An Essay About The Scarlet Letter, Finding Ones Own Truth Essays

An Essay About The Scarlet Letter, Finding One's Own Truth The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne uses diction and symbolism to show the negative effects of stifling conformity verses the positive empowerment found in embarrassing one's own truth. He tries to impress upon his readers that an outsider whether from another physical location, or simply someone who thinks and acts outside that society's definition of acceptable behavior can in fact facilitate positive change within that society regardless of the generation or society. The secret in this novel most likely represents an idea, privacy, or even social censure. The Mary-like character Hester Prynne represents feminism, as the female-heroine, and truth, as she is unwavering in her stand against the wishes of the state, church, family and community with regard to her own truth. As represented by The Scarlet Letter, ?Do you not think it is better for your little ones temporal and eternal welfare that she be taken out of your charge and clad soberly and disciplined strictly and instructed in the truths of heaven and earth? What can you do for the child? I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this, laying her finger on the red token. Woman it is thy badge of shame. Nevertheless, this badge taught me?it teaches me daily lessons by reasons of which my child may be better and wiser.? Prynne is aware of how her truth can set her free. Later in the novel it states people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel.? This shows how Prynne's stand for the truth has eventually affected the entire community in a ver y positive manner, changing its perspective on social norms. Yet the character Dimmesdale, the co-adulterer, was said to be liken with ?unutterable torment.? Hawthorne was showing that Dimmesdale's silence about the truth and his love was worse than any judgment that would have been bestowed on him by his community or maker. Later Prynee offers to save Dimmesdale from his jail (guilt) and jailer (Chillingworth, the devil-like character). He refuses and eventually dies of shame and guilt at the end of this romantic tale of the love between two people. Pearl, the bastard-daughter character, represents the world of nature (truth), a nature-friendly pre-Christian time in mankind's history and the struggle between the town (societal taboos) and the simpler way of forest (respect for the truth). Her name is extremely symbolic. It was stated in the novel that she was ?purchased at a great price.? This shows the suffering experienced by the characters and society at large when truth and understanding are stifled within a society. She also represents purity of children (artists) that are eventually turned into conformists by the adults (society and religion). In the forest scenes, the witches and devil never materialize, as they are only aberrations as presented only through the dialogue and in the minds of the characters in this novel. This represents that superstition is consistent throughtout the history of mankind and that modern society was not immune. We have not evolved as far as we would like to think we have. Conformity, represented by the scary witches and monsters are real if societal pressures prevail. The disastrous affects of the telling the truth are only in the human mind. In conclusion, the characters represented church, government, society at large, truth and feminism. The scarlet letter ?A? itself originally represented guilt or shame, then destiny or understanding, and eventually angel or able. Hawthorne believed Puritanism, which represents an unbending society of judgmental people, debilitates that society and breeds hypocrisy. In short, what we say and do are worlds apart in a society with great restriction on behavior and belief. Embracing society's diversity will benefit the entire society. Acceptance Essays

Essay Sample on Gender Inequality What Do Top Hollywood Females Think

Essay Sample on Gender Inequality What Do Top Hollywood Females Think As you sit and stare at a blank screen, trying to come up with an introductory paragraph, it can be difficult to recognize the true power of the essay. Essays are tools that we can use to shed light on situations that are intimate to us, situations that our own personal experience can hopefully bring enlightenment and meaning to someone else. There is an incredible amount of power that can be wrapped up in the thousand plus words of an essay. This method of reaching others has become increasingly popular with celebrities, especially female celebrities who have chosen to use the power of their voice to bring attention to the many facets of feminism and gender equality that woman come face to face with every day. When discussing feminism and gender equality, it is important to realize that this is not just one issue, but actually many issues bundled up together. These powerful female voices take on the task of bringing to light some of these issues through the use of essays and personal narratives. Here are some of the most recent, powerful essays on gender equality writing by top Hollywood females. Mila Kunis: You’ll Never Work in this Town Again In this essay, Mila Kunis shares her experience of having her livelihood, her reputation and her dreams destroyed at the hands of a producer who was willing to compromise her career simply because she did not wish to expose her body for a movie promotion. What is powerful about this essay is that it does not focus on just this incident, but rather uses it as a springboard for a discussion about the inequalities and dangers that all women face in the workplace, regardless of the type of job they have, or how much money they make. At the end of the essay Mila states how she recognizes that she is fortunate to be able to stop compromising, without fear of not being able to put food on the table. She also recognizes that she is fortunate to have a platform from which to speak and be heard in order to encourage and empower other women. Emma Watson: Encouraging Women to Vote Some of the most important essays are the ones that take personal views and perspective and use them to encourage others to make changes for the better. In Emma Watson’s essay/letter, she uses the fact that she is a recognizable figure to encourage women to understand the value of their personal power and to use that power to vote for governmental leaders who place the most value on treating all citizens as equal. Furthermore, she appeals to those who may not necessarily feel that these issues are important by making note of the ripple effect, in which what affects one of us, eventually affects us all. Jennifer Aniston: For the Record In this essay, Jennifer Aniston articulates beautifully her journey as a woman who has spent many years in the spotlight, under public scrutiny. The essay starts out by introducing the most recent issue at hand, and then takes that and builds into an expertly crafted essay on how she has become a lens through which we view all women. The essay speaks on important feminist issue including the perception of what makes a woman feel fulfilled and how every aspect of a woman appearance is judged. This essay is powerful because she speaks with various tones of authority, personal experience, frustration and disgust, all while being relatable to the audience. Jennifer Lawrence: Why Do I Make Less than My Male Costars? Pay inequality has is a long-standing gender issue, and in this essay, Jennifer Lawrence questions why that still is and in the process, has us asking ourselves the same questions. In essence, she asks women why they are worried about not being liked when asking for what they want or need. She makes causes the female readers to ask themselves if they too act nice for the sake of not offending male coworkers. Rather than addressing the pay discrepancy issue with facts and statistics, this essay approaches the issue on a personal and emotional level. Rose McGowan: Addressing the Language Used Towards Powerful Women Sometimes, an essay skips the niceties and set-up and sets forth to drive the point straight home. In this essay, Rose McGowan specifically address an 80s television star that shared a meme in which a derogatory term is associated with then presidential candidate Hilary Clinton. While the letter is target toward this instance, she turns it to point out a concept that she coins as â€Å"male terror†. This essay is not eloquent, but rather raw in its approach to this feminist issue. Celebrities have lives that we either envy or despise. However, when they speak, the masses listen. The most powerful celebrity essays allow the reader to see the ways our lives are the same, rather than how they are different. This is one way of connecting to the audience through an essay. In this case, these women all recognized that they endure the same unbalanced judgements and treatments that women all over the world experience, except that they have a voice loud enough to be heard.