Reflection Questions Ch 16-18

This is your last blog entry, so it's lengthy and worth a total of 30 pts. This one, in addition toall of your previous entries on The Scarlet Letter will be counted as a final quiz grade.

Part I



You all got very fired up in class today. I like that. And it was funny to watch. Unfortunately, we got cut short. SO...here's your change to nail the opposing team once more before the debate is closed for good. If you have a counterpoint or rebuttle that did not get "air time," post it here. If not, describe which team gave the most compelling argument. Comment as many times as you like.



Part II



Ultimately, your opinions don't matter. Ha! Well, no, they matter, but not as much as the author's opinions matter. This is all about literary analysis afterall. So whether you think Dimmesdale or Chillingworth is more guilty, you have to put your own opinions aside and think about what side Hawthorne would take in this debate. In chapter 18, Hawthorne both direclty and indirectly reveals his opinions about the hierarchy of sins (hint: it's different from Dante's!).This is a pivotal moment in the novel. The chapter is called "A Flood of Sunshine".

• Reread this chapter, looking for moments where Hawthorne reveals his position on who is more guilty. Quote them.
• What is the difference between a "sin of passion" and a "sin of principle"?
• What is the significance of the "flood of sunshine?"

Reread pages 182-183.  Consider what is happening and why.
Answer:

• Why is this a crucial moment? 
• Why does the sun suddenly burst forth in this way? What is the overall effect? 
• What greater theme or purpose does Hawthorne convey in the scene? 

Part III
Lastly, a personal question:

• What is your favorite part of the novel so far? 
• Share a quotation from your favorite scene and explain why you selected it.

E-text for The Scarlet Letter - Close Reading Assignment

http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/sl.html
 
You may use this site to print out a copy of the text for annotating. There are many others as well, just be sure they are reliable sources so you're analyzing the real text.

ekphrastic poetry resources

http://valerie6.myweb.uga.edu/ekphrasticpoetry.html

Painting

Poem

Nude Descending a Staircase Marcel Duchamp (1912)

"Nude Descending a Staircase" X. J. Kennedy (1961) Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh, A gold of lemon, root and rind, She sifts in sunlight down the stairs With nothing on. Nor on her mind.  We spy beneath the banister A constant thresh of thigh on thigh-- Her lips imprint the swinging air That parts to let her parts go by.  One-woman waterfall, she wears Her slow descent like a long cape And pausing, on the final stair Collects her motions into shape.

Painting

Poem

The Village of the Mermaids  Paul Delvaux (1942)

"Paul Delvaux: The Village of the Mermaids" Lisel Mueller (1988) Who is that man in black, walking away from us into the distance? The painter, they say, took a long time finding his vision of the world.  The mermaids, if that is what they are under their full-length skirts, sit facing each other all down the street, more of an alley, in front of their gray row houses. They all look the same, like a fair-haired order of nuns, or like prostitutes with chaste, identical faces. How calm they are, with their vacant eyes, their hands in laps that betray nothing. Only one has scales on her dusky dress.  It is 1942; it is Europe, and nothing fits. The one familiar figure is the man in black approaching the sea, and he is small and walking away from us.

Painting

Poem

Girl Powdering Her Neck Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1790)

"Girl Powdering Her Neck" Cathy Song (1983) The light is the inside sheen of an oyster shell, sponged with talc and vapor, moisture from a bath.  A pair of slippers are placed outside the rice-paper doors. She kneels at a low table in the room, her legs folded beneath her as she sits on a buckwheat pillow.  Her hair is black with hints of red, the color of seaweed spread over rocks.  Morning begins the ritual wheel of the body, the application of translucent skins. She practices pleasure: the pressure of three fingertips applying powder. Fingerprints of pollen some other hand will trace.  The peach-dyed kimono patterned with maple leaves drifting across the silk, falls from right to left in a diagonal, revealing the nape of her neck and the curve of a shoulder like the slope of a hill set deep in snow in a country of huge white solemn birds. Her face appears in the mirror, a reflection in a winter pond, rising to meet itself.  She dips a corner of her sleeve like a brush into water to wipe the mirror; she is about to paint herself. The eyes narrow in a moment of self-scrutiny. The mouth parts as if desiring to disturb the placid plum face; break the symmetry of silence. But the berry-stained lips, stenciled into the mask of beauty, do not speak.  Two chrysanthemums touch in the middle of the lake and drift apart.

