due to the fact that she was never allowed to play with other children. Other parents in the society, that Pearl was a Demon child, and did not want their kids near her. In 2012, children today are highly immature, parents do not put any responsibility towards them. However, ten years ago, childrens' maturity rate was high. Personally, my older sister at the age of nine, was responsible in taking two younger siblings from school to home, and watching, cleaning and making food for them at home while our parents worked. Some children still do that, but it is truly different now, with young children getting cell phones and other gadgets. Pearl is an angry towards her mother, however, she has no reason to be. She does not know why the kids won't play with her, she does not know what her mother did. Hester provided love toward Pearl, and Pearl has hatred to her mother? This trait in a little girl seems unrealistic. A daughter at the age of three cannot be angry toward a mother who did absolutely nothing to harm her.

Punishment for Adultery?

   

        The novel centers around the crime of adultery. Due to the fact that the accused was a woman, Hester Prynne, the punishment was harsher on her and she was looked down upon. Hester's punishment was to be sentenced to life in prison and public humiliation. However, this was a light punishment compared to the death sentence she would have had, if she had not had a baby. Adultery should not be a crime to be jailed for. It is a private issue between man and wife, and if that does occur in a marriage then the issue should be taken care of it privately. Everyone, has their own private matters within their family and should be kept a secret. If this occurred in todays time, cheating on a spouse would be fixed by filling for a divorce or going to a marriage councilor. Adultery would not be a harsh punishment at all, but like always, it will be extremely looked down upon. 

Her body lies in Room 317

look, if you dare......

There once was a man named Duke Rington, he went on a business trip to Oregon. During his stay there, he checked himself into the Shea Hotel, at the time the hotel was very booked. While he was getting his room card, the receptionist called over her manager to talk to the client. Duke was taken aside by the manager and told that his room had a tiny hole in the wall and not to look through a tiny peep hole that had been accidentally been marked in the wall. It was the only room available so, Duke agreed, he did not an issue with the hole, until night came.

  Duke spent his night alone, and after watching many hours of t.v, he got extremely bored, which led to his curiosity lurking about. He began thinking of why the manager did not want him looking through the whole, no other guest was next door, so he would not be peaking through other people’s business. That night, he peeped through the hole and saw a beautiful young girl sitting on a rocking chair, she was wearing a wedding gown. The girl just sat there looking the other way, before she could turn her head toward the hole, Duke quickly moved away from the hole.

The next night, Duke again got curious to see the beautiful girl and once more put his eye to the hole. However, this time he saw no room, no girl, no rocking chair, only red. That following morning Duke went to see the manager and asked him about what he witnessed. The manager franticly explained how there had been a couple at the hotel that had planned their wedding in the banquet hall. The night before their reception, the bride mysteriously died. The bride, which is the young girl, sits and stares at the empty wall. She only stares and wears her white gown, only her eyes are red. 

(If you don’t understand it, the young girl was peeping in the hole at the same time Duke was, that is why he only saw red. red=her eye)

Listen up, Abigail!

Abigail Williams, is the orphaned niece of Reverend Parris. She was taken into his care after her parents had died from an attack from local Native Americans. Although, she had been kindly accepted with open arms, she grew to be cunning and clever. The character of Abigail is very scandalous and alluring, which brings readers to learn more about her. She is very disliked by readers due to her evil personality, manipulated mind, and egotistical self. On a certain level, I obtain similar traits as Abigail Williams, both of us are stubborn, can get extremely furious and be filled with animosity. However, I do not have all the same personalities that Abigail has, a very renown criminal does, Casey Anthony. Anthony was convicted of killing her young daughter. Both Anthony and Abigail, have been in court for a crime, they both made up stories to make judges believe they were innocent, and the extremely upsetting and unjust similarity they have, is the fact that both of them got away with the crime. 

Readers can tell at the beginning of the novel that Abigail is sneaky and does mischievous things. To begin with, Abigail had an affair with John Proctor, a married man who does not fit in with the rest of Salem’s society. She knows right from wrong, and she chooses to continue persuade John to leave his wife because she is in love with him, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart!...and now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me” (The Crucible). This shows that she is openly willing to tear a family apart just because of selfishness. Another example of her coldness towards others is how she threatens the girls if they gave up their act of being possessed by the demon that she will:

“I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!”(The Crucible).

