Honors American Literature (E)

Walking into my front door, finally home from 4 and a half long months spent away at Hebron Academy was a breath of fresh air. Feeling as if I was finally back where I wanted to be, escaping all of the grip of school I rushed upstairs back to my room. Empty like no one had lived there before I threw my backpack down onto the floor, and moved my computer back into its designated spot. Turning my LED’s back on only aided the feeling of return that I was desperately searching for. An hour of work rushed by me like it had only been 5 minutes due to my blazing ability to remember how I like everything set. However suddenly that all changed when I felt my stomach grumble. I was hungry.

However, unlike Hebron, no one was waiting to cook all of my meals round the clock without me even lifting a finger. I was responsible for my own dietary scheduling. However nothing could have prepared me for my journey downstairs to the fridge. The horrors of nail bitingly sweet cheesecake and savory perfectly cooked steak with a side of rice wafted into my nose with one opening of the door. My eyes rushed for something that I could feel comfortable eating in the pleasures of my own home but to no avail. I was stuck at an impasse, however instead of many opinions there were none at all. “We have to go to the grocery store right now!” I shouted to my mom.

Even after a 2 and half hour car ride I was still eager to hop back into the car if it meant that I could decide what I was going to feed myself. While I certainly loved the idea of fully catered meals, I will always be the independent type who wants to figure things out and understand things for myself. Whether it meant sprinting to the finish line or crawling inch by inch, I loved the idea of making it to the end on my own. Even though I had no idea what I wanted to make, or how I was going to make it I knew that whatever I decided, it was going to be uniquely my own.

“Alright, we’re here.” my mother groaned as she climbed out of the car. Nervousness flooded my body while I was walking into the grocery store. The whole car ride went by and I hadn’t even decided what I wanted to make. However a sudden idea popped back into my head, a reminder of how I had already laid the groundwork for my success in the moment. Notes that I had taken back at school, recipes that were going to be easy good choices for me. However, one stood out in particular, fried rice, it was easy with relatively minimal ingredients, one of which was already in the fridge waiting for me back home. I now had a plan and knew exactly how I was going to do it, all that I needed now was extreme permission in my execution.

Four ingredients, leftover rice, soy sauce, egg whites, and vegetables. Those were ultimately what was needed for my recipe of the champions. I had set up everything in the kitchen to go, my trusty frying pan by my side. I ferociously chopped up my vegetables, consisting of carrots, green beans, and onions. With every chop I could feel my technique growing far beyond my age. Tossing vegetables into the pan first to let them brown, I got my egg whites ready. I specifically chose egg whites because they are lower in calories than whole eggs while providing much more protein benefiting my diet. I cautiously lowered in the egg whites, ensuring that the pan wasn’t too hot causing the complete destruction of my dish. Finally the rice, topped off with the soy sauce to give me that salty and savory flavor that I was hoping for.

After roughly 10 minutes of work, and what felt like a battle in the kitchen, my meal was prepared. My eggs sparkled in the sun, and my soy sauce gave depth to the appearance. I was filled with so much pride for myself that while walking up to my room, I knew I needed a snapshot of this moment. A quick photo was all I needed to capture this breathtaking moment. So I quietly whisked off to my room, and devoured my fried rice.

Looking back to the past, I have a strong conclusion on where my summer ended as a child. Growing up half-black in Boston was always a tough part of living. Everyone asked me who I was, and more specifically, what I was. Occasionally, I would get picked up from preschool by a white father, and other days a black mother. On the odd circumstance, both of them at the same time. However, the differences in my life only got more exaggerated once I was home. Nothing a child who could count his years alive on one hand could ever prepare for, even when he prepared for the worst imaginable. Two towering grownups clashing against each other, with booming voices that rumbled through my core.

Hastily moving up the stairs with my older brother in hand, a sinking feeling slowly starts to cut through me like a knife through butter. Once I turned the corner into the dark however oddly  inviting room, I briskly plopped myself down at the Spider-Man video game that we used to play on our tube TV. Bright colors began to flash as I took the controller, gripping it firmly in my hands. The sounds of arguing below me, slowly washing away like waves on a beach as it’s replaced with the action in front of me. Comfort fills over me, and a momentary respite begins to flutter, my mind full with transformation.

