Would you go down fighting or just give up? In the novel, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, a father and son try their best to survive in a post- apocalyptic world. The goal on their journey, through this horrible world, is to reach the coast. Along the road lies groups of blood cults looking for their next victims, the constant struggle of finding food and having enough resources to survive. Knowing these conditions, the father still chose to attempt to survive and give his son a chance. However, the mother was terrified of this new world and decided to take her own life rather than taking this journey with her husband and son and trying to survive. She saw no future in this new world. The father just wants his son to experience life and live even though they are living for nothing. The purpose of the journey for the father and son was to keep moving because you can either sit there and wait to die or keep moving and try to live as long as possible.
Very few things remain on this post-apocalyptic earth, however, people still don’t want to leave it. People choose to live through the hell instead of just giving in and dying. When the son and the father run into an old man along the road, the old man said, “Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.” (McCarthy 169) The old man is telling the boy and the man the truth about this world. This world is like living in hell but to some it is still considered to be better than death. People keep moving along the road even though no one wants to be here. In the article, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road May Have the Scariest Passage in All of Literature by Joe Fassler, he states, “The Road is ultimately about a father sacrificing everything for his son—keeping on and surviving despite a nightmare landscape, and only for his son’s sake.” The father kept himself going and made the journey to the coast just to make sure his son was okay. The father knows the world is horrible, however, he doesn’t want to leave it knowing his son is still alive. He chose to battle through the journey unlike his partner.
The mother saw no future in this new world. She hated everything about it and the danger that awaited her in it, “No, I’m speaking the truth. Sooner or later they will catch us, and they will kill us. They will rape me. They’ll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won’t face it.” (McCarthy 56) The mother doesn’t even want to start the journey because she knows eventually she will face the harsh realities of this new world. She saw no purpose for life anymore and that life was dead on earth. She believed that ending her life was the best option. To keep living for her was a false hope and she saw nothing but a miserable future ahead that would lead to disappointment. The father recognized this when they reached the coast for the first time, “He looked at the boy. He could see the disappointment in his face. I’m sorry it’s not blue, he said. That’s okay, said the boy.” (McCarthy 215) The boy imagined he would be seeing a blue sea once he reached the coast, not a grey sea that just left him disappointed. The only good thing left in this world is that you’re alive and that you are still moving because everything around you will just leave you disappointed.
The father created the goal to reach the coast to give the boy a sense of hope. He wanted to give them a reason to keep on moving along the road even though they are living for nothing. The father knows that the world is over and that the coast will be no different, “He said that everything depended on reaching the coast yet waking in the night he knew that all of this was empty and no substance to it.” (McCarthy 8) The father just wanted the boy to experience life while they made the journey to the coast. The father knew that there’s nothing good left in this world, however, he battled through it for his son’s sake. He just wanted to give his son a chance even though he understood how bad the situations is, “And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.” (McCarthy 130) The father compared himself and the son to wild animals and that they are living on borrowed time because the world ended a while ago. There is nothing left to live for and the only thing left is sorrow.
The purpose of the journey for the father and boy was to keep moving because you can either sit there and wait to die or keep moving and try to live as long as possible. Some people shared the same view as the father, to keep moving and try your best to survive even though nobody wanted to be there. Some people also had the same view as the mother, kill yourself before you face the realities of this new world, and bring about your own death before it is out of your control. Even with this tortured reality, the father still chose to face the battles along the road. The father wanted his son to experience life and created hope in this new world even though he himself saw it as a disaster.
What’s in a name? Well, I share a name with two men who inspire me to be better every day. I am Joseph Edward Bevere III and that is also my father’s and grandfather’s name. Thus, I feel the responsibility to live up to the name just as well as they have. Both men are athletic, and I have been told by them both “Joe Bevere is an athlete.” I am okay with that expectation because I am athletic and I love playing hockey. Both of these men are also very good with people. They communicate well and are funny, which I try to emulate because being sociable is a good quality. I have watched both of them interact with people and they can talk with anyone, no matter the situation. However, the most important trait I try to emulate from these men is being healthy. Both are in very good shape due to working out and not drinking or smoking and this pushes me to do the same. These two men have paved the way for the name Joe Bevere, and I try to follow in their footsteps.
