Uncle Tom's Cabin 1-6

I think that in Uncle Toms Cabin the way that the Shelby's have established their life, somehow in the culture, but also seperate through the way that they treat their slaves and the unity among the slaves and the family is specail. The contrast between Goerge's life as a slave in another place is built by the author to contrast the life of the slaves within the Shelby's household.  Eliza seems to live a fairly happy life, she is educated and cared for, but her comfort becomes compromised when she hears talk about her master trading her son. That unity is put in jeopardy by the possibility of the masters decision.
Contrary to this we see the unity strongly between the Shelby's son, George, with Tom the slave who the Mr. Shelby is selling.  It is evident the break that will occur within that peace.  Although the Shelby's seem to be "good" people who treat their slaves fairly they are still slaces and Mr. Shelby selling Tom, even though he felt bad about it, showed an aspect of even the way that he thought.  To sell someone is showing the concept the dehumanization that runs so deep within that culture. 

Obviously he felt bad about selling Tom, but still property over a person. Today that choice wouldn't be seem to be that much of an actual moral question difficult.  The way it was seen then was one piece of property over another.  Mr. Shelby asks why he should be bothered about selling Harry and Tom when everyone else does it and I think the answer to that question solely resides in the fact that it seems to go against his and his wfes morals.  They truly know the wrongness of slavery, but I think Tom was just finding someway to validate his actions with the qoute "well everyones doing it scape goat."  I think Mrs. Shelby really makes a point to her husband when she speaks of what she has taught the slaves as if they were members of their own family.

It is when Mrs. Shelby truly acknowledges her feelings of the wrongness of slavery and the pain that it can cause for so many even when bringing maybe something "good."  That I think she accepts how hard it is to keep the evil of the world and turn it into something that is good.  It is a question that many Christian even today struggle with navigating.  How am I supposed to be" in the world but not of the world."  I think that she is making a point that we truely have to sometimes be those extremists or those abolitionists.

Tom's loyalty to the people there I find it truly amazing how deeply rooted he is in his faith and love of other people that he would sacrifice himself to a truly unknown life.  I think I have decided that I don't really like Mr. Shelby much especially when he talks about his honor.  I think pride is probably one of the least endearing qaulities of the human race. I hate how we often times can't help but be afraid to hurt our pride by revealing something about ourselves.  Even though the thought that he would be considered a someone who had connived with the man and even though he hadn't expected it. The thing he is worried about is his honor.  Really?

Scarlet Letter 13-18

I really find these chapters to be interesting.  The truth finally comes closer to realization and at the same time Hester seems to be healing to a certain extent from her social stigma.  Pearl who is as perceptive as ever really notices the way that the minister holds his hand over his hear and the connection with what Hester told her about the Scarlet Letter.  Hester realizes that she has this obedience to God and his commands, but she has just been a slave in her marriage to Chillingworth, which is something that is significant to do because it is straying away from a puritan belief.  Hester and Dimsdale decide to move away and start off with sort of a clean slate. Hester and Dimsdale both find a lot out about themselves and love.  I am sure that at that point in time they still would have liked to change some aspects of their situation, but it would probably end the same way with those three being together.

Scarlet Letter on Chapters 7 and 8

It is apparent that Hester really does care about Pearl even though Pearl is acting in sometimes disturbing manners with her imagination and the way that she strokes the Scarlet Letter.   The town kind of takes things to this greater extreme to which an offense is just continually punished.  They think that if Peal is this demon then they need to take her away but also that if she isn't they should take Pearl away because of Hester being a bad influence on her.  I think that maybe the A stands for attachment to things that we don't always understand.  Pearl has this attachment to that Scarlet Letter that has caused so much grief for Hester.  At her age  I don't think that she truely understands the significance of that A, but she is attached to this appealing accessory that the town really seems to emphasize and that she grew up knowing.  Then if we think about people and the way that they cling to things that are appealing to them that tend to hurt others.  This could be anywhere from a simple judgemnent of someone to an addiction to something. Not to say that I think Hester is attached to adultery but that the people in the town are attached to identifying her as the scape goat.  Then I think that it is ridiculous for them to sit there and taunt Pearl while judging whether or not she stays with Hester.  That really made me mad.