Playing Spider-Man with my older brother, there was a clear border between the characters. Me, playing the hero saving the day, and the evil-doers distorted by a life of crime. But below me, the arguing that ensued was different. I idolized both sides, both mother and father. Both playing the hero in my story, I had to ask the question: who was the villain? My brain powered up like a rocket ship in search of answers far above my small, powerless self. 

Passing the controller off to my older brother, who was far better at Spider-Man than I was, I started wondering more about the game I was playing. The meaningless characters in a simple fifty dollar video game proved more thought provoking than any prior experience in my life. Who were the people I was fighting with? Why was I hurting these people so badly? Why are these people doing bad things that no one I knew personally would? To these questions, the game had no answer. Only I could come up with the answers to these questions that I was posing. 

Although I wouldn’t realize it at the time, those questions were immediately answered, providing me with understanding and maturity beyond my years. No one side was correct in their thinking. Two people that were fighting for something they believed to be completely true. A situation riddled with complexity, that for good and bad was forever altering a child’s mind. Spider-Man, the game, was over. I had lost interest, as now I could see the falsities hidden inside, clear as day.

I sit here presently thinking about all those who don’t have access to the basic essentials of life. All those riches of life and precious puzzle pieces necessary to the function of my body are somehow not accessible to all. Upon reflecting, I believe that an education and an opportunity to thrive in society is necessary for every single human.

School is so expensive, but why? Adults are often stuck paying loans decades after graduating college, but why? Some families don’t even have the means to allow their children to discover the whole new world of opportunities that knowledge offers, or even discover their true potential, but why? A completely irrational concept to my eyes.

We have the duty, as a society, to ensure that every single human, whether as poor as a church mouse, or stranded in the middle of the desert, has access to the key which could unlock their true passions. I find it ridiculous that a child must rely on their parents being wealthy enough to pay for an education. Somehow, a child must wish to be lucky enough to be born into the minority of wealthy families in order to have similar opportunities as others. 

Even those fortunate enough to be brought up into prosperous families/areas can suffer the torture of student loan debt. Why must most people be handcuffed every year when loans still need to be paid by the(supposed to be) fruits of their labor while some lazy and lucky losers feast on their extreme luck. 

Now, I’m not saying that those fortunate enough to live comfortably should not take advantage of it, but there should be an opportunity for everyone. Creating schools funded by the government in areas where children dream of what could have been, or what if, would not only open doors for those individuals, but also reward society. A place where everyone has a key to the lock would create a more prosperous and efficient society.

Though I can’t create a change if I stand alone, the support of others would veer this idea to be more powerful than any individual. A clear majority has suffered the price of knowledge. A clear majority has dreamed about thriving in whatever aspect of life only certain keys unlock. A clear majority acknowledges education as an essential to a human life. A clear majority should therefore stand in unison and advocate for their beliefs to create a world free of invisible barriers where free education exists and every individual can truly be free. 

At the moment, life is a game, but rigged in favor of those who have access to some cheat codes granting them an education. The light that an education brings to one’s life is truly astonishing. It unveils gold buried deep inside our brains. Now, what if everyone had the same cheat codes for this game? An even game would be in play and cheating would no longer be relevant: everyone’s a winner. I now think to myself: what if? I hope that one day wondering what could have been will become non-existent.

He was more afraid of losing the girl in his life rather than losing his fellow man until he realise that shouldn’t be the case.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, a Vietnam veteran, tells stories of a platoon during Vietnam War. Some of his stories are imaginary, some aren’t, but one thing is true the platoon is full of young men. Many people and actions have influenced these men on or during their journey there. But who has influenced them the most? Women taught and reminded them of how the war changed people through Mary Anne Bell’s transformation as well as the ignorance of the narrator’s own daughter toward his past and the love soldiers carry for those they leave behind, and the Vietnam War.

