The Dichotomy Of Light And Darkness

Throughout the world, an undeniable, yet perpetual force is responsible for tearing nearly everyone apart: hopelessness. Often caused by instability or vulnerability, hopelessness plagues those who refrain from combating its vile side effects. Hopelessness loves company, producing an inseparable bond between itself and self-doubt. During wartime events, it’s imperative to display some form of resistance towards the crippling despair. Although on the surface hopelessness seems insurmountable, it can be fought. In All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr emphasizes how the vital tool of resilience can be used to conquer hopelessness in all situations.

“Like anything that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have a youthful era… a wild rose-bush, in this month of June, with delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in” (Hawthorne 45).

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories are strongly developed around his unique and powerful use of physical setting. Often the location and the time of day of the story speak as much -- if not more -- of the plot, giving a deeper meaning then just the outside world. However, this emphasis on the physical setting is not always present, as in “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Instead, Hawthorne here used primarily the psychological setting of the characters (and most of all with Parson Hooper) to create this masterpiece work that creates just as much an impact - if not more so -- than any physical setting could ever achieve. Hawthorne’s gift as a writer who knew the power of darkness is evident in his short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.

Hawthorne describes a cold and gray day.  This description gives the reader a sense of isolation as well as slight depression.  However, the mention of a slight breeze that ruffles the canopy of the forest just enough to let in little flickers of sunshine conveys a fleeting ray of hope that seems to coexist with the gloominess in the scene.  In many scenes during the book, moods or prevailing feelings are established through descriptions of the natural surroundings of the characters.  This aspect of Hawthorne's writing makes the book deeper and more emotional.

Danish author Hans Christian Andersen once said, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” A person should be able to find beauty in nature to truly live their life. Nature gives symbols for how life happens. Every spring trees comeback to life and every winter trees “die”. Sunshine gives warmth and life to the plants. By being free to live however they please, plants are given the truth of how life truly is. People have to find nature and believe in the power of nature to explore life. Just as Hans Christian Andersen believes one should find nature, Nathaniel Hawthorne believes nature should be shown in The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, nature uncovers the truth about

The novel The House of Seven Gables conveys its messages through the usage of images, which is done through inanimate object or places. This can be seen in the house of the seven gables and the daguerreotype of judge Pyncheon. Hawthorne present these images in such a manner, that their original meaning in the novel is no longer applicable. While many see his writing style as a tedious form, such writing has made the images created by Nathanial Hawthorne. Nathanial Hawthorne may be seen as a writer with a tedious writing style, such as the long descriptions of the images in the novel. Nevertheless it’s an effective manner to use allegory in a novel.

Through the dark description of the forest and prison, Hawthorne shows the hypocrisy in the society due to the fact that the Puritans are sinful. The very first descriptions of the town are a prison and a graveyard, the two most essential things the society needs. The society has “a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison”(Hawthorne 2). Prisons represent crime and the punishment in society, which grows from sin. Hawthorne compares the prison to a “black flower” which implies the growth of something evil in society. The Puritans know they are all but pure when the first structure they agree to put in the society is a prison. They should not be as judgmental to those who sin because the

In the exceptional novel All the Light We Cannot See, author Anthony Doerr, tells the story of two young adults whom had to experience life during World War II.

Not only symbolism but imagery too, has a critical role in the Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne is successfully able to describe in detail the prison when it is first described in the beginning of the novel. From the door that is “heavily timbered with oak” to the building with a “beetle-browed and gloomy front,” Hawthorne successfully describes the place of darkness and sin. Oddly enough, in front of the prison, there is a rose bush. The rose bush can be used to describe a concept of peace or

The lack of literal action in the plot of a novel makes it hard to fully grasp the sentiment the author is trying to convey. Authors use various literary elements to emphasize the traits or details that he or she wants to be brought out in order to give more insight and detail to the story and allow for better comprehension of the story. The use of contrast is an example of one of the literary elements that can be utilized. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the contrast of beauty and ugliness in certain character’s traits to explain the effect that their sin has in their lives which allows further insight into the character’s life and a better understanding of the use of the characters in the book. Hawthorne’s contrasting use of beauty and ugliness in Hester Prynne reveals her inner strength and the effect she allows her sin to have in her life.

In this Puritan society a group of men and women gather around a door that is "heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" (Hawthorne 51). Hawthorn describes the building as the “black flower of civilized society" (52). This building just so happens to be a prison, which is a vessel that holds people who have committed crime. In the novel, a crime would also be consider sin. Without sin prisons would not be created, a prison needs sin, like a flower needs water. Before a person enters the prison one notices a wild rose bush, which is red, and also the opposite of a “black flower”(Hawthorne 52). Hawthorne gives the reader a flower “we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers, and present it to the reader” (Hawthorne 52), as a symbol of the moral in the novel,“to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne 52). The main moral in the novel is people must

Nature is a theme that often serves as mere fluff in novels, with little to no purpose other than to produce a setting for the reader to imagine. However, this is far from the case in The Scarlet Letter. In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne takes advantage of the natural world and uses it to express deeper meanings and ideas. Key pieces such as the rosebush by the prison, the forest, and the use of natural light assist him in emphasizing important details within the story. Hawthorne utilizes the rosebush, the forest, and the natural light in order to uncover new connections in the story, provide deeper explanation and meaning towards the actions of characters, and to place emphasis on the good or evil of a character.

The realism movement of the late nineteenth century produced works in literature that were marked by reduced sentimentality and increased objectivity. The goal was to let details tell the story, and remove noticeable bias of the author through scientific and detailed descriptions. While this form of storytelling undoubtedly is most accurate, it creates difficulties for authors to incorporate their themes into the story. This resulted in an increase in symbolism in realist works. The objects and descriptions within the story are the author’s vehicle for displaying the values and themes of the work. Light and darkness are symbols commonly used in literature, and have held specific symbolic

Depression is the leading mental illness worldwide, affecting millions of people every day. As one of the most common mental illnesses, it can occur to anyone, at any age, and to people of any race or ethnic group. With his book Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, William Styron became of the first people to publicly acknowledge his struggling battle with depression. Darkness Visible is an intense and haunting account of Styron’s own suicidal depression in which he reminds us of the toll that this dreadful illness can have on an individual. As Styron describes his own descent into depression, he tells about the place that he was in, “the despair beyond despair” as he describes it to be. Since its publication, his memoir has been appreciated throughout the world and become a helping hand for people around the world who are suffering from depression. Styron’s description of his experiences resonates with people in a deep and profound way, turning his work into an advocate for the movement for the awareness for depression