Hawthorne the Painter

Great class today! I thought your comments and insight into the connections between painting and writing were fabulous. For your reflection, I want you to find another painting and compare it to the literary techniques that Hawthorne uses in The Scarlet Letter.
SO....you may use googleimage and type in "Romantic Painting" or "Romanticism and art" or do some other web research to find a painting that you can analyze.

• Compare the techniques of the artist and the painting to the literary techniques of The Scarlet Letter. Give specific similarities.
• Provide the image of the painting or a link to it in your post
• Comment on each other's paitings for extra fun! :)

"Higher - Order" Thinking Questions about the Novel

Dear students, I apologize for not having the blog assignment up before now. I was having my own technological difficulties! If you can, bring in your answers to the "higher-order" thinking questions you generated in last class. We will have another chance at this assignment for homework tonight. 

Reflection Question: Ch 1-3

In Ch 3, the ministers ask Hester an important question - a question that is probably on your own mind. What is the question?? Based on the reading you have done in these chapters, do you have a theory about the answer to the question which the ministers have put to Hester? If you do, explain what you have noticed in your reading that might support your theory.

Is Shame Effective? Some food for thought.

After reading your exit slips, I was interested to see that many of you answered both yes and no to the question, "Is shame an effective way to teach a lesson?" This got me thinking (thanks, you all!) about the concept of shame and how it is still used in our penal system today. Would it be better to publicly shame criminals than to keep them in jail?

Naturally, I googled the question. Here's a few links to opinions on both sides of the argument:
http://www.epinions.com/content_2905317508

http://law.jrank.org/pages/2120/Shaming-Punishments-Policy-issues.html

http://gideonsguardians.blogspot.com/2005/12/shaming-as-legitimate-punishment.html

I think it would be exciting if some of you read these and came to class informed and opinionated. I'd love that! :)

Reflection Question

After reading the article and reflecting on your own experiences, answer the following question:
Do you think shame and guilt are necessary to keep people in line? Do you think shaming someone is an effective punishment to teach them a lesson? Think of an example in your life or in current events to illustrate your opinion either for or against the effects of shame and guilt on people's behavior.

• Reference the article on shame in the buisness model (What did you think? how do your opinions match with the article's presentaiton of shame?)

Anne Hutchinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Crucible

How do they connect?!
I asked you to find interesting facts about Anne Hutchinson and  Nathaniel Hawthorne online. What did you find? What connections can you make between these two and the Crucible???

 

Half-Hanged Mary

In class today, we read Margaret Atwood's poem "Half-Hanged Mary" about a woman accused of witchcraft who was later hanged for her crime. She survived the hanging. The poem describes her experience.




Which time period (its arranged by hour) in the poem most appeals to you? Why? What images or lines really work for you in this time period?



Post a comment to this blog.

Here's Some Fun Reading for Fellow Geeks

 

How to Spot a Witch

by Adam Goodheart

The belief in witches existed for centuries before the trials at Salem. Over time, a considerable body of folklore developed about how to identify witches. A contemporary writer explains the most popular methods.

Perhaps the reason witch-hunting has gotten a bad name is that some practitioners used rather crude methods to separate the guilty from the innocent. The notorious judges of the Holy Roman Empire, for example, simply applied thumbscrews until the unfortunate suspects confessed. And during the English witch craze in the 1640s, the Rev. John Gaule recorded that 'every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furr'd brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice, or a scolding tongue ... is not only suspected, but pronounced for a witch." (Sexism was regrettably widespread among Gaule's colleagues, even though both men and women could be witches.) But more discriminating European witch hunters used far more refined techniques, as described in early lawbooks, manuals and court records. 

