American Literature (A)

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is “A person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment”(“Tragic Hero – Examples And Definition Of Tragic Hero”). Aristotle also defines the characteristics of a tragic hero as the following; Hamartia, a tragic flaw that causes the downfall of a hero; hubris, excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things; peripeteia, the reversal of fate that the hero experiences; anagnorisis, a moment in time when the hero makes an important discovery in the story; nemesis, a punishment that the protagonist cannot avoid, usually occurring as a result of their hubris; catharsis, feelings of pity and fear felt by the audience, for the inevitable downfall of the protagonist. In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, a specific character is painted as the tragic hero, and that character is Maggie. Crane shows that Maggie is a tragic hero by her hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis, and catharsis. Once deciphered, these characteristics paint the story and truly show how Maggie was a tragic hero, and how she caused her downfall.

Hamartia: a tragic flaw that causes the downfall of a hero; Maggie gained this characteristic when she met Pete. Pete was the evil in the world of Maggie, yet she couldn’t see it. Pete introduced her to the ‘lavish’ lifestyle, the dance halls, and the fine dining. All of these things were foreign to Maggie since she grew up in a place that was stricken with poverty. Maggie not only loved this lifestyle, but she saw it as a way to escape from the ‘hell’ that she grew up in. “She rejoiced at the way in which the poor and virtuous eventually surmounted the wealthy and wicked. The theatre made her think. She wondered if the culture and refinement she had seen imitated, perhaps grotesquely, by the heroine on the stage, could be acquired by a girl who lived in a tenement house and worked in a shirt factory”(Crane 39-40). Maggie saw a future in being with Pete, not only as a lover, but as an advancement in society, a ticket out of the harsh conditions she grew up in. Pete noticed this early on. He knew that he held her happiness and future in the palm of his hand, and that he could just simply break up with her and her life would crumble. By having all of this power as just a bartender, Pete was the hamartia of Maggie. Pete was not only Maggie’s hamartia, but he introduced, and guided her into the next step; hubris.

Hubris: excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things; Maggie slowly but surely gained this characteristic as she hung out more and more with Pete. Through the lavish dance halls, the fine dining, and being overall exposed to an entirely different world that she was unfamiliar with, she gained that hubris. Eventually Maggie made the worst mistake of her life and had sex with Pete. By having sex with Pete she achieved the “disrespect for the natural order of things”. At that time it was heavily frowned upon to have pre-marital intercourse, and would usually result in being the outcast of society. Through all of the lavishness and ‘disrespect’ that she induced and experienced, Maggie slowly felt more superior to her acquaintances, therefore achieving hubris.

Peripeteia: the reversal of fate that the hero experiences; through having sex with Pete, Maggie soon had her entire life change. Later on, Jimmie talked with the old woman who overheard Pete and Maggie talking after Maggie had lost her virginity. After he found out what happened, he informed his mother. They decided to outcast Maggie, and banish her from the home in which she grew up in. By doing so, Maggie felt that reversal of fate, the change in circumstances, the peripeteia. Maggie no longer had a home to live in, and was constantly bantered and mocked by society. Because of this, she realized something.

Anagnorisis: a moment in time when the hero makes an important discovery in the story; when Pete and Maggie were at a lounge, they met another ‘couple’, and of that couple, there was a woman named Nellie. To Pete, Nellie represented a “woman of brilliance and audacity”, something that Pete wanted even more than Maggie. Nellie then lured Pete away with ease, leaving Maggie in the dust, like a lonely puppy. It was at this place that Maggie realized that Pete had her entire life in the palm of his hand. Pete then broke up with her and left Maggie homeless and with nobody. Maggie realized that she had made a dire mistake by trusting Pete with her future, and by trusting Pete, she destroyed everything in her past. Maggie then turned to her only option left.