Sports have played a big role in my grandfather’s, father’s, and my life. My grandfather was an All-American football player in college and is in his high school’s Hall of Fame. My father played hockey and baseball, and made the Junior Olympics for hockey. He chose to play college baseball but that was short lived due to a shoulder injury. Growing up sports came easily to me, but I still have to work at things. Knowing how good an athlete my grandfather and father were, it gives me the desire to try my best and also be a good athlete. It also has held me to such high standards because of how well these two men have done. I enjoy being held to high standards because it brings out the best in me and I know I have their support. They both give me tips and coach me in my sports and this leaves me with the responsibility to go out there and execute it. My grandfather tells me you must have “fire in the belly” in sports and in life in general; you have to want it. My father on the other hand expects me to perform at a high level and “just compete and have fun.”
My grandfather and father have a funny response to what people think of them, “they love me.” Both are two confident men with very good people skills and can always make you laugh. Neither of them lack confidence when it comes to anything, and this is a trait that has stuck with me and will stick with me for the rest of my life. Seeing their confidence, and the positive way they look at life has helped me develop these same traits. Both men are also big on telling the truth always and being a man of your word. Both men care about their names, their reputations and how people think of them. This leaves me with also wanting a good reputation and never wanting to tarnish the name.
My grandfather just turned 88 and he looks like he is 70. He never drank or smoked in his life and has taken pride in staying healthy. My father is the same way. At 49, he goes to the gym every day and is in great shape for a guy his age. My father stopped drinking heavily in his 20’s and now rarely drinks if ever. Joe Bevere has been known as a man in good shape and not a crazy partier. This image is one I live up to every day. My father tells me health is wealth and you need to take care of yourself. This mindset makes me want to work out to be in the best shape possible and also not overdo it when I do go out with the guys.
I wouldn’t change my name for anything. I love the two Joe Bevere’s that have come before me, and I love everything they stand for. From coaching me in sports, to how to act as a person, and how to live a healthy lifestyle, I would not be the man I am today without these two men. They have taught me countless life lessons and how to live in general. I am proud to have the name Joe Bevere, and I look forward every day to living up to the reputation that precedes the name.
You don’t realize the true cost of war until you read the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien. In the novel we learn about the true struggles soldiers carry during and after their time at war. The first weight the soldiers must carry is the fear of being a coward. We see this many times throughout the novel where a member of the group does something to the extreme to show they are not a coward. Another thing the soldiers face a lot is the guilt from their actions. In war you are put in many tough situations and have to make very tough decisions and this weighs heavy on your conscience. The final thing the soldiers face is life after the war and the struggle to go back to everyday life and fit into society. Every soldier leaves for the war but not everyone comes back. These soldier’s carry these weights with them for the rest of their lives.
The idea of not blushing and being a coward is one that is on every soldiers mind. It was on their mind from the day they signed up for the military and got exacerbated the day they found out they have been drafted. O’brien makes it clear to us from the very beginning that the soldiers in vietnam faced this, “They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.” (20) These men wanted one thing and one thing only and that was to preserve their reputation. No man in the group wanted to be seen as a coward so they did whatever they had to, to be seen as a courageous man. Even in the heat of a battle these thoughts are flowing through the soldiers minds, “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was a sense of shame. Hot, stupid shame. I did not want people to think badly of me.” (49) Once again the main thing running through the soldier’s mind is preserving their reputation. None of the soldiers want to feel ashamed or embarrassed by shying away from the battles or any of the other obstacles that war throws at you. It’s sad that this is a thought that the soldiers had to carry from the day they signed up for the military and how it only gets worse once you enter battle. Also some of these actions that these men do to preserve their reputations leaves them with uncontrollable guilt.
Guilt is something every soldier goes through from their time at war. It weighs on the soldiers conscience and sometimes can eat away at you enough to make you take your life. It starts to weight on this young soldiers conscience right after he lost a fellow soldier, “He’d lost Kiowa and his weapon and his flashlight and his girlfriend’s picture. He remembered this. He remembered wondering if he could lose himself. (164) The young soldier just lost a brother, his flashlight and his girlfriends picture which was very important to him. Now he is left wondering if he will also lose himself here in Vietnam. With everything he is going through will he survive the guilt he is facing? Later we learn that it was the young soldiers fault for Kiowa’s death, “Beside him, a few steps off to the left, the young soldier was still searching for his girlfriends picture. Still remembering how he had killed Kiowa. The boy wanted to confess.” (169) The boy wanted to confess to the others that it was his fault and that he felt guilty for exposing them to the enemy. This is something the boy will carry with him forever and can never escape it. This leads into the weight the soldiers carry after the war.