The presence of Mary Anne Bell, a woman, reflects the idea that even the most innocent can be abruptly corrupted by the war. Mark Fossie, one of the soldiers in the platoon decided to sneak his girlfriend to the war and campsites, where they were staying but lived to regret it. At the time he didn’t know what to do. “Mark Fossie stood rigid. ‘Do something,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t just let her go like that.’ Rat listened for a time, then shook his head. ‘Man, you must be deaf. She’s already gone’” (O’Brien 107). Mary Anne Bell has come to Vietnam, beautiful young, interested in the world, and soft. But with each passing day, the war began changing her in various ways. She became less empathetic, and more importantly less interested in Mark. Before the war started changing her, all the soldiers showed jealousy for her, ‘so innocent’, ‘The war still hasn’t gotten to her’. They were also attracted to her, even with a small glance from her. Boys noticing the change acknowledged it and also recognized the effects of the war on an innocent person. This woman has influenced the men in the platoon in a way for them to recognize innocence pre and after the War. Not only that, O’Brien uses fiction to teach readers.

When telling the story to his fictional, according to the interview, daughter, Tim exposes her as ignorant of his past (Clark). Throughout the chapter “Field Trip” Kathleen O’Brien keeps on asking her father unaware questions, however, O’Brien did this on purpose: “That’s fiction, I made it up. She’s made up, too, I don’t have any daughters. I needed a child to ask hard questions, “Daddy, did you kill anybody?” which is the question that generates that ambush chapter. Adults don’t ask those questions, they’re too polite and well-mannered”(Clark). She also calls him weird: ”You know something? Sometimes you’re pretty weird, aren’t you”.(O’Brien 175) Readers will feel bad for Tim. His own daughter has complete ignorance of what he has done for the country and the choices he made in order to survive; nevertheless, she has influenced him in a way to write a story about her, even though we later find out she wasn’t real. That story shows us how people can be ignorant of veterans when they just want to open up and tell people about what they have been through. Kathleen became an entryway to write about and share his own experiences and thoughts about people who haven’t gone to war. Unfortunately, women were used as scapegoats for men’s own failures.

In the first chapter of The Things They Carried Tim opens the book by showing what each soldier in the platoon carries. He shows both tangible and intangible items. The first character Tim opens with is Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who carries photos and letters from a girl named Martha: “More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the letters were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love. She was a virgin, he was almost sure.” (O’Brien 1). This girl has been in Jimmy’s heart every day throughout the war until the pictures were burned. The girl has influenced him negatively due to him losing his sense of caring for his fellow soldiers, after all, he was in charge of the platoon. His own soldiers had their life on the line. Martha hasn’t been fully developed in the novel, however, she functions as a distraction for Jimmy from protection from his fellow soldiers. He was more afraid of losing the girl in his life rather than losing his fellow man until he realise that shouldn’t be the case.

Women in The Things They Carry have a great influence on the man whether it’s negative or positive. Soldiers have been influenced to learn from them and remind themselves what innocence before the war looks like and how people change and come back home after it. Not only that, but O’Brien uses the image of a young girl, who was his own ten-year-old daughter, to show us the generalization of people toward people with war experience.

Work Cited

O’Brien, Tim. Things They Carried. MARINER BOOKS, 2022.

Clark, Mike “Mike Clark: Interview with Author Tim O’Brien Is Illuminating.” The Florida Times-Union, Florida Times-Union, 3 June 2012, https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/columns/mike-clark/2012/06/03/mike-clark-interview-author-tim-obrien-illuminating/15864806007/. 

There was not a worry in our minds. Over the rolling hills, a cool summer breeze blew through, and pierced the hot air.  Ahead of us, the sun was slowly setting in the far distance and pulled the warmth from us. On top of the world, we felt nothing but love for each other, we had watched each other’s smiles numerous times before.  And then the news came, the news I had dreaded, the news that he had both yearned for and feared had been announced. 

Every word we said to each other was ingrained in our minds. The words were on a repetitive record player in my mind, that drowned out all outside noise. 

At least we were still with each other at that moment. Beneath my smile, my heart had sunk. Under all the hugs and smiles, were tears and long nights.

By redirecting my attention, I was able not to be distraught; he had worked for this opportunity for years. Now he is working hard to achieve his goals; his hard work is paying off. He works so hard everyday to make everyone around him happy. 

The simple times sweep over us like a wind that takes a flag in the breeze. The simpler times are in the past but not forgotten. The simplest times await us in a long queue for the future months along with the many weeks and days that are woven within those months.  

Suddenly, he is standing in the distance, just far enough from me that I wasn’t able to fully make out his facial features. He quickly starts running like the wind towards me and I freeze in my steps; he reaches me and I melt into his embrace. Everything is right in the world; our journey has begun. 