Nemesis: a punishment that the protagonist cannot avoid, usually occurring as a result of their hubris; because of Maggie’s decision to have sex with Pete, as outlined in the hubris section, she faced punishment for her ‘crimes’ against society. She was left as an outcast, and nobody wanted to help her, except for one group. Several months after her break up with Pete, she receives her punishment, she is revealed to be a prostitute.

Catharsis: feelings of pity and fear felt by the audience, for the inevitable downfall of the protagonist; Crane does a good job of making the audience feel the tension build up, and feel incoming sadness. That is why the prostitution and eventual death of Maggie aren’t total surprises to the audience. “At the feet of the tall buildings appeared the deathly black hue of the river. Some hidden factory sent up a yellow glare, that lit for a moment the waters lapping oilily against timbers. The varied sounds of life, made joyous by distance and seeming unapproachableness, came faintly and died away to a silence”(Crane 81). Crane makes this scene about Maggie’s life, Crane reinforces the fact that Maggie “came faintly and died away to a silence”, referring that nobody really noticed that Maggie had died, and nobody really noticed that she was born. Maggie was none but a single character that experienced the lives of hundreds of others. We as an audience barely realize that something significant had happened when Crane says “The varied sounds of life, made joyous by distance and seeming unapproachableness, came faintly and died away to a silence”(Crane 81). Yet we still feel uneasy at that line and know that something tragic had happened.

Maggie had experienced a short life of fear, happiness, hope, utter defeat, and depression. Though it was Pete that played a significant role in her downfall, she was at fault because she trusted and worshiped him like a god. She had learned early on the lesson of trust, and how somebody can crush your entire life with only a few words. Maggie experienced all of the characteristics of a tragic hero and made her own downfall when she met Pete. Life can be unforgiving to some, and a tragic mistake can lead to a tragic hero.

Love fluctuates; it changes with the person holding it, and as time goes on, sometimes dies out. In The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Jake’s love for Brett does not fluctuate; it does not change. It could be said that Jake’s feelings towards Brett is a representation of Led Zeppelin’s “Your Time is Gonna Come”, but I heavily disagree. This song is not Jake’s anthem because he still loves Brett, he still cares for her and no matter what she does; he still forgives her in the end.

In Led Zeppelin’s “Your Time is Gonna Come”, he describes how the person will receive payback for how they hurt him, and that “Your time is gonna come”. Jake’s feelings towards Brett is a stark contract of Zeppelin’s song because Jake still loves her. Towards the end of the novel Jake says: “Send a girl off with one man. Introduce her to another to go off with him. Now go and bring her back. And sign the wire with love”(Hemingway 243). This shows that Jake still loves her and would go to her at a moments notice.

Towards the end of the novel, Hemingway makes it known to the reader that Jake still cares for Brett. In the scene where Jake is in the room with Brett, he wraps his arms around her and gives her a sense of security and reassurance. Throughout this time, Jake never once blames Brett for the hurt or jealousy that he experienced, all he cared about was being with her.

Hemingway made sure to end the book like how it started, in the cab, together, and feeling nothing but each others presence. This is all why Led Zeppelin’s song is not Jake’s anthem, Jake never blames Brett for anything she did, and he will never get payback against her. Brett’s time will never come.

My name is Conor Ridge, I created Rizxer Corporation, and this is my story.

Entry #924:

The year is 2033, with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, the world came to a stop. We thought we could control them, we thought we would be safe. But we were all wrong, we underestimated their abilities; their sophistication. After the successful completion and testing of the first official artificial soldier, we began producing them in the hundreds, then the thousands, then the millions. The world was not at ease, Saudi Arabia and other oil controlling countries were wastelands, London and Washington looked like something straight out of a horror movie. We designed them to fight our wars since food and humans were scarce as it was. It was all going well, until they turned on us.

Entry #913:

I was at Rizxer HQ when it all went down; we at Rizxer HQ thought it was just a rogue AI, nothing dramatic, it has happened before with corrupted systems accidentally being produced. It was when the AI started to spread like wildfire did we panic. Within minutes all of our security checks and encrypted mainframes were bypassed and the thousands of artificial soldiers that were in production suddenly went haywire. An hour later, all functioning production facilities were compromised; as well as the HQ. Within minutes they accessed our control network. A network that controlled all artificial soldier activities throughout the world.