Once the war is over the soldiers head right back to the United States. While most people think this is all the soldiers ever wanted it is far from it. No soldiers come back the same way they left and their lives have been forever changed from the war, The thing is, “he wrote, “‘there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean. It’s almost like i got killed over in Nam… Hard to describe. That night when Kiowa got wasted, I sort of sank down into the sewage with him… Feels like i’m still in deep shit.”’ (150) This is Norman Bowker explaining how he feels disconnected from society after returning from war. He feels like there’s no place for him to go and that a part of him died in Vietnam. This is something almost every soldier carries with them once returning from war and for some it is just to much to handle, “His friends found him hanging from a water pipe. There was no suicide note, no message of any kind. “‘Norman was a quiet boy,”’ his mother wrote, “and I don’t suppose he wanted to bother anybody.”’ (154) This is Norman Bowker’s mother explaining how her son killed himself. His life after the war was never the same and mentally he must have not been the same. It must have been to much to carry on his mind that lead him to believe suicide was the only option which is sad. It shows how much war has an effect on people.
The weight these soldiers had to carry while at war and after it is astonishing. From the instant pressure to be seen a courageous soldier and not a coward, to dealing with the guilt of their actions and to their life after the war.
Marines with Company G, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, direct a concentration of fire at the enemy during Operation Allen Brook, 8 May 1968. (Official Marine Corps Photo # 371490).
Seeing that puck cross the goal line with the crowd starting to erupt, then going and cellying with the boys, that’s what makes me feel alive. I remember scoring my very first goal and the thrill it gave me when that puck crossed the goal line. The thrill of my first hat trick, going down on one knee and cellying so hard embracing the moment. When I scored 5 Goals in one of my high schools games last year it felt surreal and made me feel amazing. Seeing that puck cross the goal line with the crowd starting to erupt, then going and cellying with the boys, that’s what makes me feel alive.
Early Sunday morning in Billerica Mass, The Reading squirt 1’s are playing Billerica. This was my first year of hockey and we are a couple of games into the season and I have yet to score my first ever goal in a hockey game. I remember receiving the puck in the high slot with no one around me, one on one with me and the goalie and I shoot it five hole and it slides in. I remember the thrill of joy I received turning to my right and going down on one knee and celebrating it was amazing.
Middle of the afternoon on a Saturday in Methuen Mass. I had a game against methuen before and I knew this was my rink. I just played well there and my last time playing there I scored two goals and came so close to my first career hat trick. When the game started I knew it was the day, I was buzzing playing great hockey. I got my first goal, then my second and I was just waiting till I got my third. The third period started and after a couple of shifts in I got it. Seeing that puck cross the goal line and knowing I just achieved something I dreamed of, it was surreal. I remember everyone coming over to me congratulating me and one of my teammates going to get the puck for me so I could have it. I still have the puck today next to all my other hockey memorabilia.
The second game of the season, coming of a big win against Hingham and already got a goal under my belt from scoring the first one of the season. This game was surreal. I scored on my very first shift beating the defender wide and receiving a beautiful pass from my line mate right on the tape. Then having a puck bounce out to me at the top of the circle and firing it top left for my second. To burying a lose in front of the net and not knowing if I scored it or another person. My teammate made a move by the defense man and we came in on a two on one and he slide it over to me and I one timed in top shelf and turned and went right down and did my celly thinking I either have four goals right now or that was my first career hat trick in high school. Then with about 7 minutes left in the third my teammate bumps a pass out to me on the side of the net and I slide it in. I remember thinking wow I just scored my fifth goal, I have never done this before. All my teammates coming over to me congratulating me saying are you kidding me that’s your fifth. After going down the line and getting on the bench the coach sat me and said I have enough, I think the real reason was he didn’t want me to break the record because he also had five goals in a game back in his high schools days playing for the same team.
Seeing that puck cross the goal line with the crowd starting to erupt, then going and cellying with the boys, that’s what makes me feel alive. Scoring a goal is an amazing feeling, everyone looking at you people cheering, it is something I truly cherish because who knows when you are scoring your last goal ever in competitive hockey. I enjoy every moment when that puck crosses the goal line because the thrill, the cheers and the glory are like no other.