The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the most famous American books, has a lot of symbolism. One of the very debatable symbols is the eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg. In the novel they appear three times and have been used by the author each time, yet a character claims them to be God, but readers may see it as a prediction for something bad, is it necessarily true? Yes, the eyes monitor the action and appear in times where there is an action between characters. Mischief, violence, Truth, and murder are the themes watched by the eyes. When the eyes appear in a chapter, the reader immediately know something is about to happen.

Doctor T. J. Eckleburg is the God and a harbinger.

The main character, Nick Carraway, perceives them as scary, yet doesn’t acknowledge they are there to watch over the other characters: “The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic their retinas are one yard high. … But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.” (Fitzgerald 19) Nick describes them as ‘dimmed by many paintless days’, what he means by that is they are shady and supervising over the Valley of Ashes. The reasoning behind their appearance is mischief at this point in the book due to Tom introducing his paramour, Myrtle Wilson, to Nick. Tom thinks mischief is okay and doesn’t feel bad. Later in that chapter, Tom punches Myrtle for pointing out she knows Daisy. Eyes of T. J. Eckleburg are used by Fitzgerald to predict something terrible in the novel. They predicted two themes: mischief and violence.

The second time the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg appear is when George Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, finds out his wife is having an affair but doesn’t know with who. Not only that but also Tom gets suspicious of Daisy and Gatsby having an affair. Tom decided to offer a trip to town but things really go crazy there; “Then as Doctor T. J Eckleburg’s faded eyes came into sight down the road, I remembered Gatsby’s caution about gasoline…’Let’s have some gas!’ cried Tom roughly.” (Fitzgerald 76) Nick by looking at the eyes remembered Gatsby warning to fill gas, Tom used this occasion and stopped at the gas station with mr. Wilson. Tom’s tone was angry and wanted to challenge Nick about it. Later after the eyes were mentioned, Tom and Gatsby had a long discussion about who Daisy loves more, unfortunately that’s when Gatsby ruined his chance. After that scene, something goes wrong, again with the appearance of the eyes pre the incident.

The appearance of the eyes for the third time is significant, while it gives out the author’s opinion. George Wilson is having really hard problems with grieving after his wife’s death. and that when the eyes make the fourth final appearance; “Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J, Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night.’God sees everything,’ repeated Wilson” (Fitzgerald 98). This is the first time a character in this novel is referring to the eyes as the God. Fitzgerald himself wanted the eyes to be God and present a watched and a prediction toward an action, he has shown that through the expression of George; ‘God sees everything,’. Later Wilson kills Gatsby thinking he is the guy Myrtle cheated with on him and the guy that killed Myrtle. He also commits suicide.

Doctor T. J. Eckleburg is the God and a harbinger. The actions after he appears proves this and Fitzgerald expression about them through George Wilson. The debatable question what symbol the eyes complete is not too hard to answer with the right evidence, but with an authors opinion about it is pretty certain what is it.

Planning is one of the most important but the hardest task to do. I received a task in October to plan a New Years’ Eve Party for my friends and myself. It was hard, but it did blow up in our faces after barking up the wrong tree too many times.

We wanted to spend it together and even though we planned it out, it ended poorly.

I was woken up on the weekend by the wind howling against my window. The annoying phone ringing in the background didn’t help. Not fully awake yet I tried to answer it and so I did.

“Jakub!!! What do you have so far?” My friend Maria shouted. The scream energized me instantaneously. I didn’t really think about anything before, not where to have it nor whether I should host it so I decided to just do it in the apartment that my parents have for rent. I didn’t want to do it because I hate hosting any party but I had to say something. After the conversation, I called my parents and they gave me permission to do it, so I was relieved. Unfortunately, my friend’s ex-girlfriend had other plans.

After the Thanksgiving break when I came back to Hebron, I attended a hockey game, and a friend of mine, Maria, gave me a call. She was asking if it was okay if Simon (my best friend) was okay with attending his ex-girlfriend’s New Years’ party. Therefore we all came in on a call and as a boys’ part of our friend group, we agreed. Until the Christmas break, this topic wasn’t spoken about. We just knew what we were going to do.