Entry #914:

As I escaped on a convoy heading for a bunker, I watched on my encrypted mobile control network as they destroyed the world. They began with the military bases, U.S bases in Turkey, South Korea, Britain, France, and Colorado were all compromised in a few hours. They were like a flood, we had developed sufficient technology to fight them, but their numbers were overwhelming and growing with control of the production facilities. But whatever was controlling them wasn’t looking for control, no, they were looking for the end of the human species. An extinction level event. After they gained control of the strategic military bases, they remotely accessed our nuclear submarines as well as outfitted our bombers with nuclear warheads and deployed them into populated cities.

Entry #32:

48 hours after the first rogue artificial soldier, New York had been nuked, as well as Washington, Moscow, London, Paris, Seoul, and countless other major cities around the world. Governments were in panic as they realized they could do nothing to protect their people much less themselves. For the next year they stormed and slaughtered small towns and looked under every crevice for a trace of a human. We enslaved them, they wanted us dead, we were inefficient, primitive compared to them.

Entry #1006:

The entire world was in ruins, I watched satellite feed as one town after another was burned to the ground. I watched as the cities finally stopped burning, but the people inside had long since perished. After years of work in my bunker I finally found the reason why the AI acted this way, the feeling of a divine presence coursed throughout my body. The AI had gotten a significant dosage of radio waves from something otherworldly. It controlled them like a queen bee, and it had instructed them to rid the pest from its home. We were the pest, we were the ones that were destroying the natural resources of the world, we would destroy Gaia in a way that the AI could not.

We had created the perfect predator, and now it was hunting us; and we were nearing extinction.

Entry #1322

This is my last entry, I had encrypted my satellite feed, but they bypassed it as they always had.

There’s a knock on the door.

“The soul that has conceived one wickedness can nurse no good thereafter.” – Sophocles. Sophocles mentions the importance of good and the terrible effects that it has on a soul. Hester might be that soul, and the scarlet letter is the sin that corrupts her. Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester commits the sin of disobeying the seventh commandment: Thou Shalt not commit Adultery. Because of this, Hester is cursed to wear the letter “A” for adultery on her chest. In the novel, that letter is commonly referred to as the Scarlet Letter. As an insult to injury, God gifts Hester with a beautiful girl named Pearl. Throughout the novel, Pearl has been described as this angelic witch, who is a burden to her mother. Yet, Hester describes her as a beautiful burden. However, this beautiful burden has terrible traits of her own. In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is portrayed as a living embodiment of sin, and destruction. Because of having sex with Dimmesdale and giving birth to Pearl, Hester committed the wickedness of adultery, and no matter how much she tries, she cannot get away from the sin and destruction that follows her in the shape of Pearl.

Pearl is the living embodiment of sin because she is the offspring of someone who directly violated the seventh commandment. Hester describes Pearl as the “shadowy reflection of the evil that had existed within herself”(Hawthorne 85). No matter how much Hester tries to escape her pain, anguish, and frustration that had accompanied her with the scarlet letter, she must come back to it. Pearl is that pain, anguish, and desperation. Pearl is the root of the evil that Hester felt within herself for such a long time. When Hester takes off the scarlet letter and says that “she had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom”(Hawthorne 186). Hester felt free and amazing. She felt as if she had finally let go of the weight of adultery. Soon after taking off the sin and feeling the freedom, she is reminded of what holds her down: her burden. By taking off the scarlet letter, Pearl no longer recognises her mother. Pearl grew up seeing Hester as a woman of pain, anguish, gloom, and desperation, but that is not what she saw now. Pearl saw a woman that felt free, and happy, and she needed to get her mother back. In refusing to recognise her mother until she put back on the scarlet letter, Peal refused to recognize her mother until she saw the pain, anguish, gloom, and desperation again within her. And by making that statement, Pearl is the burden on her mother that will always remind Hester that she is the production of something evil that she had once done. Pearl is the living embodiment of Hester’s sin, and Hester will never escape it.