Throughout my life, I have always craved the acceptance and approval of leadership figures. Whether it be teachers, coaches, bosses, or most importantly, my parents, I have always wanted approval from them. I’ve wanted the approval of a good job, the knowledge that I worked hard, and that I’m dedicated to making them proud. Even though I may not follow those guidelines at all times, whenever I let them down, I feel immense guilt and frustration at myself for not doing better. Because of this, if I fail, I am dedicated to doing a better job that next time. An example of this was last year.
I woke up at 7 am in my soft bed with light peaking through the window, shining brightly onto my face. It’s Christmas break and I’m ecstatic at the fact that I don’t have to get dressed quickly to go to school. I heavily sigh and throw my sheets to the side. I hear the vacuum cleaner running downstairs and I know I’m in for a harsh morning. I lurch out of bed, slowly climb into my sweatpants and sweatshirt then quietly creep downstairs. I get down to the first floor and my mother spots me, then quickly orders me to put away the dishes stacked up from last night’s dinner. I mumbled a sleepy “okay” and proceeded to fill a cup of coffee, completely ignoring what my mother told me. Once I am finished mixing a normal sized black coffee with a few drops of milk, and a small spoonful of sugar, I head over to the couch adjacent to the kitchen. I plop myself down on the couch, and down comes Dylan from his mansion of a room upstairs. He fixes himself a straight black cup of coffee and sits himself down on the opposite corner of the couch. He sighs the same heavy sigh I did earlier as he was also told to put away the dishes from my mother. We both sip on our coffee and he comments that I need to do the chores this morning. I instantly wake up from my sleepy daze into a increasingly angry attitude, I think to myself, why should I have to do the chores this morning? I did them last weekend and so did he, but neither of us remembered who did the chores last. Because of this, I grew angry that I had to do the chores and not him. We quickly got into a yelling match about who needed to do the chores, ending with both of us storming off angrily to separate parts of the house.
The chores still had not been done. It was a freezing, windy, and snowy morning where the animals needed to have hay to keep warm. Even though both of us knew that the animals needed to be taken care of, neither of us wanted to go out into the biting cold for over an hour and drop down thirteen, thirty plus pound square bales from the loft, then haul five to one chute, and five to another and cut the twine before dropping them through the chute into the basement where the cows were located. Not only that, but we also had to haul three of those thirty pound plus bales one hundred yards to the goat shed where we dropped and spread one of those bales to the goats. After that, we would haul the other two bales another fifty yards to the horse paddock where we would again spread the bales inside their shed. It’s not over yet though, we then need to make sure all of the waters are full, and free of ice so that the animals can drink from them. After equipping ourselves with a sledgehammer and shovel/pitchfork we would smash the four inch thick ice that accumulated the night before then fish the ice out with the shovel/pitchfork. All the while the biting cold is making its way through our gloves, jacket, and boots deep into our skin. Think we have done enough? You thought wrong. The waters still need to be filled, a task that could last well over an hour depending on how much the water was filled the night before. After filling all of the waters, which would be at least thirty minutes, the chores for the barn itself is over. Next up we make our way back up to the house in which we don’t go inside quite yet. After walking to the house we make a slight right and head toward the wood boiler. Depending on how well, and how much the person who filled it last night did, we would either simply fill the wood boiler with heavy logs, or we would semi-fill it because the fire was not high enough, or we would have to fully restart the boiler. After finishing this task, we are finally finished with the chores for the morning or evening, only to do it all over again that night or the next morning.
Mother cow that died along with one of her calf’s
But did we want to do that at the now 9 am in the morning? Hell no. After sulking around the house and exchanging angry remarks at each other every few minutes, it was now one in the afternoon and the chores still had not been done. One hour later and we hear a crash and VERY angry yelling coming from the front door. My dad has come home and noticed that the cows had gotten out. Once they got out, one of the dogs had chased them which resulted in them attempting to run away. The semi-peaceful morning had turned disastrous as one of the mother cows had tried to hop over a metal fence to our roping ring, this attempt was unsuccessful and resulted in the cow getting her leg caught in the part of the fence that linked it to another. It was not a catch that held the one-ton animal nicely though. Because of a ring that went into one of the links, part of the cow’s ankle was literally gouged down to the bone. The muscle that was supposed to be covering the bone was flapped off to the side. Blood had come out in large amounts from the ankle and dribbled over the metal fencing, but had quickly frozen due to the extremely low temperatures. Both Dylan and I were dragged out by our father to this horrifying sight. Luckily the cow was still alive. After heavy amounts of yelling, cursing, and blaming, we went to work trying to free the stuck cow. Due to the frozen ground, we could not move the fencing since it was frozen solid into the ground. The cow was so stuck in the link that even we could not free the ankle with our hands. After even heavier amounts of swearing and blaming, we came to the idea of cutting the linking joints that connected the two fences since it was the only way to free the cow. We then gathered bolt cutters and a hammer and went to work cutting the inch thick metal to free the cow. Fifteen minutes later and we had finally cut enough away to free the ankle from the fencing. Though we had freed the cow, she was in shock and would not move. The left ankle had no muscle support around it so there was no way she would even put the leg down, let alone be able to get up.
