Annotated Bibliography Abate, Michelle Ann. Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History. Philadelphia: Temple, 2008. Print. Michelle Abate has put together a scholarly evaluation of the evolution of the “tomboy” through recent American history. She examines this cultural transformation of the female persona by examining prominent characters in literature and film. She writes about the March sisters in Little Women but also analyzes lesser-known characters like Capitola Black in The Hidden Hand. Her goal is to help the reader understand how the definition of “tomboy” has changed since the 18th century and the impact change has on feminist culture the 21st century. She covers the role race and sexuality have in defining the “tomboy” image and …show more content…
What Katy Did. Auckland: The Floating Press, 1872. EBSCO. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under the pen name Susan Coolidge wrote a series of children’s novel in the 19th century. This first in a series of books that focuses on Katy Carr and her family. Coolidge creates a mischievous character in Katy. Early on, Katy is a writer and storyteller who imagines the world around her is at her disposal. Once her invalid cousin arrives, there is a shift in the presentation of independence of Katy. Coolidge now creates a character in Katy that must be subdued and conform to the role women played in the 19th century. The pivotal point for Katy is created by a tragic accident and because she is now an invalid she must adhere to the social norms of darning socks and …show more content…
The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin, 1986. Print. This classic novel is set during the infancy of this country. The Puritanical community of 17th century Boston finds the condemned Hester Prynne with a scarlet letter A upon her chest along with the product of her indiscretion, an infant. Upon the gallows, she is ordered to reveal the name of the father of her child yet she remains steadfast in her resolve to remain silent and create a life for herself and Pearl. This decision allows the reader to understand the tension that the puritan way of life created for all of the citizens. The novel begins with the story of the narrator and his role within his customs house duties two hundred years after Hester’s story ended. The narrator’s story is a direct reflection of Hester’s story and has many of the same symbolisms. Within the custom house the narrator is surrounded by men who are the embodiment of do as I say not as I do. He is also isolated within his own community much like Hester was in Boston. The Scarlet Letter is an example of early drama that was created by strong symbols including nature vs nurture, evil and original sin. This work by Nathaniel Hawthorne's is the beginning of the conflict that really began in the 18th century of intelligence vs. emotions and how society moved away from Puritanical idealism with the advent of the
During the roaring twenty’s a new type of women arose, a women who rebelled against society’s standards for women, the Flapper Girl. The new Flapper Girl shocked society by setting a new type of women beauty that expressed their independence just like men. Meanwhile the Gibson Girl was the ideal figurehead for female beauty, they were often shown as fragile and vulnerable. Flapper Girls astonished the world by pushing the limits of the average Gibson Girl setting new limits that were never foreseen before for women.
The Scarlet Letter is set in Boston in the mid-1600’s. There are a number of different settings inside this, including Dimmesdale and Chillingworth’s quarters, the scaffold at night and day, Hester’s cottage, the Governor’s home, and the forest.
The title of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter refers to the literal symbol of ignominy that Hester Prynne’s community forces her to wear as a reminder of her sin. Though the word “ignominy” is used in sympathetic passages that describe Hester Prynne’s disgrace as an adulteress and out-of-wedlock mother, its use at the same time reveals an extremely critical description of Hester’s community; Hawthorne finds that what is truly disgraceful is the way the community relishes and exploits the opportunity to punish one of its members.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter took place in the Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, in the 17th century or in other words, the 1600’s. At this time the majority of the country was Puritans. This book takes place in a small town of Boston. In this book there are two major characters, Hester Prynne, and Reverend Dimmesdale.
Hawthorne’s presentation of Pearl can be defined as ‘the sin child’ and profane product of the fall from grace of Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. The author refers to her as the ‘the scarlet letter endowed with life’ (Hawthorne 90) and is seemingly the living likeliness of the letter. Incongruously, Pearls looks more like the Hester before the scaffold. The story depicts extreme repression of Puritan patriarchy where Pearl becomes the target of the attempts of the Puritans to control the literary, historical expression as well as human sexuality. The text thus comes out as a dramatization of a relationship between whose child Pearl is and questions regarding the interpretation of the letter. As such, one of the ways that Hawthorne makes it relevant is through the validity and supremacy of the doubt within the community regarding the child where he represents it as a separate investigation into its own significant
Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.