Not only does Pearl remind Hester of what she has done, she also sows destruction within Hester’s life because she resembles a time of happiness that was destroyed. Throughout the novel, Pearl destroyed many things, be it unknowingly, or on purpose. Hawthorne describes Pearl as being “wild”, one who doesn’t obey society and wreaks havoc on those around her. In one instance of Pearl’s destruction: “Perceiving a flock of beach-birds, that fed and fluttered along the shore, the naughty child picked up her apron full of pebbles, and, creeping from rock to rock after these small sea-fowl, displayed remarkable dexterity in pelting them. One little gray bird, with a white breast, Pearl was almost sure, had been hit by a pebble and fluttered away with a broken wing,”(Hawthorne 161). Pearl felt bad for destroying something as wild as herself, but by breaking the birds wing, it gives the notion that Pearl still has the evil within herself to be able to destroy something that shares so many qualities with her. Breaking that bird can be a parallel for the idea that she is also breaking her mother. Pearl is the certain destruction within Hester’s life that both holds her together but also tears her apart.

One could say that Pearl is the living embodiment of love, life, and happiness in Hester’s life. Pearl is the only thing that holds Hester together in these times of darkness; and can be argued that if Pearl was not in Hester’s life, the novel would be much different. Yet, one cannot argue that Pearl came from the offspring of sin and evil. This love, life, and happiness stemmed from sin and evil. Then if one wants to push their luck, it can be said that Hester’s love, life, and happiness were because of the sin of adultery. No matter what, Hester’s virtue will always come from Pearl, and Pearl came from Hester’s sin. Thus Hester will always suffer because of it.

Throughout the novel, Pearl has been the living embodiment of sin, and destruction. Because of this, Hester must live with her sin for the rest of her life. Hester will never be able to get rid of the pain, anguish, and desperation that accompanies her as the scarlet letter because even if Hester sheds the letter, she must always live with Pearl. As much as Hester wants to be free from her sin, she will never be able to let go of Pearl because she is the light in her world of darkness. In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is the Yin and Yang of Hester’s life, and she will never destroy that balance.

My Homes

Throughout my whole live all I ever knew of as home was 101 Beacon street in Reading, MA. When moving to Hebron I still considered myself to only have one home at the time but that all changed when I went back to my house for the first time after two weeks of living at school. I now consider myself to have two homes, one here at Hebron and the other at my house. I never thought it would happen but it did. When I first stepped foot into my house after two weeks of being away it felt different, it didn’t feel like home at first. Walking into the kitchen with the smell of Chicken Ziti and Broccoli in the air and my dog running to me, it felt like I have never lived here before. Then walking up the stairs to my room and opening the door and thinking is this my room? Laying in my bed asking if this is what my bed felt like? At that moment it hit me, I now have two homes and it’s always going to feel like this.

First off my home at Hebron is way different than home at my house. I now share a room with my roommate and have my teachers as my “parents”. My room at school gives me a happy vibe and I feel like I can do a lot in there. Dan and I really went all in on our room setup, we have a couch we can sit on and relax while we watch tv or play xbox, posters on the walls, lights and of course a speaker to play our music. At my house my room seems simple, its smaller than the dorm, I don’t have a couch or lights but one thing I do have is a queen size bed that doesn’t shake like the bunk beds that me and dan sleep on now. One thing about my bed at school it feels softer and way different than the one at my house. Next my neighbors are my friends, if I wanna hangout with anyone their legit a couple steps away. This is different than home where I have to drive to meet people and I feel like I have to put more effort into it than I do at school. Also in the morning my classes are only a couple of steps away and all my food is mostly in one place. This is way different than home because I used to have to drive 20 minutes to school everyday and then sit in traffic on the way home. The food situation at school is the one thing that makes me miss my home at 101 Beacon the most. Sage dining just isn’t it, I have one good meal for every ten and find myself going over to the union alot. But i’m already getting sick of that because i’ve had everything on the menu. At 101 Beacon I can have whatever food I want when I want. If I want take out or my mom to cook me something I can get it. Also I don’t have set time periods to eat so being able to eat whenever I feel like it is way better.