The Scarlet Letter Chapters 1-6

I find it very interesting how they go about punishing Hester.  The punishment given to her is far beyond one simple day.  Its hard to imagine thinking that you knew these people and maybe some of them like you maybe some of them don't but going out into the square and being ridiculed by them is a much bigger punishment.  Granted she messedu up but where is forgiveness, especially for the child's sake?   I really wasn't expecting it to be Hester's husband who was the stranger in the crowd, but wow. Then when we really meet Chillingsworth and Hester is forced to hide even his identity.  To a certain extent I could see how Hester's sin would hurt his pride but I just don't think that her avoiding the fact that he is her husband is a very pro-active way to deal with the solution. She is very bold especially with the way that she protects her secret.  When I read Hester and her needle and about this talent that God had given her, and the way that it was used in spite of the shame she carried it gives me a larger perspective of people.  Just because we are disabled or sinful in one area really doesn't mean that we should be ostrasized because we still have things to offer.  Hester is a very good example of that and I think that althought that thought seems to be one that should be or at least seems like common sense I think that we can forget that especially when we see someone as seperate because of something they have done or even just who they are.
The next chapter I found very interesting just because it really shows the consequence of the Scarlet Letter not only for Hester but also for Pearl.  Because of this letter, Pearl has also been set apart in from the other children.  Pearl seems to be very inquisitive and already has this amazing ability to sense the problems that surround her, but because she is able to do that, I think that is where her behavior issues lie.  She already has this stigma of an outcast placed on her for something that truely isn't her fault.

The Custom House

Nathaniel Hawthornes writings of the Custom House really made me wonder why he would  write such a thing to introduce the Scarlet Letter.  He identifies that there is some sort of a purpose to why the narrator is telling us this information becuase he rambles a little bit about why he isn't the type of person to write such autobiographical works, but he chose to anyway.  I find the narrators interest with his families past and his ties to Salem really fascinating.  He doesn't talk about Salem in a fond manner, but at the same time of all places he could have chosen to go and work there he was at the Custom House.  He explains his distaste for the dullness of the life at the Custom House and even his lack of respect for his co-workers.  He points out how dirty and run-down it is there, but he sees them really just sitting around chatting or sleeping. Then I realy do think that he becomes to a certain fondness of aspects of their different personalities.  He notices his interests in the things they speak about.  He says that they have this ability to stay in the mundane present talking about dinner or politics.  It is really clear that he uses politics to tintroduce this run-down town of Salem that has clearly seen better days and he kind of reflects upon that and the peoples loyalty to a country that maybe is supposed to protect them from that. Then the narrator stumbles upon this letter in the attic of a custom house of all places.  Then he creates this story off of writings by Jonathon Pue. I think there is significance in the fact that the narrartor did not pull the story out of thin air but looked at the story or manuscript and was able to visualize this fictional account of Hester Prynne.

Ralph Waldo Emmerson (The Scholar)

In the scholar I think that the way that he introduces the idea of a scholar is refreshing because he seems to be looking at it from the bigger perspective.  Most of the time when I think scholar the image that comes into my head isn't the everyday person who is out working in the feilds or even in an office building.  In my perspective or the cliche that remains in my head is that of someone who is secluded, but he presents the scholar to be the opposite.  He presents the scholar as someone who is interactive with the world and the unity of things.  I find it interesting that he says, "The act of thought is transferred through the record."  When he talks about the past I suppose his point is that thought that is valuable is one that knows the thought of the past or else it would end to be a repetitiuve thought.  At least that is how I comprehended his writings on that subject.  In the end I guess it is true though because if we were simply to only think about what we now based on the present without any acknowledgement of the past then we would be stuck in some weird cycle.  Although I think that it would be difficult to be in that cycle when we are raised on the occurances of the past.  For example our parents who lived before us don't simply forget what happened in their lifetimes so in a way it is almost impossible for that big of a gap of unoriginal ideas to occur. Then he continues to talk about the role of books to say that they are to inspire new things.  I find that what he says there is true also because ideas generally are based (or inspired by) some previous knowledge in which different people draw new connections from. He also says that there is supposed to be a balance between a scholars inspiration from books and inspiration from their own experiences.  Then he continues to talk about how a true scholar goes and observes and from that observation they gain wisdom, but true wisdome is gained from the experience of things in nature.