Once I came back from the US, I was excited to finally meet with my friends. We went ice skating. We would stop all the time to discuss what we are going to do for the party which at some point made me mad because I came to hang out not do ‘business’.

“Boys, so what are we doing on New Year’s Eve? You guys are coming right?” Maria asked. We all looked at each other because the night before we had discussed more and we concluded that, because of our friend interaction with his ex-girlfriend from five minutes to one maybe two hours would be funny for us, his friends, but then it would just be awkward. 

“We are going to come for one hour maybe more and go back.” Unfortunately, she didn’t take it well and got mad at us. But we didn’t exactly know why. We really thought she would be happy with the fact that we would spend New Years’ party together and not separately. A stranger from another group was watching us and skated away once they saw that Maria was mad. After deciding to put away current brawls and arguments we decided to meet another friend, who was nearby and I really wanted to meet her too, her name is Malina. Unfortunately, Maria didn’t really agree with us, and shared it with her. Both of them started to get mad at us for no reason. Well for a reason but we didn’t know about it. 

A couple of days later after Christmas once Simon came back from his excursion to the south of Poland we had some bad news. Two days prior we got kicked out of the group chat. For Simon, it was a surprising event whereas for us it was understandable. The boys and I met in a shopping mall to hang out and accidentally we met Maria and Malina there. They asked us again about the party and we looked at each other and said “Yea… yea… sure… for one hour” as a joke. Unfortunately, they didn’t treat it as one and left us. The next thing I know we got kicked out and we decided to stay in my house watching Jason Derulo perform on TV because the tickets were sold out.

What we learned from this is that we shouldn’t contrive too much or it will blow up in our faces. Maria to this day is mad at us and now we still don’t know why, but looking back at it, it seems we should not have done what we have and we get some impression of why she is mad. We wanted to spend it together and even though we planned it out, it ended poorly. 

When talking about slavery pre-Civil War, we talk about complete racism towards black people from the white people. Often in school, in addition to this topic teachers mention a novel by Toni Morrison called Beloved. The book brings the topic of the struggle of Blacks after the Civil war, although many would argue not because of its fictional part. But then in the Foreword readers find out the book is based on a character that lived before the Civil War, Margaret Garner.

She died a couple of days before that interview with her husband because of sickness.

Margaret Garner was born on June 4th 1834, as a mixed African and European at that time, was a slave and lived on a plantation called Maplewood in Boone country, Kentucky, where she spent most of her life. She died in 1858 because of typhoid fever on a plantation in Mississippi. Her death location isn’t certain while some sources claim to say her husband Robert found her in Louisiana. As a slave of John Pollard Gaines, who took her on a lot of trips to free territories in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he sold the plantation to his brother in December 1849, Margaret married her husband Robert Garner and had four children with him. Unfortunately for them, the only one was actually theirs. His name was Thomas. The other three: Samuel, Mary, and Priscilla were called Mullatoes as their mother. Each one was born five to seven months after the slaveholder Archibald Gaines’s wife got pregnant and was sexually unavailable for him. It could have been anybody right, well no because Archibald was the only white male on the entire plantation. 

On 27 January 1856, which was a Sunday, Margaret and Robert with their family members had enough and escaped the plantation through the Underground Railroad. Unfortunately, they didn’t escape to Canada but to Joseph’s Kite House. Joseph was a relative of Margaret. The other escape mates made it safely to Canada and weren’t captured again. Whereas Garners within hours got caught, with a storm by Gaines and federal marshals due to the Fugitive Slave Act. Robert tried to defend his family with a pistol and in the process, Margaret was determined not to let her children go back to slavery nor let them live with what she had to live with. She grabbed a butcher’s knife and slit her youngest daughter, Mary, throat and then proceeded to stab her other children who were only wounded. The entire family was taken into custody and imprisoned. Their trial became the longest trial of all the “fugitive slave act” cases. Their lawyer was defending them that the trips done with her first slaveholder John justified their freedom in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and the judge denied the plea. It was already a lost cause, which resulted in their lawyer John Joliffe deciding to convince the marshals to arrest her under the crime of murder but it would also result in her family freedom, at least it was supposed to. The judge disagreed again and insisted that the case was a fugitive slave act case and not a murder case.