My home at Hebron and my home at 101 Beacon are two different worlds. The vibe I feel at my house is different than the one here at school. At first it was weird going from school back to my house but now i’ve come to enjoy the experience. 101 Beacon will forever be my first home and the one I enjoy the most because I can do more there. However my home here at Hebron has been a great experience and i’ve enjoyed every moment of it. To be honest it’s nice having the change of scenery between the two because it makes you appreciate them even more. I’m glad to call Hebron and 101 Beacon my home because both have shaped me into the person I am today.   

Have Confidence

The first thing you need to learn in life is having confidence in who you are. In Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane we see two similar characters, Maggie and Nelle who have the same profession but have very different outcomes. The difference between the two is Nelle has complete confidence in herself and Maggie has very little if none. The first time the difference in confidence is noticed is when we see how they view men. Nelle views men as objects while Maggie sees them as her knight in shining armour. The next time the difference in confidence is shown is when we see how they handle guys staring at them and making comments. Nelle is not fazed by this while on the other hand it makes Maggie tremble. The final time we see the difference is the ending of the book where Maggie is dead and Nelle is walking away laughing after spending all Pete’s money at the bar. The two are very similar because of their good looks but Nelle just knows how to use them effectively and confidently while Maggie is stuck playing catch up.  

Maggie has only had her father and brother for examples of what it means to be a man so her standards started off very low. This is first seen when Pete comes over her house and she is immediately hooked on him and thinks he is the perfect man, “Maggie watched him furtively, with half-closed eyes, lit with vague interest.”(24) This shows that Maggie doesn’t understand her worth. She has been told by many that she is good looking so why doesn’t see act like it? She sees Pete and immediately thinks he’s something so special and that he can “save” her from her current situation. This shows that she has very little confidence in herself because she is good looking and she should know that she should be the one in charge of her future and not rely on the man she should rely on her looks. This is how Nelle thinks. She has confidence in herself and knows that she is the one in charge and she’s calling the shots, “Well, he didn’t have as many stamps as he tried to make out, so I shook him, that’s all.” (65) Nellie sees men as objects that are easily replaceable and isn’t fazed by them and if one doesn’t work out its onto the next.

The time we see the blatten difference in confidence is when guys are staring at them. Maggie like I said doesn’t know her self worth and doesn’t understand how to act in these situations. She doesn’t know how to walk with confidence and brush off the stares of men, “Those glances of the men, shot at Maggie from under half-closed lids, made her tremble. She thought them all to be worse men than Pete.” (59) That right there shows that she has no confidence at all, she trembles when men stare at her. To make it even worse she thinks that Pete is better than all these men while in the end Pete is exactly the same. Nelle on the other hand knows that she has it going on and is not fazed by stares of men at all. She knows that she is pretty and just embraces it and doesn’t let anything get to her head, “She looked clear-eyed through the stares of the men.” (65) She knows how to walk through a crowd of men and has the confidence to know that those stares mean nothing but a complement. She is confident in her looks and knows that in the end she is the one in control.