1.  Devil's Marks and Witches' Teats  -  According to many witch-hunting guides, it is best to start your examination by shaving the suspect's body and examining it for devil's marks. These are the spots where Satan brands his followers to seal their pact with him. An English jurist in 1630 described' them as "sometimes like a blew spot, or a red spot, like a Fleabiting." One problem: In the vermin-ridden 17th century, such blemishes were hardly uncommon. So the witch hunters devised an ingenious solution. The Devil, they reasoned, would not allow anything of his to be harmed. Therefore, they pricked any suspicious marks with a long silver pin. If the spot didn't bleed or was insensitive to pain, the suspect was a witch. English experts believed witches often had extra nipples that they used to suckle demons. Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter under Oliver Cromwell, exposed one woman as a witch when she was "found to have three teats about her, which honest women have not. "
2. The Swimming Test  - If the hunt for teats and devil’s marks proves inconclusive, you may have to resort to a popular folk method, the "swimming test." First, sprinkle the suspect with holy water. Tie his right thumb to his left big toe, and his left thumb to his right big toe. Fasten a rope around his waist. Then toss him into a pond or river. If he floats, he's a witch. If he sinks, haul him back in and set him free. The theoretical basis for this is simple, explained James VI of Scotland in 1597: "The water shall refuse to receive in her bosom those who have shaken off the sacred water of baptism." Other popular tests include weighing the suspect against a very heavy Bible (if she weighs less than the book, she is guilty) and asking her to recite the Lord's Prayer without making a mistake. (In 1663, a defendant was convicted after repeatedly failing to do better than "Lead us into temptation" or "Lead us not into no temptation.") When you suspect a witch has murdered someone, ask her to lay her hands on the victim's body. If she is guilty, the corpse will start to bleed.
3.  Nabbing the Elusive Imp  - One of the most devious ways to foil witches is to catch them with their familiars, the imps in animal form who do their nefarious [wicked] bidding. Many witch hunters believed thee the imps could not go for more than 24 hours without being suckled by their master or mistress. Therefore, when you have a suspect in prison, drill a peephole in the cell door and keep a close watch. If you see a rat, mouse or beetle in the cell, you've nabbed an imp. Beware of even the most improbable animals. In 1645, an Englishman named John Bysack confessed that for the last 20 years, he had regularly suckled imps in the form of snails.
4. Asking the Right Questions - Even stubborn suspects will often collapse under skillful interrogation. Europe's most successful witch hunters were expert at framing questions of the when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife sort. The justices of Colmar in Alsace used to lead off with "How long have you been a witch?" before moving on to more specific inquiries such as "What plagues of vermin and caterpillars have you created?"

　

WARNING:

According to the Molleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches), a comprehensive witch-hunting guide published in 1486, judges at witchcraft trials should take precautions against being bewitched by the accused. Always wear protection: A wax medallion containing a bit of salt blessed on Palm Sunday, worn round the neck, will defend you from Satan's wiles [tricks]. Otherwise, you yourself could end up on the wrong end of a witch hunt.

Here's an interesting interview with Arthur Miller in case anyone's interested. I was! :)

Trouble posting

Some of you are saying you're having difficulty posting on the blog. I'm not sure why this is happening...it appears to be up and running to me, but in case you are still struggling, just email me your links and I will post them for you. My email is listed on the bottom of the homepage.
dmgilbert@quinnipiac.edu or dgilbert84@gmail.com

Homework for Tues

As you notice on the syllabus, your blog assignment for this weekend is to post an interesting link related to the crucible (could be from the research your doing on your character). Michelle pointed out to me that there was not a comment section on that page...thanks, Michelle!!...so I fixed it and set up a comment box under the "Internet resource" page. The comment box is where you can post your links. Any questions, feel free to email me...obviously we're still working out the kinks in this system.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your "facebook" pages on Tuesday. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!!

Birth of a class blog!

I see some of you have joined successfully and are now free to post/comment/enjoy the blog. Nice! As I mentioned in class, you are not required to post your initial reactions to anticipation guide by next class, since I want to give you some extra time to acquaint yourself with the blog format, but if you feel confident, go ahead and post under the tab for "Anticipation Guide" at the top. As always, feel free to contact me with questions.

Welcome!

We'll be using this site as a forum to discuss, share, think, and engage in our materials. On this blog, you'll find important resources, assignments, rubrics, and other valuable information. Have a look around and contact me with any questions.

Questions? Concerns?

Ms. Gilbert's Email: dmgilbert@quinnipiac.edu

Aurthur Miller