Now we were attempting to get her to stand up since there was no way we could lift up a one ton animal ourselves. After unsuccessfully pulling at her horns to encourage her to move, my father explained that he would be back and to just wait there and make sure she doesn’t die.
During that fifteen minutes, Dylan and I exchanged even more angry remarks such as “It was your f***ing turn, this is all your f***ing fault!” Needless to say, profanity was in about every single sentence said that day. After we grew tired of yelling the common swears, we turned to more colorful words to express our frustration with each other. We were so destined to hurt the other person that we started throwing ice, hammers, bolt cutters, punches and deeply personal insults. If there was anything at all that would make the other person angry, or feel bad, we would say it.
Our father returned with the tractor and quickly told us his plan to use the forks to lift the cow and attempt to make her stand. We then went to work moving the forks underneath the animal in a way that wouldn’t hurt her. After getting the forks underneath her, we used the tractor to slowly lift the cow to a point in which she could stand. Luckily she could stand, but only barely.
The wound on her ankle was still horrifying and we had done nothing yet to treat it. We decided to move her into the garage where it was a heated area and we could care for her a few days. Once we carried her to the garage on the tractor, Dylan and I quickly went to work cleaning, sterilizing, and wrapping the wound. Once the leg had warmed back up and the frozen blood that was clotting the wound thawed, blood started pouring out. We had to focus and stop the blood before she lost too much, after about three hours we had stopped the blood enough for us to wrap the wound and leave her alone. Dylan and I were exhausted and hoarse from yelling at each other all day, so we went our separate ways and relaxed for a bit, all the while occasionally checking up on the cow and changing the wraps.
Now you might be asking yourself, why was all of this important? And who did I let down?
Later on in the evening, my dad came back from running errands, took a shower, came downstairs and asked Dylan and I to come to the living room. He proceeded to explain that the cow that is in the garage is the best mother cow in the herd, and that she might be pregnant with a calf at that moment. He then explained that there was a strong chance that she might die due to blood loss, and if she survived that, which would be a miracle, she would surely die from not being strong enough to move. Because she was so hurt, if she was put back down with the herd, she would be an outcast as she wouldn’t be able to fight. She would be seen as a liability to the herd so she would be set out to die. Basically, no matter what, she is going to die. He then went into a long lecture of responsibility and taking the initiative to do things even if you don’t want to do them. I found that he was not angry during this lecture, he was just disappointed in us because we did not feed the animals, resulting in them getting out of their pasture in search for food, resulting in this disaster.
He was right, about a week later we had to put her down because she was an outcast of the herd and was unable to eat or drink with them or she would be attacked. I hate letting people down, and this is the reason why. Due to my inability to pick up the slack, a cow that was worth seven thousand or more lost her life. My father is an extremely busy man, he works hard to provide us with the ability to live at a beautiful farm, and go to an amazing school, all the while teaching us how to be men. After that ordeal, I found that there was no reason for me to let him down. Ever since then I have been committed to doing a good job whenever he asks me to do something, and if I ever do a bad job, I always try to make it up by doing an even better job the next time. To me, living on that farm with parents like mine have taught me the most important skills that anybody could have. Work hard, persevere, respect others, and take care of my damn responsibilities.
Could Reverend Dimmesdale be compared to the Fallen Angel? The one and only devil? Lucifer was once an angel of God, until he defied God and was banished from Heaven into the depths of hell. Because of Dimmesdale’s terrible act against God, could he be compared to or even be the devil? In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Dimmesdale is a figure of corruption and evil, much like Lucifer because he defies God and breaks the 7th commandment; all the while abusing his power to mask the sin he committed.