Her character initially comes off to be evil hearted and there is no good that can come from her. 

By the course of the novel, her lies keeping going and nothing of a change of heart occurs from her. Her stories only become more crazy and unthinkable. Her change of story telling only got worse for the people she blames. She accused her slave, Tituba, of conjuring up spirits, “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!”(The Crucible). The alterations in her story, predict that she is afraid that her phony tales of witchery will soon be discovered as false pretenses. Also, she becomes more religious as the plot moves on. Abigail believes that if she is more devoted into God “saving her soul”, than the church members and judges will put pity on her and be convinced of her story. 

By the end of the novel, Abigail realizes that she has put the man she loves in jail and will be put to death. Due to her guilt she leaves Salem, without word, the next morning Reverend Parris, dashes into the court rooms shouting “My niece… I believe she has vanished” (The Crucible). Her leave is a sign to show her falseness. Abigail never changed herself, but only grew eviler. Not only did guilt build in her, but she realized that she was not loved by anyone. Abigail deserves not to be loved, she the primary reason of the hanging of many. 

In the future, Abigail should move to a far place south of Salem, so that no one will ever find her. She should change her name, and her family story. Her leaving Salem, was because there was nothing there for her. She will lie about her new life to build relations with others. Her days of perjury are over with because she has clearly learned what one story can do to people. 

*****The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Glad You Came!

GLAD YOU CAME STORY

When the sun goes down, and the stars come out, is usually when decisions are made without me being present. Last weekend, I was presented with the same dilemma of having to go to Toronto. A family friend was getting married! My dad had changed his mind for the tenth time on Friday night and decided that we would be attending the wedding on that Sunday. 

Of course, being the person that I am, I hesitated. I couldn’t miss school?! I had a  group psychology project to work on! My sister reminded me that I’d only be going to Toronto for one night and that I didn’t have school on Monday. I still wouldn’t change my mind. Finally when I couldn’t argue anymore, my mom said, “TURN THE LIGHTS OUT NOW, and go to sleep”. 

Saturday morning I had to help everyone pack. We were only going for one night, but it felt like we were packing for a whole month. I didn’t feel like packing, so I just started watching Friends. My sister walked by and noticed that my “break” from packing was a bit extended, “Can you spend a little time packing please?”, she asked. That’s all I did that dreadful Saturday...pack. 

Finally, it was time for our flight Sunday morning. “TIME IS SLIPPING AWAY, we will be late for our flight!”, my mom panicked.  I really wasn’t looking forward to this trip. To make matters worse, when we were boarding the plane my dad noticed something on my ticket and felt the need to loudly remind me, “Your seat is away from us so stay where you are so we can check up on you every few minutes!”. I told my dad, “You hit me like the sky fell on me.” I was super embarrassed. 

Anyway, the wedding went through fine, and was kind of fun, actually. My sister and I got to walk the bride out to the main hall, which was super special. It really wasn’t until going to the airport the next day to come back home when I realized, this was not so bad of a trip. Right when I noticed that I had a great time in Toronto and didn’t want to come home, my friend, who is the sister of the groom, said, “Hey, Aeliya! I’m glad you came.”. That’s when it was official, I really was glad that I came. 

*BASED ON A TRUE STORY* 

Can movies, music and plays change you?

     

    The modern day world has been changing throughout time by the influences of different types of literature works. As time progresses our society also alters, these changes occur because of what others around us do or say.  People read, see or hear the views of other authors or writers and they too are motivated to do differently in their life. Books, plays, films and music are a primary reason of how a cause can affect many people and change their ideas and opinions.

In The Crucible, the play, portrays a very religiously strict society. This in North America, is no longer an issue. A strict town based on religion is not in place in America, there are no cities in this country that are strictly for a certain religion. The Crucible demonstrated how having a strict society made the town prejudice and full of superstitions. This has made our own society change and more calm on situations that are unknown to us. Also, The Crucible, showed adultery as a terrible thing to do, which it is, however back then women would be whipped and shunned from the society. Now, a simple divorce is filed as appose to brutality. 

