Sunday, April 17, 2011
Difficulty 1
In the story The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the old English language is in abundance. That being said the only difficulty I have had so far is with the language. There is not one single word that I am having difficulty with, but many. The only tool that I have to use is context clues, which has been pretty good to me so far. The very beginning of The Scarlett Letter seemed to be really confusing to me. I couldn't tell if Hester Prynne was a witch or just what the people considered to be a whore back then. It wasn't until I read that they weren't going to hang her that I realized that she was just a whore. I imagine that because they talked about how her husband was an important man and had to stay behind for business before coming to America, that she got bored and found another man. She ended up having a baby without knowing who the father is. Today not knowing who the father is is not a good thing. Back then not knowing who the father is must have been really frowned upon to say the least. Context clues is pretty much the only thing that's getting me through this story, because it certainly isn't the storyline. I would've never got that she noticed the guy dressed as a Native American was her husband unless I had gone back and reread the entire page that it was mentioned on. I did have trouble though figuring out whether he is trying to help out Hester Prynne or if he is disgusted with her. The old English language again comes to play because to me it sounds as if he is being sarcastic in his tone but the words he is using sounds as if he is pretty serious. The only thing I know for sure is that he vows to find out who she messed around with and who is the father of her child. I'm pretty sure he is upset with her and wants to harm her but again the old English makes it hard for me to understand.
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You are doing a good job of using the tools of rereading and sentence context to work through this text. The more you read, the more you will understand. Some of what you don't know yet is actually a stylistic device by the author. He builds tension in the novel by leaving out key information, or at least downplaying key information so that you overlook it...until later when the clues begin to add up. For example, if you reread the scene with Hester on the scaffold when Chillingsworth is introduced and then reread their dialogue, you will probably figure out who this character is. I will set the context today, which will also help. On Wednesday we will work in groups to make-meaning of some key characters/passages. Good work here Nate!
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