Gaines sold them to his brother. On the way there when traveling on a steamboat Henry Lewis to the plantation, the ship collided with another one, and Margaret’s daughter Cilla, who she was pregnant with when escaping, drowned. Instead of sadness, she expressed joy. After what happened in Ohio she never hurt another child her husband said but he also said Margaret always mentioned that the kids would ‘better for them to be put out of the world than live in slavery.’ She died a couple of days before that interview with her husband because of sickness.

Work Cited

Nichols, C. (2007, December 05). Margaret Garner Incident (1856). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/margaret-garner-incident-1856/

http://library.cincymuseum.org/aag/bio/garner.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Garner

Problems in this world have caught everyone’s attention; whether it is political, environmental, or social. Of course, there are ignorants, who prefer to ignore them, but know they exist. And some people completely oppose these problems and don’t believe they are real; therefore, the problems are ideas implemented by governments. Those people are basically absurd.

Problems in the world come all the time, and it relies on society to either fix them or eliminate them. One of the biggest problems of this world is racism. Racism started after Columbus discovered America and it has been over 500 years and it still hasn’t been solved. Racism is basically discrimination towards other skin colors than white. The most common is towards black people. I met a Bahamian person at my last school who told me about it. He said that every time he goes out there will always be a person who would honk at him or call him a slur. It’s not pleasant. He would always tell us about his dorm friends and never would go out alone but always with someone, which proves that he didn’t feel safe around the town. I have a dream that people are comfortable with each other and wouldn’t other people out. 

Since humans were created there have always been a minimum of two groups divided between each other; men and women. Women unfortunately have been disregarded and discriminated against by many men. There have been made many stereotypes that aren’t appropriate. Throughout my whole life, I have seen and been taught such things which are not right and shouldn’t be shaped by kids. My best friend whom I have known now for nine years, and compared to me, walking around my city, who has been kind to me, hasn’t been too kind to her. Adults, supposed to be responsible and an inspiration to younger kids, have called her bad names and behaved in the wrong way. I have a dream that every sex would be treated equally. 

Over a recent couple of years, politics in Poland weren’t the best. Independence day was harsh last year. During the independence march in town “kibole”, old Legia fans and rustics (that’s how we call them now), attacked and completely demolished a store, a couple of citizens who were just passing by and attacked police. Not only that the “should have been” police, that day and later too, were attacking random people too, people my age. Many of my friends didn’t go out for fear of being beaten down like others were. The government has made abortion illegal which inspired a woman to strike under the organization named ‘Woman Strike’. The most recent one was blocking Belarusian immigrants who need help from other countries and leaving them there. I have a dream of Poland being stable and peaceful once more as it was a long time ago.

I have a dream people feel safe going out of their houses.

I have a dream that people aren’t discriminated.

I have a dream that government didn’t feel like they could do whatever they wanted.

Her main function in the novel is to wake up the sin hidden inside Hester and Arthur.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is hated by many critics and students. Thomas Foster wrote an essay about his negative review, stating: ”I just don’t care for The Scarlet Letter. I’m sorry. Don’t get me wrong. I like Nathaniel Hawthorne” (T. Foster 1). The book is staged in the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, Puritan north of the colonies in America. It tells the story of a lady “Hester Prynne”, who committed adultery with a paramour (Arthur Dimmesdale) when being married to another man (Roger Chillingworth). The novel develops how she deals with the sin sewed on her cloth. In the novel, she keeps on falling back in love with Dimmesdale, but it would reveal him as the father of her daughter, Pearl. Every time she tries to forget or forgive herself, a person appears to make her remember it. Mistress Hibbins is an occasional character, but her appearances have long-term effects. The true question is whether her appearances are attacks or just attempts to get people turned to Satan from God. From the moment Hester meets Hibbins, she realizes the mistress does not have good intentions. She speaks to Pearl when she is without her father, and after the meeting of the lovebirds, she tries to separate them.