Not only do plays change our reaction to episodes in life but recently, movies have too. The growth of the movie industry has increased because so many people are interested in watching entertainment. Film director and actor James Cameron, filmed a very controversial movie, Avatar. Avatar showed the destruction of societies and nature. The film changed the way people viewed on others, just because someone is different than you does not given anyone the right to treat them with injustice. This movie, also caused awareness to the ruination of nature. Avatar, made people stop and think if there was more to life than just us humans.

In the music industry, an increase of rap music has emerged and has become very popular, especially with teenagers. Most rap songs talk about weapons, violence, and degrade women. This type of music gives people of all ages a bad message, usually. Children who listen to this type of music hear these messages the song sends, and act the way they think is “cool”. Mostly boys, follow the style, attitude and behaviors of the their icon rapper. The style of baggy pants, is a good example of how rappers have influenced boys, you can easily walk around town and see this “style”. 

Fear

Serial killing have been occurring for thousands and thousands of years. A serial killer is defined as a person, can be either male or female, that has committed the crime of killing more than one person. These victims usually have things in common with other victims. They can share the same hair color, other appearances, ethnicity, or gender, these traits that they fixate on their victims, is because of something or someone that has influenced them in a good or bad way.    Due to news and entertainment, serial killers have been brought to great awareness to people. People are feared when it comes to killers, because the fact is, that serial killers do exist. There have been many examples of them in everyones lifetime. In the late 1970s, a man named Richard Chase killed six people. He not only killed them but drank their blood and was a cannibalist. Even before this, during the 1800s,  a cruel old man Albert Fish molested hundreds of children and killed most of them. He tortured them before killing them and then he too ate them. One serious case that effects all of us, is the notorious serial killer of Florida, David Gore. He killed six women, even though he was convicted and he is still waiting on death row, for the last thirty years, he has been lingering in jail. Our society is well aware of serial killers, and that is why they are greatly feared.               Society is traumatized by the fact of serial killings, if someone proved evidence of their being a serial killer everyone would be scared of the thought. During the witch trials, the fact that someone confessed to saying that they had done witchcraft because the devil told them to, is the same as confessing you committed murders because the devil told you to. The reaction of people from the thought of witchcraft is exactly what it should be. Fear, makes people act in different ways, it makes them vulnerable to do anything to get rid of it. The people of Salem hung people convicted of witchcraft to get them removed from society. The government puts serial killers to death row, to instill relief in the society that at least one serial killer is off the streets.  Criminals are usually first looked when a murder occurs. They usually are the ones that have trouble with authority and have a thrill on risks. Persecuting criminals that have been already reported is a first initial reaction. However, just because serial killings have happened and are still happening does not mean that everyone on a daily bases are being persecuted for serial killings. Serial killers generally have psychopathic tendencies and often are very isolated from others so they do not attract attention, those are the people the be cautious of. 

Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better?

In the world we live in today there are many changes that are occurring. Changes that have made our life somewhat easier. The question arises in debates, whether or not that the easier way of doing things is essentially the better way. Within this century, technology use has increased, not because of more people but because of its fast and responsive outcomes. Not only has technology changed, but what is produced from it. Technology makes things convenient and helps communicate much faster. 

The changes that technology brings makes information produced at a much faster time.The medical changes that have happened in recent years is amazing.The medical equipment invented have helped process and analyze tests for blood, diseases and other illnesses. Without the use of medical equipment, doctors would have an extremely hard examining test results. The new equipment in doctor’s offices give us results right away, instead of waiting for a long period of time for them. Also paying with credit and debit cards instead of using paper money is much faster. With use of cards, money is removed automatically out of your bank, so you no longer have to stand in line and find cash. However, if you do need cash, there is ATM machines that automatically provides cash for you. 

Communication is simple, emails, texts, news, television and online publications have made spreading information effortless. In the past, letters had to be mailed to people and that itself would take a few days. Now, emails take few minutes to send to another person. Also, the television has made news reach every home, television provides entertainment and knowledge. The world around us is growing, and communicating is a viral trend for people, websites like Facebook, Instagram, Yahoo News, a cellphone and others contribute to ease of life. 

