Metaphors Throughout The Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

Hawthorne manages to create many metaphors within his novel The Scarlet Letter. The rose bush outside the prison door, the black man, and the scaffold are three metaphors. Perhaps the most important metaphor would be the scaffold, which plays a great role throughout the entire story. The three scaffold scenes which Hawthorne incorporated into The Scarlet Letter contain a great deal of significance and importance the plot. Each scene brings a different aspect of the main characters, the crowd or more minor characters, and what truth or punishment is being brought forth. The first scaffold scene takes place at the very beginning of the story. In this particular scene, Hester has moments before walked from the prison door carrying her baby and donning the scarlet letter, which stands for adultery. She must make this procession in front of the entire town. After the march, Hester is forced to stand alone on the scaffold until an hour past noon. It seems as if Hawthorne wrote this scene for the purposes of exhibiting the harshness of Puritan society, and to allow the reader some insight into Hester's thoughts. Hawthorne places the focus onto Hester at this moment. The reader observes her before the full effect of the scarlet letter has had a chance to take hold of her. The reader is also able to see the cruel and judgmental behavior of the crowd through their language, such as when they call her a hussy. "This women has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it?" In this scene, the reader is able to see inside Hester's head. One is able to observe the utter contempt she holds for the Puritan ways. She exhibits he love and respect for the father of her child, when she refuses to relinquish his name to the committee. The reader can see her defiant spirit due to these actions. The second scaffold scene is momentous, but seemingly less important in comparison with the other two. This scene, in general, is quite different from the other two scaffold scenes. The first and third take place during the day, in front of large crowds. However, the second scene takes place at night, in which only five citizens pass before the scaffold, or glance out their windows at it. At the beginning of this scene, the reader finds Dimmesdale by himself on the scaffold.

Reflection Writing of The Drover’s Wife by Henry Lawson Essay

I’ve never been reading a tremendous story such â€Å"The Drover’s Wife† before. â€Å"The Drover’s wife† was written by Henry Lawson is a short story about a woman who live in a bush with her four children and a dog, Aligance, while her husband didn’t at home because of driving. The story wants to mention on the woman who was a good mother and also a strong lady. In a dangerous event, there was a snake in her house. In order to protect her children she kept reminding herself all night to guard her children who were sleeping on the table in the kitchen; finally, the drover’s wife and her dog killed the snake and burnt it. Actually, I do love two characters among all characters represented in the story. The first is drover’s wife; throughout the short story I get a very good characterization of the woman. As a girl-wife she had hated the lonely life in the outback, but as time pass by, she used to it. Her struggle has been many. When the drought forced her husband to go droving, she had been left alone with her children and the problems in a pity bush. However, she was a strong and brave lady; in fact, she had solved the entire difficult situation without her husband’s assistance. She plays an important role in the family which she had to stay and take care of the children alone. Another she was defended mother and a good wife. In a long night, she kept her eye opening to ensure that the snake wouldn’t bit any of her children. Staying and taking care of the children alone; she neither complained about her living condition nor her husband absence. She didn’t care about herself when she fought the flood that devastated the dam; she still thought of her husband’s feeling after realizing this disaster. Specially, this character has given me an idea that women should not always rely on men; women are not as weak as what other people said. Women have strength to protect themselves as well as their beloved persons. Not only drover’s wife but also her biggest son Tommy was bravery. He helped his mom a lot; even he was a small one, his behavior is such an adult. Maybe he think that beside his father , he was the only one man to protect the member from any danger. This smart boy also remind his mother to wake him up if the snake came back again. Moreover, â€Å"The Drover’s Wife† has remarkably little action such as â€Å"Near midnight, the children are all asleep and the drover’s wife sit there still, sewing and reading by turns. From time to time she glances round the floor and well-plate, and, whenever she hears a noise, she reached for the stick. The thunderstorm comes on, and the wind, rushing through the cracks in the slab wall, threatens to blow out her candle. She places it on a sheltered part of the dresser and fixes up a newspaper to protect it. At every flash of lightning, the cracks between the slabs gleam like polished silver. The thunder rolls, and the rain comes down in torrents.† in this plot the author want to express the activities of being a mother who always care and worried about her children. Not all people do such that thing beside mother. In case she ensures that her children are safely, she can do anything without caring much own self. Another action â€Å"She lays her ha nd on the dog’s head, and all the fierce, angry light dies out of his yellow eyes. The younger children are quieted, and presently go to sleep. The dirty-legged boy stands for a moment in his shirt, watching the fire. Presently he looks up at her, sees the tears in her eyes, and, throwing his arms around her neck exclaims: â€Å"Mother, I won’t never go drovin’ blarst me if I do!† And she hugs him to her worn-out breast and kisses him; and they sit thus together while the sickly daylight breaks over the bush.†. This plot shows that if Tommy were a husband ,or when he grow up, he would not be away from home do such his father . He’s recognized what was the difficulty which a wife and children forced to bed situation. About drover’s wife, she loves her children above all, but she has no time to show it. The children have a very harsh impression of her. Still, in the last sentence we see proof of her love for them. What I have learnt from this story has been many. First, I understudied that on be haft of a good mother it is not easy. Sometime they act as ignorant but their mind obsessed all the time on children; however, they did not complained any words. Beside this, I caught a lot on the behaviour of the drover’s wife; we will not always get what we want, but we should learn to satisfy what we have. There are many problems and obstacles that we have to face, and all those make us become stronger and stronger, and give as such an important experience for our future steps. After reading this story, I strongly recommend it to other people who want to learn and experience more about life. Also lecturer should have risen this story to discuss much more and deeply on it, because student may benefit a lot from this story.

