WOW!!!! WHAT THOU TO SAY...

Wow! I don't even know where to begin.... this book was extremely hard for me to understand. partly because of the old English? type talking, weird vocabulary, but mostly because of all the symbolism. I am definitely not one who picks up on symbolism easily. i just don't understand why authors cant just be straight forward...

The one section that really stood out to me, was the part where Pearl talks about the black man with the book. she says that her mom Hester wrote her name in blood in the black mans book and that is why she must where the scarlet letter. she also mentioned the minister Dimmesdale held his hand over his heart to hide the letter because he had also signed the book of the black man. Pearl says an old women told her of the story. i cant help but to think that this is an obvious symbol of the sin that they committed. Hester wears hers on the outside where as Dimmesdale hides his deep inside where as it is wearing down on him and therefore making him sick.

there are so many diffrent ways Hawthorne uses symbolim in the scarlet letter. Chapter 19 "the child at the brookside" at first look you just think of Pearl, but isnt it more than possible that they are talking about Hester or Dimmesdale. Hester for just trying to throw away the letter and letting down her hair as though nothing had ever happened? or what about Dimmesdale he is afraid to meet his own daughter who is just on the other side of the brook. He couldn't fess up to what he had done at the the beginning of the book he is truly a child.

The Very Great Gatsby!

Okay I guess this book confused me a bit, But i think thats why i liked it soooo much. I suppose I don't really have a word to describe it,"ironic" maybe?
Nick Carraway the main character starts out the book by saying, "Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." But somehow one of his last statements about Gatsby is "we were close friends". how exactly does someone represent scorn and somehow be a close friends? Or what about the fact that Daisy is very upset about at the beginning about tom and his mistress then later in a way cheats with Gatsby? Oh maybe I'm confused and this book isn't ironic at all but what about the fact that Nick was raised in what you might call a privileged family and ends up poor, and on the other hand Gatsby was born very poor and ends up dying wealthy. The other ironic situation in the novel to me was for Gatsby to have so many people at his parties and didn't seem to have any family, when at his funeral no one showed up accepted the one man and his father....

This particular novel sent me through a loop! I was very confused the first couple chapters, then i really got into the book. At about the middle of chapter seven i thought right there would have been the perfect fairytale ending everyone was happy. but those last couple chapters i went back to being a bit confused i was sad and depressed while reading. Supprisingly though after i finished the book i was over joyed and it took me awhile why. I figure however that it is the fact that the book, made me realize how much i love my life and it makes me appreciate my family friends and just life in general so much more.

The Grapes of Wrath

It took me a long time to get into the book. The first few chapters had very few characters and too many details about their lives. It felt like an extremely long introduction and it was wearing my patience. I read the entire time I was at the airport. As I was reading on the plane I happened to be sitting by a professor that had just finished teaching a class in Denver and was on her way back home. She noticed that I was reading the Grapes of Wrath. She had told me that it was a banned book when she was in high school. She further explained that the banning of this book led high school students to WANT to read this book. That's why she read it. I told her my prediction was because of Sharon of Rose. She was young and pregnant. I figured the pregnancy had a huge role in what I was yet to read. Anyway, the professor's mention of the book being banned at least gave me the strength to find out more. I too was a high school student that wanted to see why the book could have been banned. I remember when the first Harry Potter book and a bunch of people upset. I believe that book was banned in some schools. That just wanted some students to read it more, and look how huge the Harry Potter books have become.

I still believe that my prediction about Rose of Sharon's character was why the book was banned. The last paragraph of the book totally grosses me out. In fact the last chapter gave me lots of visuals that really was quite disgusting. It was sad that her baby was born dead. Rose of Sharon throughout the book had to do without. When the family got all new clothes, she did not. She had to wear old dresses. Instead she got milk to help her nutrition and the baby's. Pa was freaked out. At one moment I thought they had cremated the baby, because Pa said he smelled smoke. I never imagined the smell of child birth until I got all the details. Well, and the breast feeding at the end was just a freaky ending. After so many details within this book, the ending left me confused. It was too abrupt and controversial for a historical fiction story.