Sorry this is a day late, had an unexpected childcare calling last night. It was fun, but was too tired to post when I got home. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed the book and had a wonderful month. Let's jump in...
1. For first time readers, what was your overall impression of the book? Was it what you expected or different somehow? For those reading this book again, did your opinion of the book change any? Was it more enjoyable or less this go around?
2. Can you identify with Hester at all? Do you condone her choices or condemn her?
3. What is your opinion on Hester's ability to forgive herself and society's ability to forgive?
4. Would you personally have named Pearl's father? Do you admire or admonish Hester for not giving the name?
5. What are you feelings on Hester's estranged husband Roger Chillingworth? How does that opinion change from the beginning/middle/end or does it stay the same for you?
6. Any final thoughts or your own question here?
I really enjoy the complexities in this book and will post my answers around lunch when all the kids go down for their nap.
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6 comments:
1. This was my first time reading The Scarlet Letter, and I have to say that it was different than I expected. I didn't realize that it began with the aftermath - I thought the letter would be part of the climax. I also wasn't expecting so much of it to be rooted in revenge.
2. Can you identify with Hester at all? Do you condone her choices or condemn her?
Obviously I don't condone fornication, however, I do think it is crazy that no one ever seems to care that her husband had essentially abandoned her - sending her to the colonies to wait for years with no word as to if he was alive or dead. She was young, beautiful, and trapped in a situation that led her to do things that were wrong. I love how fiercely she cared for Pearl.
3. What is your opinion on Hester's ability to forgive herself and society's ability to forgive?
I am not sure that society really forgave her, but more that they forgot about it and didn't care anymore. I think it is strange that personal of a sin, was the business of the whole town - I know things were different back then, but it seemed like something that should have been worked out with the clergy and not the law involved. I guess that is Puritanism for you.
I feel that Hester felt as if she had suffered enough and had paid the praice for her actions. The letter seemed nothing compared to the constant reminder of Pearl as to what her actions had been.
4. Would you personally have named Pearl's father? Do you admire or admonish Hester for not giving the name?
I think she loved Pearl's father, and left it to him to choose, especially since the outcome in his situation would most assuredly be death, since he was a man of the clergy. I think she wished he would come forward though.
5. What are you feelings on Hester's estranged husband Roger Chillingworth? How does that opinion change from the beginning/middle/end or does it stay the same for you?
I didn't like him from the start, as you can tell by one of my other answers. My opinion only got worse, since he was consumed with revenge for a wife that he didn't even care about or take care of.
6.I felt like the story left me a little unfulfilled. Am I the only one?
1. I enjoy the book, since this was my second time reading it, my opinion didn't really change. I always felt sad for Hester, alone, an outsider, shamed and then hunted...it just seemed so sad at first.
2. I don't agree with her choice to cheat, but can understand why she did. Her husband could have died and even in those times, after a year she could have remarried. Being abandoned, in her prime so to speak, had to have been hard. Being in a loveless marriage and then getting swept up into love and passion with Dimmesdale was too much for her.
3. I don't think her community offered forgiveness, just dealt her sentence and then effectively forgot about her. I know she struggled with her own shame and forgiving yourself for a sin in those days was hard. The mentality was different, so I think she probably did her best. She becomes a contemplative woman and it shapes her into a stronger person by the end.
4. Naming him would have condemned you both, so why have him suffer as well...when she clearly loved him so. Dimmesdale was consumed with guilt and the more the town admired him, the worse he felt. It was an awful situation with no real good answer.
5. What an awful man, he abandoned her, then hunted her down out of revenge. He thought only of himself and how he was wronged or embarrassed. My opinion of him never improved, it only increased. He was a cold, calculated man.
6. I guess I always like a happy ending, what's so wrong with that huh? Really though, it would have been nice if she could have had love, respect and the life she had wanted. I felt some parts of the book were too drawn out and then others I would have liked more time to enjoy. Overall though, I still enjoy the book and it always gets me thinking.
I finished reading it yesterday, I will post my answers tomorrow!!
1. I read this in HS and had to get the Cliff's Notes for it, it was extremely hard for me to read. This time around, I enjoyed it much more and found it hard to put down. I remember it being a sad story but I couldn't remember how it ended, so it was like a first time read for me in that respect. It is still a sad story, but it also has happy moments in it.
2. I have mixed feelings for Hester. I admire her tenacity and her strength amid all those who were once friends and neighbors, but now were her persecutors. All throughout the book I admired her, raising her daughter, standing up for herself, and helping the poor. And it didn't bother me when she and Arthur made plans to leave to start over and get away from Roger C. But I lost a lot of respect for her when she tried to justify her actions as something she felt was consecrated between them and God. She was in a hard situation, but wrong is wrong.