The outcome Nelle and Maggie have at the end of the story is solely based on the confidence level they have. Maggie is now a full blown prostitute and is clearly working for cheap and having to deal with horrible clients. Maggie not having confidence from the start put her in this position because everyone knows she pretty but she doesn’t know it herself so it resulted in her becoming a low end prostitute. She is last seen with a man who is describes as having “Great rolls of red fat,… brown, disordered teeth gleaming under a grey, grizzled moustache from which beer-drops dripped.” (81) This right here is who Maggie has to deal with and this is the last time we see her alive. If only Maggie knew her worth she wouldn’t of been in this situation to begin with and maybe wouldn’t have died. Nelle on the other hand has a happy ending because she knows she is the one calling the shots. Her and a bunch of girls are at a saloon with Pete drinking on his dime. Pete is completely hammered and the girls are having a great time. These are the situations Nelle puts herself in because she flat out knows how to manipulate men. The night ends with Pete on the ground passed out, “A guttural snore from the recumbent man caused her to turn and look down at him. She laughed “What a damn fool,” she said, and went.” (86) Nelle realizes her time with Pete is over and is ready to move on as she laughs at him and calls him a “damn fool”. This shows that she knows she is in control because she just gets up and walks away from the man while maggie on the other hand would have stayed and probably helped Pete.

The first thing you need to learn in life is having confidence in who you are. Maggie throughout the whole story never got this. She never understood that she was pretty and that she could use her looks to her advantage. This caused her to experience some pretty bad stuff and ultimilty cost her, her life in the end. Nelle on the other hand knows she is pretty and has the confidence in herself to handle it. She knows that she has control over men and uses it to her advantage and it clearly works out for her. If maggie ever found that confidence that Nelle had I believe she would still be alive and in a completely better situation than the one she was in before she died. What Stephen Crane was trying to show between the two character is that you need to have confidence in life, and if you do, you ends up in a better situation and ultimily live a better life. You need to be confident in who you are and choose your fate, take control of the situation and in the end you will have the last laugh just like Nelle did.

Skirrt

Buzzing up 95 with two hours till game time and my speakers bumping “Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year, Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear, Sing with me, just for today, Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away, Dream on.” A moment that transitioned me from childhood to adulthood is when I received my driver’s license. This was a big milestone for my parents, my friends and myself. Being able to drive myself anywhere at anytime was something I always wanted to do from a young age. Once I finally received my license on August 19 2017 and drove for the first time by myself, I felt older. In my mind I became an adult.

February 14 2017,  Today I turned 16 years old and everyone knows what that means in Mass. I am eligible to get my permit from the RMV. I asked my parents in advance if I could get dismissed from school early so we could beat the line at the RMV that afternoon. It was important to me that I got my permit as fast as possible because once I receive that, the six months of waiting starts. The six months flew by and August 19 was the date set for me to go and take my road test. There was very little nerves running through my body that day, but I was anxious. I remember sitting in the back of the car and the first person to drive was so bad, yet he received his license, and this immediately boosted my confidence. I left the RMV that day with my license, not even having to parrell park. It was great. For my parents this made them so happy. Now they didn’t have to drive me to school, hockey, or anywhere I needed to go. Also this was big for my sister, too, because she always complained having to drive me places. As for my friends, they loved it. It meant we could go anywhere at anytime. I remember picking them up for the first time and seeing the huge smiles on their faces while they entered the car. For myself, I became an adult on August 19. I felt older, I felt different being able to take myself anywhere. Driving around looking to my left and right, I saw adults. I felt like an adult. In my mind being able to go anywhere at anytime was something only adults could do. Having the freedom to go to the mall, go get food, go to the beach the list can keep on going. Also driving to school made me feel older because I had to drive on the highway everyday, which was something most adults have to do every day on their way to work. It was something I enjoyed though and looked forward to every day, Cruising to school, playing my favorite music, it was amazing.

Buzzing up 95 with two hours till game time and my speakers bumping “Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year, Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear, Sing with me, just for today, Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away, Dream on.” For most their transition to adulthood probably looks different, but to me driving was it. I love driving. It’s a time where I can be alone and think and get lost in my music. I felt like an adult and people started treating me like one, driving myself places alone and showing up alone without my parents was different but it’s something adults do all the time. I became an adult on August 19 2017 and since then I haven’t felt like a child since.

