Annotated Bibliography

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings. Norton Critical Edition. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005. Print.

1. In the beginning of the story after Hester returns to the jail she has her first encounter with Chillingsworth, which I found is interesting. He came to the jail to talk to Hester but also to treat both her and the baby. He wants her to tell him who the man is that fathered her child but Hester refuses to divulge the information. Chillingsworth has had something stolen from him, Hester was his and some man came along and took him from her and he wants revenge.
            "...Believe me, Hester, there are few things,-whether in the outward world, or to a certain depth, in the invisible sphere of thought, -few things hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and unreservedly to the solution of a mystery" (Hawthorne p.53).

            "I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!" (Hawthorne p.54).


2. Hester and Pearl go to the Governors house to deliver a pair of gloves that she had made him but also to defend herself. She has heard that people are saying that she is an unfit mother and that Pearl should be taken away from her and given to someone who can handle her, Hester wants to prove that she can do it. Although the Governor is not convinced and he would like Pearl to be checked out to see if his suspicions are correct, although neither Pearl or Hester wants any part of it and The Minister, Dimmesdale stands up for her and tells them that she can take care of Pearl and advises that it would not benefit Pearl to take her away. The most sigificant part of this scene after the Minister has made his stand and Pearl does somthing out of the ordinary, shows affection. Although I don't think that she knows who Dimmesdale is exactly she does know that he is on her side and she is appreciating that.
              "Pearl, that wild and flighty little elf, stole softly towards him, and taking his hand in the grasp of both of her own, laid her cheek against it; a caress so tender, and withal so unobtrusive, that her mother, who was looking on, asked herself, Is this my Pearl?" (Hawthorne p.78).


3. I found it very ironic that Dimmesdale becomes sick and that Chillingsworth ends up being the one to take care of him and become his physician. Something about the whole scene in "The Leech" is fishy, I mean its called the leech, Hawthorne did that for a reason, just not sure exactly what it is. Anyways, I think that Chillingsworth knows that Dimmesdale has a secret and he wants to get close enough to him to figure it out, and what better than to become his physician. Chillingsworth is sneaky and up to something and these two qutoes support that.
                 "So Roger Chillingsworth-the man of skill, the kind and friendly physician-strove to go deep into his patient's bosom, delving amoung his principles, prying into his recollections, and  probing everything with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern" (Hawthorne p.83).

                  "A man burdened with a secret should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician" (Hawthorne p.83).

Difficulty Paper #2

Now that I have started to read the Scarlet Letter the reading has become more enjoyable but I am still having some difficulty. When I'm reading their are a lot of words that I don't know. I have tried to make that a quick fix by having a dictionary by my side and looking up the words, this sounds simple but is proving to be a challenge. What I find happening is that I'm spending time looking up a unknown word and by the time I do that I have forgotten what I had just read. Therefore I'm spending a ton of time looking up words and re-reading text, its taking me forever to complete this book! I'm wondering if anyone else is having this same problem? If so, have you done anything differently or have any advise? I think that I would much more enjoy this book if I could better understand it. I think that Scott stated it best when he wrote a comment to me saying that if they rewrote this book in modern English it would be more interesting and easier to get through.

Difficulty Paper #1

Like more than half of the class I have just started reading the Scarlet Letter and it is proving to be difficult. Over the weekend I finished the Custom House, which is supposed to be an intoduction to the Scarlet Letter. After reading this I feel that I have no better understanding of what will go on and I'm hesitant to read the actually text of the Scarlet Letter. I was very confused on what was being said and had to go back and re-read sections but that still didn't make a lot of sense after doing that. I'm wondering if anyone else is having the same problems? Or if people just skipped the introduction and when straight to the Scarlet Letter? I'm going to start to read again tonight and hope that once I start that it will prove to make more sense, nothing is more frustrating than to be reading and nothing is making sense.