Annotated Bibliography

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter and Other Readings. Norton Critical Edition ed. New York + London: W. W. Norton, 2005. Print.

This will be where most of my research information came from, the book and the other writings in the Scarlet Letter, as well asmy view as a reader on motherhood.

Scarlet Letter ROUGH DRAFT-unfinished

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Crystal Newton

Instructor Knapp

May 4, 2011

English 1B

"A" is for Adultery

           

In the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter includes many important symbols. One of the main symbols used in this novel is the "A". The letter "A" has a few different meaning through the story. In the beginning of the story the letterr means a symbol of sin. The  letter has different meaning towards the middle of the novel , but at the end it signifies sin once again.

            The letter, a patch of fabric in the shape of this "A"  is worn by Hester Prynne on her chest, letting everyone know she is an adulterer. "Adultery (also called philsndery) is a form of extramarital sex. It is sexual infidelity to one's spouse. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Adultery is illegal in some countries. The interaction between laws on adultery with those on rape has and does pose particular problems in societies that are especially sensitive to sexual relations by a married woman and men. The difference between the offenses is that adultery is voluntary, while rape is not".  In this day and age adultery is illegal but in our society its kind of masked. Things are viewed  much differently today than they were in the Puritan times.

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In the novel not much is said about Hester Prynne before she married her husband. Things are very sketchy to me in this novel. In the story they are married even though Hester does not love him. The book makes Hester out to be a strong willed young woman who remembers her parents as loving guides who frequently had to restrain her thoughtless behavior before she got married. These two facts alone suggest to me that this has a lot to do with why Hester committed adultery.

            Hester's husband was a difficult husband. He's ignored his wife for most of their time they are together, but expected her to be the loving caring wife when he decided to pay a little attention to her every now and again. He is made out to be a pretty ugly man. Probably yet, another reason that Hester committed adultery.

            At the beginning of the story Hester Prynne is being led from the prison, with her baby girl Pearl in her arms with the Scarlet Letter "A" on her breast. There is a man in the crowd that tells another that Hester is being punished for adultery. Roger sends Hester to America but never makes it to Boston. He is thought to be lost at sea. Since her husband never arrives in America Hester ends up having an affair ending up pregnant with her daughter Pearl. She will never tell who the father of Pearl is.

            Hester takes all the blame and punishment for this. Her husband who ends up following Hester, now practicing medicine calling himself Roger Chillingworth is out to get to the bottom of this situation. Deep down he thinks he knows who the father of   Pearl is but he needs to prove it. He only tells Hester who he really is and swears her to secrecy. Years go by and Hester works as a seamstress. Pearl grows up  to be a moody and mischievous little girl, but  their

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town and people still do not accept them. They live in a little cottage on the outskirts of Boston. Pearl is almost taken away from Hester but with the help of a local minister named Arthur Dimmesdale they are eventually kept together. 

            Dimmesdale all of a sudden gets a weird heart trouble. I do not think that Dimmesdale actually has heart problems. I think this was just a way for Chillingworth to get to the bottom of the adultery. Eventually Dimmesdale allows Chillingworth to move in with him since her practices medicine so he can give him 24 hour patient care. He thinks that there is a tie between Dimmesdale and Hester so he tries to question Dimmesdale to see what he can find out. Then one day while Dimmesdale is sleeping Chillingworth finds a mark on his chest. It's never said to actually be an "A" but thats what its made to be thought in the book.  

            Another symbol in this novel is Pearl. Pearl is a symbol for many reasons. Pearl is primarily the main cause for the Scarlet Letter "A" that her mother wears. Although she did not make the decision to commit adultery, her mom did, it was the pregnancy and birth of Pearl that caused everyone to actually know Hester had committed adultery.

 

Difficulty Paper-Scarlet Letter

I am finding that I am having a very hard time understanding the Scarlet Letter. The book is written in a different language to me which made it VERY hard to understand. Plain English would have been nice so that I could understand. I read it through the first time and was totally confused! I thought The Flowers was going to be a rough book to get through but I truley judged a book by its cover! This book was by far HARD to understand. I read the book over again and still find myself guessing what the author was trying to say. Hopefully this gets easier as I go! :-/

Final Draft

Crystal Newton
Instructor Stacey Knapp
English 1B
March 23,2011


As a teenager we all go through many different situations in life. Sonny has a pretty tough life but all in all he tries to make the best out of it. I will analyze this story through Reader Response point of view since I can relate to a few particular parts of Sonny's life since my parents divorced when I was young. I too ended up with a step dad that I didn't care for from the first day I met him. I can also relate on another level being a single parent and mother.