Fallen Angel
Dimmesdale defied God and broke the 7th commandment, which gave him the name, “Prince of Air”, which refers to the Fallen Angel; the devil. Dimmesdale relates significantly to Lucifer because he was a man of God, pure and holy. But by committing a heavy sin, he was punished by God in the way of guilt and Pearl. In the end of the novel, Dimmesdale is consumed by his sin after he preaches his last sermon on Election Day. Though Chillingworth is often described as the devil, he was evil from the start, but Dimmesdale was good and holy before being consumed by darkness. Because of these defiance’s, Dimmisdale is Lucifer himself.
The only way that Dimmesdale could have survived as the devil in a world of God was by masking his sin. He successfully hid his sin from the world by abusing his power as a minister. By acting on the weakness of the world and what the people thought of him, he could hide his sin for years. The people considered him the most holy and pure man on Earth and upheld him to the level of God. Little did they know, they were worshiping the god of sin and deceit; a trickster. Dimmesdale tricked the people into thinking he was holy, yet he really was the opposite. By using his power in that way and playing off the worshiping of the colonists, he commits sin after sin. Every day that Dimmesdale hides his true self, is another day that God adds to his guilt.
By abusing his power as a minister, and taking advantage of the trust the people had in him, Dimmesdale was plunged deeper into sin than ever before. But a man can only handle so much guilt, so after years of built up pain, he died.
It can be learned that God does punish for the sin committed by man and that even the most holy of people can quickly become the most evil. God will hold anybody to contempt, even his own angels. So yes, Reverend Dimmesdale can be compared to the Fallen Angel, and could even be the Fallen Angel himself. So now one must think, in a world where even the most holy have committed sins, what makes you think you’re so good?
To start off, we must ask essential questions to gain context about the situation. Where do you live? And, how long have you lived there? I live in the valley below a cliff in the unorganized territory of Mason Township. I’m not surprised that you are asking yourself where that is. Mason Township is basically made up of mountains and woods. Yes, it’s an unorganized territory, seems like the wild west, but add negative ten-degree temperatures and you got this lovely town. Because of our house being at the bottom of a cliff, we get ripping winds in the winter, similar to a dust storm in the desert. Oh, and if I may add, we have snow dunes as well.
Now to the second question; I have lived at my home in this Alaskan territory since I was ten months old. Though most would ask why I would want to suffer in this cold and “boring” place for so many years, I just ask them why they would want to suffer such mediocre and uneventful lives in a noisy city where you breathe in air and “taste” pollution. If one must be with others at all times to entertain themselves then are they living a free life? To be constantly judged by others in the actions you make; is that free?
This leads to the next question, what makes “my”home so special? I love my home because of the freedom I have when I’m there. To be able to walk a mile and not see a single person is bliss for me. Being able to walk 100 yards from my house and be in the forest where I can be one with nature is what I see as the perfect home, the perfect lifestyle. I can never become bored at my home, it isn’t possible. I can go for a hike, skate or swim at the pond, do work around the farm, ride a horse, build a wooden sword, shoot guns, hunt, collect maple syrup, and much, much more.
The one activity that I enjoy doing the most at home is going to the pond. Whether it be fall, spring, winter, or summer, it always has perks. In the fall the pond is beautiful, the foliage on the trees surrounding the water in the mountains is so vibrant one must witness it to experience its full beauty. Sunlight shining off the undisturbed water, and the absolute darkness of sound surrounding the entire area. The only things that disturb this stonelike appearance of the pond, is nature. Beavers, fish, bears, coyotes, foxes, deer, and other wildlife just add to the experience. This beautiful area fluctuates throughout the seasons to become a whole new landscape; one that can be compared to a winter wonderland.
During the winter the pond is just as amazing, a new set of liveliness, and a new set of activities. Hockey is a regular thing at the pond when there isn’t four feet of snow on the ice. The place is already amazing just by looking at it from the entrance. Snow covers the surrounding trees; it looks like a place straight out of a vacation booklet. Even the walk up to the pond is beautiful, it’s as if your walking through a forest to the north pole.
Though my home comes with its perks, it also comes with some… downsides. Because of it’s ripping winds and blizzard-like conditions, whenever I go to the barn to do chores, it requires a full body suit consisting of a sweatshirt, sweatpants, face mask, and wool socks located underneath snow pants, a heavy jacket, heavy duty muck boots, fur hat, ski goggles, and some extremely warm clothes. Going out into that wilderness during the winter is like going to Antarctica. Nobody at Hebron has a home like I do.