3. Hester never forgave herself, I think. And I think society forgot rather than forgave her.
4. I would not have given the name. He needs to own up to his part in it and not be dragged out of the shadows. True repentance is where you confess your sins, not someone else. He was too caught up in his image and the subsequent fall he would have suffered, otherwise, he should have stepped up himself. Yes, he may have been sentenced to death, but that was what came for him anyways. I think Hester did the right thing.
5. Roger was dispicable from the beginning straight thru to the end. he connived his way into Hester's life, somehow making her think she would be happy with him. He went and did his own thing and then came around whenever he wanted to bask in her womanly company. He sends her off, a beautiful young woman, alone and then expects what? when he decides to show up. His actions in swearing Hester to secrecy about his identity and his revenge towards Arthur again shows how selfish he is. Once both his objects of ownership disappear, he dies. What a loathsome man.
6. I couldn't help but think that Hester was more than likely my age by the time the plans were made to leave the settlement and try a new life. All those years alone, raising a child, ignored by society, everyday reminded that the man you loved left you out in the cold b/c he was too selfish and scared to come forward and own his mistake. I also thought that Hester was really the only character in the story who was somewhat selfless. The magistrates in the settlement, with their showy displays of authority, meddling in people's personal lives, Roger with his perversions and revenge, and Dimmesdale with his 'solitary' suffering, when he was too worried about himself to come forward, Hester went about and provided for herself and Pearl, but also cared for the poor.
I also thought Pearl was an interesting character. Her honesty and insghtfulness were uncanny but it seems so like how a child would really cut thru the fog of dishonesty and lies. I think she was an embodiement of what people at the time wished they could do or be but couldn't.
I was glad I was able to read it, even if it was a little bit late.
Wow, may I just say that I am so grateful that I was not born during this time. I think there were so many beautiful joyful moments that these people missed out on by being so strict... Anyway, on to the questions
1. I'm sure that I was supposed to read this book in High School, but for the life of me all I remember is the movie. Anyway, I did enjoy parts of the book. I was really caught up in how dismal their outlook was. All sin and no way to fully repent. Wah wah Kind of a debbie downer, and yet some moments were so beautiful!
2. Can you identify with Hester at all? Do you condone her choices or condemn her?
I really felt for Hester. I think she was an incredible free spirit stuck in the wrong time. I think she was a very good mom and devoted her life to others and to creating beauty in a grey world. I don't condone her choices, but I also don't condemn her. I think anyone can get caught up in a moment and "fall" I think what shows great courage is rising above it and making your life the best it can be. Repent of the mistake and move on!
3. What is your opinion on Hester's ability to forgive herself and society's ability to forgive?
I don't feel that Hester every forgave herself and neither did the society although they seem to have moved on. I thought it was sad that she remained an outcast, although I felt that some of that was her considering herself to be unforgivable and not allowing the circles to draw near her.
4. Would you personally have named Pearl's father? Do you admire or admonish Hester for not giving the name? I would not have named the father. I feel each of us are responsible for our own actions I think the Reverend was a coward. I loved it when he finally confessed. He certainly suffered. A wrong that is hidden festers until it is forced to the surface as it did in this book. I feel like Hester withheld the preacher's name because she loved him. I agree with Lisa in that she allowed him the choice and understood his reasons, but maybe hoped that he would say something. I think Pearl was the voice of Hester's inner desire.5. What are you feelings on Hester's estranged husband Roger Chillingworth? How does that opinion change from the beginning/middle/end or does it stay the same for you?
I kindof felt sorry for him in the beginning. I realize that he was neglectful of his homelife, but there was obviously no love lost in that relationship. I felt he got what he deserved when in the end he was left with nothing.
6.I felt like the story was similar to Wuthering Heights in that the two lovers weren't joined until death. I did love that it lead you to believe that Pearl found joy and fulfillment in a life full of color. I did like the ending.
I finally finished this book! I had such a huge back log of books to get through.
1. I agree that it was crazy that no body seem to care if her husband was even alive still. I think it is sad how the puritan's were so harsh in their punishments, even though I don't agree with stepping out of a marriage.
2. I agree with her though I probably wouldn't have told who the guy was especially if he was a priest.
3. I wonder if she would have been able to forgive herself better if she would have had the support of her lover? Maybe everyone would have been more forgiving too. Then again they might have judged her harshly because he was such a loved man. They might have even accused her of being a witch.
4. I would have done the same.
5. I thought at first that her husband was a good man and then he turned nasty. It made me sad to see what adultery does to everyone involved.
6. I am happy that hester left the colonies. I think it was the only way Pearl was going to have a chance.
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