Technology helps get information from different places and at a fast time. The new changes make our lives easier and makes them better, physically and mentally. Technology has helped make us independent, we no longer need the help of others to get information sent around. We have the ability to send anything, at any time. 

Listen up Avatar Critics...

        Director and writer, James Cameron’s 2009 Avatar, astonished the world with its story and visual graphics. Avatar made about eight hundred million dollars, and that was just domestically. The movie became a huge success, which brought many critics and reviews about it. Courtland Milloy, a man said that Avatar was directly being racist against colors. He was against the writers of the movie, because he believed that the movie did not need the movie’s protagonist Jake Sully. Milloy believed his character was just another way of heroizing white men. Milloy in his article finds similarities between the Navi tribe and other colored people in this world. However, when watching this movie there was no direct attack to another race or ethnicity. The critics are bluntly mad that the hero was yet another white person, but honestly as viewer, I could have cared less about what race the protagonist was. His character could have been Asian and I would still like the movie equally. As a colored person myself, I did not feel attack or harmed by the movie at all. The movie made allusions that were similar to Native American tribes,  for example the whole movie was basically like Pocahontas. Jake Sully is John Smith and Neytiri is Pocahontas, Neytiri teaches Jake the way of her people just like the way Pocahontas taught John Smith. If anything, critics find racism in Avatar, then they should review every movie, whether it is a Disney movie or not, every movie has a little bit of racism. Nevertheless, accusing Avatar of being an attack against races is an unfair and prejudicial statement to make. 

Adding 2 hours, Can it make a difference?

 

September 5, 2012

     There have been many debates on whether or not schools should start two hours later and end two hours later. An average high school  usually ends at 3:30pm, if they add two more hours school would end at 5:30pm, which in some places it has already turned dark outside.  This new adjustment would take a horrible toll on students and their activities to do after school and their homework. The new timings would also throw off some parents schedule with their own work. Working hours are generally beginning at 8am, if they have to drop their kids off in the morning, many issues will arise.
     Many students play sports and/or have other responsibilities to do after school before it turns dark. If the time of school needed later, players would be forced to stay till late until their practices would end. Another example is, some students do have part time jobs, and this new timing system would force them to change schedules, which they might not be able to afford to do. The additional two hours would result in students having a short amount of time to do homework, projects, and studying for exams.
    In high school, students will find that as they move on to new grades every year, their homework amount increases. If a student, has for an example a basketball practice, they would come home at 7pm minimum. This would only lead to either staying up very late at night doing homework and other work or sleeping at normal time and afford to get a bad grade in their classes. The effect of all high schoolers doing extremely bad will occur, which will bring the schools grade overall come to a decline.
     Many students complain about waking up so early in the morning, but honestly they would much prefer waking up earlier than staying in school later. This concern has been there for awhile, so a vast majority of people must see the bad effects of it. Not only will this take a toll on students but the school.  Other then sports and jobs after school, dinner, family time, sleep and more will be effected.

Relating People and Culture

The myths we are reading, have been written by people who lived long ago in native tribes. The stories they have passed down show us how their culture and beliefs were, we can see how they respected animals, had a passion for children, and were family based. Myths are and probably always will be an important thing to know. They describe how society acted and believed in. They show answers to questions about how the world was created and how it was established. Believing them or not, is  a different analysis but these stories demonstrates what Natives believed. Myths were first orally passed down, the first generation understood the culture, however now it is up to us to realize the true meaning. Myths like the Lodge Boy and Thrown-Away, show us that the tribe in this story had children that would be curious about what else lurked in their world. Many children during that times where curious too, Sedna, who married in a hurry, got married and left her father wanted to know what the outside world had in store. The culture during these times where very respectful and in their own way, conservative. Men MOST of the time had to get permission from the father and have his approval of marriage. Caught by a Hairstring, tells the tale of men having to go to a father's home to propose to his two  beautiful and shy daughters. Now a days, men and women just get hitched off without any proper proposal to the father of the house. Myths give us advise and guidance to show us what is right from wrong. 

"A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky"-Crazy Horse  
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