“What one thinks is right is not always the same as what others think is right; no one can be always right.” (Roy T Bennett) From the moment Christopher Columbus first set foot on the land of America, which has already been inhabited by the natives, until now, the land of freedom reached 525 years old. The first major group to actually colonize America was the Puritans, who came to search for religious freedom and was referenced largely in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. However, their strict belief system, thought to be liberated, had significant effects on the actual Puritans society and modern American society now. It has been often discussed whether any modern society would be more or less moral compared to the past ones. The question itself raises many concerns since applying contemporary ideals to historical standards could be unfair. Under today’s judgements, the Puritan society would have been condemned as being immoral, however, it is essential to remember that both time periods have very different opinions and both considered themselves to be right.
Even though the Puritans were leaving to search for freedom to practice their religious beliefs, they brought with them a rigid structure and rules of what was right and wrong. They had very clear standards of how people should behave and gave punishment to the ones that did not obey. The Salem Witch Trials was a major event that ended up prosecuting seventeen to twenty innocent people. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams falsely accused innocent women for witchcraft, who were either sent to prison or hanged, without any evidence. A whole society was living off of words being thrown around and making decisions based on them, regardless if they were right or not. Even the Judge Danforth, responsible for bringing justice to light, claimed he “cannot pardon these [people] when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just.” (Miller 113) It is ironic how Danforth said so since he has sentenced 12 people to death with no justification, and then claimed it would not be ‘just’ to not kill other people who were accused for the same crime.This highlighted how prejudiced and judgmental the Puritans were even with their own people.
The Scarlet Letter is a representative of how severe and impactful the punishment would be if the laws are broken. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin of adultery has condemned them. It has been revealed that “[Hester’s] penalty thereof is death. But, in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.” (Hawthorne 43) Hester’s punishment was supposed to be death, but due to the so-called generosity, she had to stand on a scaffold for three hours with a scarlet letter “A” to symbolize her sin. Puritan believed strongly in staying faithful to the point that their penalty would be considered dramatic to modern society.
In modern society, death sentence would not have happened simply due to false accusation of witchcraft or adultery. There is more acceptance and investigation in one’s behavior in a rush moment rather than jumping to conclusion. Cheating on one another is a matter of daily life now, and is usually resolved among individuals rather than taking it to the officials. In America, there are still 21 out of 50 states that consider adultery as illegal (Rhode). However, the penalty for infidelity is either a fine or jail time, which range around half a grand and three months in jail, not being hanged or publicly shamed for the rest of their lives. Those are also marriage dishonesty, and many would be resolved by divorcing. Today’s society has value in self instead of wasting effort in condemning others.
Even though the two time periods would conflict if they ever came into contact to each other, but it all boils down to the question of what is the objective of comparing them in the first place. America is a young country and has gone through a dramatic course of history that had major effects on today’s society. “The simple answer is that it matters because our civil society depends, as theirs did, on linking an ethics of the common good with the uses of power …Getting the Puritans right won’t change what we eat on Thanksgiving, but it might change what we can be thankful for and how we imagine a better America.” (Hall) The past might have passed, but the past still remains today. In Americans there are still leftover traits of Puritans and Americans are technically the Puritan’s descendant. Being aware of one’s ancestors history and having compassion is essential for modern society to thrive and prosper. Hall made a point that Thanksgiving was an atrocious act that will never be forgotten, but it is a holiday that is so ingrained in American tradition, removing it will not mean anything. However, having a different approach to it and being more cautious with thankfulness will make a change for American future.
America is not the same as it was 500 years ago. Today’s judgement of the past would be condescending, but if Puritan society had seen modern society, they would probably think it is insane. It all depends on each point of view and how it has developed because society changes constantly every day. Puritans belief of jumping to conclusion is a hyperbole in today’s point of view. So when comparing to widely apart time periods, it is essential to keep in mind that what is the purpose of the question and how to judge it squarely using present’s judgement.
Works Cited
Hall, David D. “Peace, Love and Puritanism.” The New York Times, The New York
“The scarlet letter has not done its office.”, remarked the narrator as Hester developed a strong dissent towards the social inequality that targeted her using an embroidered letter (Hawthorne 114). Throughout the novel, readers are well aware of the letter’s presence and its impact on Hester’s attitude towards her sin. It is undeniably true that the embroidery literally represented her sin, adultery, and it eventually became her only representation. Through time, however, there appeared a startling element that arguably had a greater significance on Hester and her sin more than the letter could. Pearl, being born of Hester’s sin, has evidently been an intolerable child with little similarity to her mother and an incredibly impeccable memory for reminding Hester of her misdeed.