Mistress Hibbins is, in fact, based on a real woman named Ann Hibbins, who was executed for witchcraft in 1656, which gives a hint at when the action happens. In the novel Mistress Hibbins is the sister-in-law of governor Bellingham: “As they descended the steps, it is averred that the lactice of chamber-window was thrown open, and forth into the sunny day was thrust the face of Mistress Hibbins, Governor Bellingham’s bitter-tempered sister, and the same who, a few years later, was executed as a witch” (Hawthorne 79). As soon as she is introduced, Misstress Hibbins noticed that Hester is isolated. Readers immediately can infer that she made the deal with the devil; Hawthorne uses Black Man as a way to say his name. She invites Hester to the forest and by accepting the invitation she would join Hibbins on her journey to meet the Black Man in the forest. Luckily for Hester, Pearl saved her: “I must tarry at home, and keep watch over my little Pearl. (…) Even thus early had the child saved her from Satan’s snare” (Hawthorne 79). After the discussion of whether Pearl should be in the care of Hester or not, Hester could tell that somebody had to take care of her and so she rejected the offer. Some may see it as Pearl saving her from the Black Man rather than Hester herself. Mistress Hibbins notices that and uses it to her advantage.

The next time the Mistress is mentioned, Hawthorne explains Hibbins was in contact with Hester’s daughter Pearl telling her about how the A on her bosom is from the “Black Man” and her mother is meeting with him in the forest: “‘And who told you this story, Pearl,’ asked her mother, recognising a common superstition of the period. ‘It was the old dame in the chimney corner, (…) And that ugly-tempered lady, old Mistress Hibbins, was one. And, mother, the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man’s mark on thee, and that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight, here in the dark wood” (Hawthorne 125). Pearl, still trying to understand why her own mother has to wear a letter on her chest, believed it; questioning her mother later shocked Hester. The first time she lied to Pearl, reflected on her reaction and told little Pearl to go play and stop asking questions. Mistress Hibbins, although without Hester’s acknowledgment, was willing to use Hester’s daughter in order to gain her a “guest” at her small party in the forest. Pearl, the little child as she is, easily got manipulated, and as result, Hester revealed her anger to her. But after that, Mistress Hibbins’ intention changed after she discovered her new victim.

So far readers can only guess that Hibbins’s function in the novel is to provoke Hester to sin more, but after Hester met with Dimmesdale to discuss their feelings and expose themselves to each other, Mistress Hibbins tries to invite him to a talk at midnight: “Well, well! We must needs talk thus on the daytime! You can carry it off like an old hand! But at midnight, and in the forest, we shall have other talk together” (Hawthorne 148). Arthur questions himself whether he just sold himself to the devil with an assumption towards Mistress Hibbins: ”’Have I then sold myself,’ thought the minister, ‘to the fiend whom, if men say true, this yellow-starched and velveted old hag has chosen for her prince and master?’” (Hawthorne 149). Dimmesdale not fully sure what he has done shows Hibbins’s flair for gathering people towards the devil, but also has evidence that people already are afraid of her due to her being connected to the devil.

The last moment the readers get to see her is when she keeps on comparing Dimmesdale to a guest at Satan’s party, but after noticing something she is convinced Arthur is already a part of it: ”When the Black Man sees one of his servants, signed and sealed, so shy of owning to the bond as is the Reverend Mr. Dimmsdale, he hath a way of ordering matters so that the mark shall be disclosed, in open daylight, to the eyes of all world! What is that the minister seeks to hide, with his hand always over his heart? Ha, Hester Prynne?” (Hawthorne 161/162). Hibbins suggests to Hester that Arthur is hiding something and Hester knows what it is. The Mistress suspects it is the scarlet letter. Suspicion by mistress Hibbins indicates that she can feel the presence of nearby sinners and have the audacity to intervene and develop the sin inside of people.

Throughout “The Scarlet Letter” Mistress Hibbins appears four times and her objective is to gather followers for the devil. Her main function in the novel is to wake up the sin hidden inside Hester and Arthur. She manages to do that to Dimmesdale but not Hester. Pearl by her side saves Hester from Hibbins’ first “attack”, but when The Mistress realized it her second attack became on Pearl. This then reflects on Hester lying to her own daughter. Her third appearance is directed towards Arthur and is succeeded by making him doubt his religious position. By showing up in Arthur’s resignation speech, she notices that she managed to turn him without doing anything.

Work Cited

Hawthorne Nathaniel, 1804-1864, The Scarlet Letter, New York, 1988

Foster Thomas, “The Allegory Man Cometh.” New York. 2011