Olivia continued to explore the conflict between faith and science as illustrated in the novel. We discussed this as a contemporary issue , and I alluded to the Scopes trial and Clarence Darrow's role in the trial. We then examined the text and discussed the distinction between private and public confession and how Chillingworth goads Dimmesdale about the godly attributes of a public confession. Additionally,we analyzed the use of the supernatural in the passage where Chillingworth pulls back Dimmesdale's vestment and uncovers Dimmesdale's hidden secret, the exact nature of which is left to the reader's imagination. We last explored the author's description of the child, Pearl, and speculated as to the symbolism of the child as a metaphor for an Edenic America. I discussed the concept of America as a spoiled Eden as this theme appears in other novels, specifically The Great Gatsby. For homework, Olivia is completing the essay assigned last Thursday and finishing yesterday's homework outlining the characters' academic argument about the benefits of public confession.
In addition to theme of truth and hypocrisy, the novel portrays the conflict between faith and science in the characters of Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. Focusing on the language of the text, we discussed how Chillingworth, the doctor and scientist, argues science can reveal a man's inner soul,while Dimmesdale and the church maintain that it is a sin for man to probe another's sole,as such is the realm of God. We discussed contemporary disputes pitting science and faith. Olivia did a good job noting that while Chillingworth seeks to probe the truth from his victim, Dimmesdale, he himself,wears a false identity and uses a false name to protect himself from public scorn as Hester's betrayed husband. At the end of the session, we reviewed Olivia's grammar homework, and made corrections where necessary. For homework due tomorrow-the formal essay assigned last Thursday and reading the next chapter of the novel.
Yesterday, I distributed a literary essay topic on the novel. Today, we closely analyzed the text and prepared an outline of the essay. Olivia copied the outline I placed on the whiteboard and contributed ideas and specific examples from the text to the outline.Our final outline contained an introductory paragraph, two supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. We discussed how Olivia could add comments to the thesis in her conclusion. For homework due on Monday, Olivia is to prepare the essay based on the outline and read the next chapter of the novel.
Exploring the next chapters of the novel, we discussed how Hester Prynne's intended punishment , the scarlet "A", actually frees her from the greater punishment of hypocrisy and of having to pretend ,like all other members of Puritan society, that she is someone she is not. In this context, we highlighted one of the novel's themes of illusion vs reality, and noted how Hester 's having her "secret" revealed to the public actually brings her closer to others who seek her counsel as fellow ,but unrevealed, imperfect beings. We then examined Jonathan's Edward's sermon on sin, and Olivia identified numerous examples of figurative language and discussed how these rhetorical devices, along with repetition, accomplish the speaker's intent-to persuade . Last, I placed on the whiteboard the terms: illusion and allusion and discussed their separate meanings and provided an additional example from the novel of a literary allusion. I distributed our first literary essay question that we will work on in class by creating an outline, a thesis, and supporting examples from the novel. For homework, I assigned re-reading two pages from the novel that address the essay material,drafting a topic sentence , and completing a grammar and word usage exercise.
In preparation for constructing our first literary essay, we today analyzed the parallels between the author and Hester Prynne as reflected in the novel's introduction,"The Custom House" . The author and Hester remain drawn to the locality of their "sin" as a means of expatiation and each uses "art" as its medium. We further examined the nature of Hester's sin as other than a religious or moral infraction. We will spend some more time tomorrow discussing the Puritan sermon of Jonathan Edwards,but today I placed on the whiteboard an ACT type exercise focusing on identifying the speaker's intent or purpose. Last, we reviewed Olivia's ACT/SAT practice exercises focused on agreement and verb tenses. For homework I assigned reading pages 61-66 of the novel and a grammar /word usage exercise from our ACT/SAT material.
We continued studying motifs ,themes and symbols in the novel. Focusing on Dimmesdale's moral quandary, we discussed Hawthorne's implicit question : which is the more immoral - sin or hypocrisy? We further analyzed Hester Prynne's insight gained by wearing the scarlet symbol i.e. that all of humanity sins. However,some sins are public, while others remain hidden. Last, I placed on the whiteboard motifs appearing throughout the novel: nature and the wilderness vs town and darkness vs. sunlight. Olivia continues to contribute good insights to our class discussions. For homework, I assigned reading the next two chapters of the novel and a sermon by the Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards.
Before discussing the novel, Olivia completed a short subject-verb agreement exercise based on the SAT.We are focusing on the traps the test contains such as collective nouns and disguising the subject of the sentence. We then discussed Hester Prynne as a feminist protagonist who maintains her dignity while opposing the Puritanical values . We noted that Hawthorne remains more interested in the varying interpretations of the symbol "A"than in giving it any fixed meaning. We further analyzed the varying interpretations of the symbol,even during this early in the novel. Olivia is a very bright , perceptive reader and participated in class discussion on these symbols and themes, and on the significance of the imagery in the opening paragraph of the novel. For homework due Tuesday, I assigned reading the next chapter of the novel, and from the Lit book , the sermon of the Puritan minister,Jonathan Edwards. I also assigned for Tuesday ,a few brief subject -verb, pronoun agreement exercises ,again based on the SAT.