Despite being a child born expected to be drenched in sin, Pearl ironically contradicts her morose mother. She is indeed a creation of sin, but she is also a composition of vibrant sun rays and lighthearted “capering”. Even around Hester’s constant sullen state in the graveyard full of buried corpses, Pearl manages to “[draw] her mother away, skipping, dancing, and frisking fantastically” as if she has been made “afresh, out of new elements” (Hawthorne 92). Seemingly going against everything and everyone had expected her to be on purpose, Pearl lives however she feels. It can be reasoned that Pearl is, afterall, a small child who has no self-control and behaves like every seven-year-old. In some cases, she shows a mischievously cunning side when smiling as a response to her mother’s tantrum. Moreover, Pearl is slowly extracting Hester’s essence as she grows up. In the beginning, Hester has been described as a symbol of elegance with her “dark and abundant hair” and “richness in complexion” in her face (Hawthorne, 37). Pearl came around with “a beauty that shone with deep and vivid tints” in traits she has inherited from her mother, maybe with even an intense bloom of colors (Hawthorne, 69). At the same time, beauty gradually fades away from Hester’s circulation and is replaced with a coarse and rugged presence as Pearl becomes brighter and brighter. Being the portrayal of sin in her mother’s life, Pearl makes a glamorous appearance that soon overshadows her mother.
Not only is Pearl’s presence and her completely contrary energy a physical reminder for Hester of her sin, Pear intentionally brings her mother’s scarlet letter to attention. All the way back when Pearl was a baby, she has already developed an interest in the scarlet letter and would not let it leave her sight. Feeling like she is constantly being watched, “Hester has never felt a moment of safety; not a moment’s calm enjoyment of her” by her observative infant (Hawthorne, 66). Aside from all the threats and hatred from townspeople that puts Hester in constant danger, even the child she gave birth to, Pearl, seems to add to her fear rather than ‘safety’ or ‘calm’ with gazing eyes. Also, since Hester only has Pearl as her companion and friend, every time Pearl appears, her sin trotters along. Regardless of the times when Pearl unintentionally hurts her mother, she definitely did it on purpose in several incidents. There are numerous of examples that could prove her conscious decision being very clear, but the mockery of Hester’s scarlet letter made out of seaweed was a detail one could not skip over. The fact that she meticulously arranged the seaweed so it formed the letter A like her mother’s was a bold move. Pearl has been dragging her mother through hardships with her obstination and the never ending remarks on the scarlet letter that she has no understanding of its meaning. Yet, it was also in this occurrence that Hester realized that her daughter is attempting a misguided act of sympathy, that she was not merely poking this pain for pure entertainment.
Pearl can be a stinging stimulation to an unforgettable affair to the one closest to her, nevertheless, she is an undeniable blessing in Hester’s life. In spite of the disobedience and her cheeky personality, Pearl has expressed sudden arbitrary tenderness when everyone least expects her to. When she approaches Dimmesdale in the beginning of the novel and “taking his hand in the grasp of both her own, laid her cheek against” with so much humanity it surprises even Hester (Hawthorne, 79). In this split moment, a new side of Pearl was uncovered unexpectedly. Pearl, the sinful Pearl, shows signs of sympathy that rises hope that she too, can love. She was definitely born with the label of evil marked on her, yet her existence is the sole reason why Hester is still alive. Through the encounter with Mistress Hibbins, Hester finally concludes that if Pearl was taken away, she “willing would have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!” (Hawthorne, 80). Certainly, Pearl can be a trouble, but she is undeniably the only joy in her mom’s life.
Pearl is a complicated character who brings bitter happiness to her mother. An embodiment of sin that sets herself completely apart from her mother with her rays of merriment and the beauty essence she inherited. Her sheer constant presence is a living mental note of Hester’s sin that intentionally jabs at her. To sum up, Pearl represents sin and punishment by radiating opposite energy from her mother to remind her how miserable she is. She is indeed a small clever child who just wanted to understand what is going on in the novel like readers are. However, it is important to understand that even though she has been troublesome, whether intentionally or not, she is being considered as a symbol of devil in the skin of a seven-year-old.