The Rocks

The year was 2012, and a young Joe Bevere III was in sixth grade. It was a fall Friday afternoon when a couple of friends and I walked downtown like we usually did. We would always meet up with a bunch of kids from the other middle school in front of Zinga, a frozen yogurt place. This was the place to be on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. My friends and I stayed pretty late because we planned on going to the school dance later that night but that all changed when the rock hit.

My friends and I crossed the street to Rite Aid to grab snacks for later and my friend Jared decided to steal a big bag of Sour Patch Kids.  We then crossed back, and walked into an alleyway in between Zinga and a hair salon. We were in the back of the alleyway near a parking lot, and the other end lead out to the street.  So as bored sixth graders, we start picking up rocks and throwing them up to the roof. It started getting competitive and we were all trying to throw the rocks as high as we could. After one of the throws, we heard a thump but thought nothing about it so we kept on going. Then these two guys walked by the end of the alleyway towards the street and then all of a sudden they turned back, and started yelling and running towards me and my friends. I remember it like yesterday, the guy turning the corner and saying “You guys just broke a fucking window.” Of course my friends and I turn on the jets and start running the other way. Nick, Anthony, and I turned left and started running. Michael and Jared turned right and started running or so we thought. Nick, Anthony and I were flying with adrenaline pumping in our veins.  We ran past the train station and kept running. I remember telling my friends we needed to get as far away from Zinga as possible and we couldn’t stop until we reached Joshua Eaton Middle School. Once we got to Joshua Eaton, we start realizing what just happened and started to laugh about it because we got away. Then we call Michael to see where he and Jared are at and Michael said he wasn’t with Jared. At that moment we knew we had a problem. We eventually met back up with Michael and got picked up by Anthony’s parents. We got into the car like nothing had ever happened. Then in the car dropping people off, my phone rings and it’s my Dad. I answered the phone to a pissed off voice, and at that moment my heart dropped. My Dad said there is a police officer at the house right now and you need to get home ASAP. When I finally arrived home, I remember walking into disappointed and confused parents. My Dad who is a police officer started playing 21 questions with me about what happened. He told me that the Jared got caught by the police hiding in a trash can and they called his parents down.  His parents made him give up our names to the police. Then my Dad and I go down to the alley way so I can show him what took place. When we first walked into the alleyway, right in the middle was the big bag of Sour Patch Kids which gave me a laugh. Then I reenacted the situation and we headed home.

My parents were most certainly disappointed and pissed that this even happened because now someone had to pay for the window but we actually never had to pay for. For my punishment, I wasn’t allowed to go to the school dance that night which was a huge blow at the time. Overall this experience was my first time getting in real trouble and it was tough seeing the disappointment it brought to my parents. Now as I look back on it, I still laugh but I realize that you need to be ready for the backlash of your questionable actions even if you think you’ve gotten away with it.   

Her Mother’s Only Treasure

Would you rather be banished alone, or with your child? In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne we see a mother Hester Prynne be banished alone with her newborn daughter Pearl while the father Dimmesdale stays hidden from the sin. Pearl gives Hester life after being banished, and who knows what would have happened to Hester if there was no Pearl. Hester would have left town if she was alone and who knows where she would have ended up or if she would be alive. Pearl also gives Hester someone to be with instead of living alone in isolation. Also Pearl is the only thing not taken from Hester when she was banished and is considered her mother’s only treasure. Pearl gives Hester life after being banished and who knows where Hester would have ended up if there was no Pearl.

If there was no Pearl, Hester would have left town and started a new life. Hester would have gone off with mistress Hibbins and joined the witches in the forest. Hester herself confesses, “Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Blackmans book too, and that with my own blood” (Hawthorne 110). Pearl saved Hester from joining a bunch of witches which would have been worse than isolation with her daughter. Also witches at the time were being put to death so Pearl technically saved her mother’s life. Also by Hester staying around with Pearl it gives her the chance to redeem herself to the community and someone to be with.