In the novel The Flowers Sonny's mom is never home from the beginning of the book. She is either at work or just out. Sonny says, “It was that my mom, if she wasn't at her job, was out on dates or whatever. And sometimes she'd get in so late I wouldn't be awake" (5). It is really sad that Sonny would rather be alone and out and about than around his mom or at home where most kids feel safest. His mom marries a man named Cloyd who Sonny isn't fond of. Sonny thinks he's just like all the other men in his mom's life and will not stick around . Sonny thinks it's all a joke and even claims, "My mom was dressed too pretty to take serious, shampoo in her hair and body lotion smell, and she was trying to hard to sound happy. Nobody'd believe her except her" (7). However Cloyd thinks that Silvia is a typical Mexican woman who likes being in the kitchen, and enjoys cooking. Boy is he fooled. Sonny catches his mom in the kitchen one day making a snack for Cloyd and his client. She is opening cans of salsa which Sonny refers to as “ American cans of Mexican salsa‘’. Silvia brags, “He doesn’t even know I buy este chile at the grocery store. He thinks I make it. He even tells everybody I do” (76). Sonny can’t imagine his mom being a real mom, let alone a wife. He says he "..couldn't imagine her in the kitchen more than like, once a month" (17). I can’t say that my mom never cooked, since we had the typical American family in that aspect. My mom was the one that did the cooking mostly. We all sat together and had dinner every night. At the same time my step dad was from your typical Mexican family. He was raised in a household where the men did everything outside and the women did all the domestic things inside. Again, we butted heads. I thought he was crazy and I was not his waitress. After all, I did not marry him my mom did. If she wanted to wait on him hand and foot and serve him that was her choice but no one was going to make me do it! So once again we would end up in a fight since he thought I was just being lazy. I was not.

While my mom never had multiple men in her life, I can relate to Sonny because I never cared for my step father from the start. I know how tough it was for Sonny to have to "pretend" that life was ok. Although I was rude and bratty, my step dad would try his hardest to be nice to my brother and I. He was always taking us places and buying us things. To me money does not buy love. Cloyd did the same with Sonny when they moved into his apartment, he gives Sonny his son’s old room. He offers to get Sonny a desk to put into his new room, but he doesn’t want it since he doesn’t see this place as permanent. Although we really don’t know where Sonny’s dad is, I’ve always known my dad and this man my mom was with was not going to replace him.

Sonny's dog, Goofy was a major part of his life and was the only thing he felt a real closeness to. When they moved in at Cloyd's, Goofy never arrives. Sonny is really sad about Goofy. I think that Sonny didn't like the fact of his mom being married to someone because she never paid much attention to Sonny at all, except for yelling at him when they lived alone before Cloyd‘s house. I think there was a chance Sonny may have come to like Cloyd until he didn't allow Goofy to live there. He never really tells Sonny this until Sonny starts to question where his best and closest friend Goofy was. Cloyd and Silvia tell Sonny that Goofy is ok and with Cloyd's son, but I think that was something that made it a worse situation. Cloyd's son is a taxidermist! This gives Sonny the feeling that Goofy is dead and makes him hate Cloyd even more. When my step dad used to try and parent me, it would back fire because I'd just rebel more than ever.

Seeing the way Silvia was with Sonny as well as my mother with my brother and I, really makes me think twice, as to who I bring into my daughters life. As a single mother, I’m very weary about bringing any man around my child. I will not just let anyone meet her. The person that I bring into our life will be someone who is truly special and who will be around for the long haul, not just someone who is around for the time being. Granted I do have many male friends, I will never let my daughter see men in my life as Sonny did in his mothers. I also want my daughter to have a very close relationship with me. Before Cloyd, Sonny hardly ever saw his mom let alone engaged in conversation with her. This is why Sonny thinks its odd when Silvia starts getting into Sonny and Cloyd’s conversation when they first meet. She begins to tell Cloyd that Sonny is an athlete as he wonders how she came up with this story thinking “…hundreds of years ago, was probably the last time I told her about anything that made me happy-or that she heard from me anyways’’ (11).

Sonny spends a good amount of his time at a place a few blocks away from his home called Alley Cats. Alley Cats is a restaurant and a bowling alley. Sonny becomes close with one of the owners whose name is Mrs. Zuniga. A lot of the times they do not even charge him for food. Mrs. Zuniga sees that he spends a big amount of time there and feels bad. She almost takes him under her wing. Most of the time he bowls a few games and even if he says he isn’t hungry Mrs. Zuniga still prepares him something to eat. She treats him as if he is her own son.
I know this feeling. I never wanted to be home since I didn’t like my step dad or get along with him. To me it felt as if my mom was choosing him over us. I hated it. In the fifth grade I met one of my best friends in the world Charlene. Charlene had a very close family and I loved it. When I went to her house, I felt like I was part of the family. I remember not being able to wait for any vacations or breaks at school because I knew I would be able to be at Charlene’s the whole time. I don’t even think that my mom realized why I always wanted to be there. She was probably just glad that I was out of her hair. Nevertheless I just wanted to be away from home so being at Charlene’s was where I’d spend the majority of my time in the same way Sonny was always at Alley Cats. Charlene’s parents, Ino and Sandra were the ideal parents to me. They had a really special bond with Charlene and her brother Christian and I loved it. There was never fighting or arguing at their house as there always was at mine. It was always so peaceful there. They would also do things as a family often. They would go places all the time and in my eyes they were the perfect family. I was so grateful that they allowed me to be a part of their family.