The Scarlet Letter takes place in the 1600’s in a Puritan settlement. Hester Prynne, a young woman, is convicted of adultery, has a baby named Pearl, and has to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. The same day that she has to stand on the scaffold, Hester’s husband from Europe, Roger Chillingworth,
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1849. This novel won him much fame and a good reputation as a writer. In writing The Scarlet Letter, Hawethorne was creating a form of fiction he called the psychological romance. A psychological romance is a story that contains all of the conventional trappings of a typical romance, but deeply portrays humans in conflict with themselves. The Scarlet Letter won Hawthorne great critical acclaim, and even today the book remains on the best seller list. The Scarlet Letter is so popular maybe because generations of readers can interpret it and see subtle meanings that somewhat reflect their own lives. Each of us, has
Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester
Society has unintentionally been guided by the same themes since the beginning of time. The recurring themes that are present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter are still relevant in today’s society. When high school students and teachers claim that Hawthorne’s novel is archaic and should be removed from the curriculum, they are absolutely wrong. Hester Prynne, the main character of the novel, commits adultery and as punishment, has to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for everyone to see. Throughout the novel, Hester is faced with obstacles such as the struggle between self and society and the burden of publicly suffering for her sins. Despite a substantial amount of time having passed since Puritan times, the themes that Hester Prynne had to experience are still pertinent. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, is driven mad by his incessant need for revenge and in society today there are many occasions where people are plagued with the desire to seek vengeance. There are some instances in life where human nature takes over without people even realizing and revenge is one of them. Also, people are right when they say “history repeats itself” because some of these themes never go away. The Scarlet Letter takes place in the strict religious time of the 1600’s and although the book seems outdated and obsolete, the ideas inside are still relevant and therefore high school students should continue to read this work
The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that takes place in the town of Boston, Massachusetts in 1642. Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, commits the sin of adultery. Because of this sin, she is "blessed" with a child named Pearl. Her punishment is to wear a scarlet letter “A" on her chest for the rest of her life, which affects the way the townspeople look and act around her. Also, she must stand on the scaffold in the town for three hours for the whole town to recognize her grave sins. The man who should be standing upon the scaffold along with her and Pearl is the town minister, Dimmesdale. He is presented as a weak character because of his fear of losing his beloved reputation as such a holy
“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle” Napoleon Hill. The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes place in Boston 1642, a religious puritan town with firm rules set in place. The conflict of the novel is focused between the character’s sense of morality and the emotions they hold for the ones around them. The main protagonist, Hester Prynne is a humble but strong headed woman who kept her strength throughout the novel when faced with adversity. She was bound by the letter A for adulteress as she had borne an illegitimate child; the purpose of the scarlet symbol was to mark the possessor with shame. However, Hester wore the excessively embroidered symbol on her heart with pride. Hester Prynne showed
In Jamaica Kincaid’s story, Girl, a mother is talking to her daughter about all the proper things she must do to be considered a good girl to her family and to the public, and when she grows up, a proper lady. She must follow the rules that are given to her by her own mother and by society. The mother also teaches the daughter how to act when things don’t go her way. She is told that along with being a proper lady, she must also be able to get what she wants and be independent. This story was written in the late 1970’s and gender roles, for women, back then were not being “followed” because women wanted equal opportunities (Women In the Workforce). “Gender stereotypes are beliefs regarding the traits and behavioral characteristics given to individuals on the basis of their gender” (Deuhr). This essay will discuss the gender roles that were given to women in the story, during the late 70’s, and in today’s society.
In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the narration of a mother lecturing her daughter with sharp, commanding diction and unusual syntax, both affect the evolution of a scornful tone, that her daughter’s behavior will eventually lead her to a life of promiscuity that will affect the way people perceive her and respect her within her social circle. As well as the fact that it emphasizes expectations for young women to conform to a certain feminine ideal of domesticity as a social norm during this time and the danger of female sexuality.
It's abundantly clear that there are distinct physical differences among the sexes, however women and men have been taught and thrown into a structural system that has brainwashed us into believing that based on what sexual organ you so happened to be born with you must follow the guidelines throughout life to fulfill that particular gender. Growing up as a female in society you are taught that barbies, baby dolls, Polly pockets, playing dress-up, and liking the color pink is essential to being a "proper girl" and that taking a fancy to hot wheels, action figures, and Pokemon cards is considered wrong and you automatically get labeled a "tomboy." Although, the word tomboy is not considered an insult or a rude name it's just an unnecessary word