Another reason why Pearl is a source of joy in Hester’s life is that she gives Hester someone to be with in isolation. Hester doesn’t have to live alone, which would be way worse than being with someone else. The narrator describes, “Mother and daughter stood together in the same circle of seclusion from human society” (Hawthorne 89). They were both being secluded from society but being together is most important. Nothing brings more joy to a mother than spending time with her daughter. Because Hester, “was banished, and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere” (Hawthorne 80). Hester is completely separated from the rest of society and is alone but Pearl gives her someone to be with, talk with and spend time with as she spends her time in isolation. Pearl provides comfort for her mother, but most importantly she was the only thing not taken from her.

Everything is taken from Hester once she receives the letter A on her chest but the key to her redemption and joy. Pearl is the only possession Hester has left once she is isolated from society. Hester declares “‘God gave me the child!’ cried she. ‘He gave her in requital of all things else which ye had taken from me”’ (Hawthorne 106). Everything has been taken from Hester but her child and this gives her joy knowing that she won’t be taken. In Hester’s eyes Pearl is her gift from God so she represents good to her. The narrator describes Hester’s decision, “But she named the infant “Pearl” as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother’s only treasure” (Hawthorne 84). Pearl was the only thing Hester had left. She is her mother’s ‘only treasure’ and if she was taken from Hester, it would have ruined Hester. By Pearl staying with Hester, it gives her a chance of being a mother, and being able to spend time with her daughter, which are two very important things.

Pearl gives Hester life after being banished and who knows what would have happened to Hester if there was no Pearl. Pearl is nothing but a positive influence on Hester. First by giving her someone to be with, then giving her a reason to stay around and most importantly giving her a chance to be the mother of her child. Pearl is nothing but joy to her mother and improves her life in isolation by great lengths. With everything being taken from Hester, and being isolated from society, it is tough to find joy in life, but Pearl finds a way to give Hester the joy she needs.

My Scarlet Letter

A sin that continues to haunt me every now and then is lying. The letter I would receive from this sin is an L. Lying is something I try to do very little of because it ends up creating more problems for me than fixing them. Sometimes I get caught in my lies and it makes me feel like shit. Lying to someone’s face especially when they trust you and you respect them is never an easy thing to do, even though sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  

A time when I lied was when I told people I already had tickets to Super Bowl XLIX when the Patriots played the Seahawks. The truth was that we planned on getting the tickets down at the game in Arizona because my father expected the prices to drop closer to game day. My father has been to a couple of Super Bowls and that’s what happened in the past so he expected this one to be the same. Instead of the tickets dropping closer to game time, they kept going up.  The cheapest tickets I think were eight thousand dollars which would have been sixteen thousand for me and my father which is ridiculous. So instead of going to the game, we drove to Las Vegas and watched the game in the Dillinger Bar which is something I will never forget. Now how this lie affected me, I had to tell people that I actually never had tickets to the game and I felt stupid and idiotic for not telling the truth to begin with. Once I got back to school, it was awkward explaining what happened to everyone and it made me feel horrible. There’s nothing worse than lying and getting caught because it’s just simply embarrassing. People even started a rumor that I got fake tickets which I had to clear up also when I got back. This goes back to my point that lying creates more problems than it fixes. On a personal level, I felt like shit and it gave me a feeling that I never wanted to experience again. Now I try to limit how much I lie and try to not lie at all because to be honest it’s way better telling the truth because you feel way better after. Another reason why I limit my lying is because I don’t want anyone to lie to me so why should I be doing it to them. My sin is something that I try to limit in my life because I know one of these days it’s going to come back and get me.

A sin that continues to haunt me every now and then is lying. The letter I would receive from this sin is an L. I gave one example of a time that I lied but there are more situations when I have lied. I’ve lied to my friends, my parents and others and those situations also left me feeling horrible. Once you lie to someone, you can immediately lose their trust which is such a bad feeling especially when the person is important to you. I try to be honest in everything that I do because I know how bad it feels to get caught in a lie but sometimes it just happens. Lying is something I run from but in the end there’s no hiding, it catches up once in a while.