Finally as I sit back and look at all the comparisons to my life with Sonny’s I realize that we have many similarities. I look at the things my mom did and the things Silvia did and this makes me want to become a better mother to my daughter. I think that I see things much more differently than either my mom or Silvia did. I hope that my daughter knows someday that her mother tried her hardest to give her a good life. I want so much more for my little girl in life than my mom did for me. I also know that no matter what happened in my daughter’s life, good or bad, I’ll always be there for her and be by her side and she can confide in me always. No one will ever change that.

Works Cited Page

Gilb, Dagoberto. The Flowers. New York, Grove Press, 2008

Rough Draft

                              Reader Response: Sonnys Character & Life
               As a teenager we all go through many different things in life. Sonny has a pretty tough life but I think all in all he tries to make the best out of it. I can relate to a particular part of Sonny's life since my parents divorced when I was young. I too ended up with a stepdad that I didn't care for. I can also relate on another level, being a single parent. 

               In the novel The Flowers Sonny's mom is never home in the beginning. She is either at work or just out. ''It was that my mom, if she wasn't at her job, was out on dates or whatever. And sometimes she'd get in so late I wouldn't be awake." (5) Then she marries a man named Cloyd who from the get go Sonny isn't fond of. Sonny thinks he's just like all the other men in his mom's life and will not stick around . He thinks it's all a joke. "My mom was dressed too pretty to take serious, shampoo in her hair and body lotion smell, and she was trying to hard to sound happy. Nobody'd believe her except her." (7) Sonny can't imagine his mom being a real mom let alone a wife. He says he "..couldn't imagine her in the kitchen more than like, once a month." (17) While my mom never had multiple men in her life, I can relate to Sonny because I never cared for my step father from the start. I know how tough it was for Sonny to have to "pretend" that life was ok. Even though my stepdad would try his hardest to be nice to my brother and I, I was rude and bratty. My reasoning was different than Sonny's. My reason was that he wasn't my dad and never would be. We don't know much about Sonny's dad so partly this could posibly be a reason of his as well. Maybe Sonny and I have more in common!

               Sonny's dog Goofy was a major part of his life and was the only thing he felt a real closeness to. When they moved in at Cloyd's Goofy never arrives. Sonny is really sad about Goofy. I think that Sonny didn't like the fact of his mom being married to someone because she never paid much attention to Sonny at all, except to yell at him. I think there was a chance Sonny may have come to like Cloyd until he until Cloyd didn't allow Goofy to live there. He never even really tells Sonny this until Sonny starts to question where his best and closest friend Goofy was. Cloyd and Sylvia tell Sonny that Goofy is ok  and with Cloyd's son, but I think that was something that made it a worse situation....Cloyd's son is a taxidermist! This gives Sonny the feeling that Goofy is dead and makes him hate Cloyd even more. When my stepdad used to try and parent me it would back fire because I'd just rebel more than ever.

               Sonny meets two boys who are twins named Mike and Joe.He likes them and after a while they all become friends. Even though they're friends Sonny never lets himself get very close to them. They have talks and talk about things boys talk about but Sonny always acts like the bigger , more mature guy. He also doesn't tell them EVERYTHING for some reason. I think Sonn'y is like this with them because he has a mom, but she is just has the title. She doesn't treat him like a mom treats their child and this is why Sonny is never at home. He tries to stay away from home as much as possible.

               

Idea Paper

Reader Response

I think for my paper I want to write about Sonny's life and how he's gotten to this point in his life. I think many things in this book will support my ideas. Things like where he lives and the people in his life. I think a major thing is his relationships he has are all a cry for attention due to the way he is raised by his mom. I will look at many different things in this book to help me write this paper but I think his relationship with his mom molds him most.

Sonny's money

I think Sonny will use all the money he has gathered up to take Nica somewhere on a date. He seems very interested in her. Maybe he will take her to pizza if he can get her away from her house. Or possibly order it to the house since she most likely will not be able to leave. I think this because he is always talking about getting pizza with her.

If I were Sonny I would have probably used the money to run away. Either that or save up enough to give to Silvia so that they could leave. Neither of them seem to be very fond of living there anyway. Not to mention that Silvia feels trapped now and like a maid pretty much. At least if they didn't live with the Cloyd she would feel free again and could get a job like before. Poor Sonny is in a never winning situation. It seems that before Silvia was with Cloyd she was always gone and she still is. The only difference NOW is that he has to deal with Cloyd and his drunkeness. He seems to take out his anger on poor Sonny.

I think having a step dad like Cloyd would be miserable and I'd probably rebel if I were in that situation. I would first of all probably be mad at my mom for being with someone like that. I would hope that my mom would choose someone who would be good for her AS WELL as her kids. I would also be mad at Cloyd when he got drunk and talked to me like that. I probably wouldn't do a thing he asked me to do either.