A Beginners Look at the Subjunctive Mood in Spanish

One of the most confusing aspects of Spanish for beginners is the subjunctive mood. In fact, it usually isnt taught, at least to those using English as a first language, until at least the intermediate level. But even as a beginning Spanish student, you should be aware of what role the subjunctive mood plays, if only so you can recognize it when you come across it in speech or reading. What is the Subjunctive Mood? The mood of a verb, sometimes known as its mode, indicates what type of role it plays in a sentence and/or the speakers attitude toward it. For the most part, in English as well as Spanish, the most common verb mood is the indicative mood. In general, it is the normal verb form, indicating both action and state of being. Both Spanish and English have two other verb moods. One of them is the imperative mood, used in making direct commands. For example. the Spanish Hazlo, and its direct English equivalent, Do it, use a verb in the imperative mood. A third mood, extremely common in Spanish and other Romance languages such as French and Italian, is the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive mood also exists in English, although we dont use it very much and its use is less common than it used to be. (The were in if I were you is an example of the subjunctive mood in English.) Without limiting yourself much, you can speak English for days and get by without using a subjunctive form. But that isnt true in Spanish. The subjunctive mood is essential to Spanish, and even many simple types of statements cant be made properly without it. In general, the subjunctive is a verb mood that is used to express an action or state of being in the context of the speakers reaction to it. Most commonly (although not always), the subjunctive verb is used in a clause that starts with the relative pronoun que (meaning which, that or who). Frequently, the sentences that contain a subjunctive verb are used to express doubt, uncertainty, denial, desire, commands, or reactions to the clause containing the subjunctive verb. Comparing the Indicative and Subjunctive Moods The most important differences between indicative and subjunctive moods can be seen by comparing two simple sentences: Indicative: Los hombres trabajan. (The men are working.)Subjunctive: Espero que los hombres trabajen. (I hope the men are working.) The first sentence is in the indicative mood, and the mens working is stated as a fact. In the second sentence, the mens working is placed in the context of what the speaker hopes for. It isnt particularly important to the sentence whether men work or not; what is important is the speakers reaction to it. Note also that while the Spanish distinguishes the subjunctive through the conjugation of trabajar, no such distinction is made in English. Although not common, sometimes a Spanish sentence using the subjunctive is translated to English using the subjunctive: Indicative: Insisto que Britney està ¡ sana. (I insist that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive: Insisto en que Britney està © feliz. (I insist that Britney be happy.) Note how the first sentence in both languages asserts Britneys health as a fact. But in the second sentence, her health is stated as a strong desire. Insist is one of very few verbs in English that can trigger the subjunctive mood, but Spanish has thousands of such verbs. The following sentences show other reasons for using the subjunctive; note how a distinctive subjunctive form is used in English in only the final translation. Indicative (statement of fact): Britney està ¡ sana. (Britney is healthy.)Indicative (statement of fact): Sà © que Britney està ¡ sana. (I know that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive (doubt): No es cierto que Britney està © sana. (It is uncertain that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive (likelihood): Es probable que Britney està © sana. (It is likely that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive (denial): No es verdad que Britney està © sana. (It is not true that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive (reaction): Estoy feliz que Britney està © sana. (I am happy that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive (permission): Es prohibido que Britney està ¡ sana. (It is prohibited for Britney to be healthy.)Subjunctive (desire): Espero que Britney està © sana. (I hope that Britney is healthy.)Subjunctive (preference): Preferimos que Britney està © sana. (We prefer that Britney be healthy.) Recognizing the Subjunctive Mood In everyday Spanish, the subjunctive is used in only two of the simple tenses, the present and the imperfect (a type of past tense). Although Spanish has a future subjunctive, it is nearly obsolete. While you may not need to memorize the subjunctive conjugations as a beginning Spanish student, becoming familiar with them can help you learn to recognize them.. Here are the subjunctive forms for regular -ar verbs, using hablar as an example: Present subjunctive: yo hable, tà º hables, usted/à ©l/ella hable, nosotros/nosotras hablemos, vosotros/vosotras hablà ©is, ellos/ellas hablen.Imperfect subjunctive: yo hablara, tà º hablara, usted/à ©l/ella hablara, nosotros/nosotras hablaramos, vosotros/vosotras hablareis, ellos/ellas hablaren. (There are two forms of the imperfect subjunctive. This one is the more common.) And the subjunctive forms for regular -er and -ir verbs using beber as an example: Present subjunctive: yo beba, tà º bebas, usted/à ©l/ella beba, nosotros/nosotras bebamos, vosotros/vosotras bebà ¡is, ellos/ellas beban.Imperfect subjunctive: yo bebiera, tà º bebieras, usted/à ©l/ella bebiera, nosotros/nosotras bebià ©ramos, vosotros/vosotras bebierais, ellos/ellas bebieran. The subjunctive perfect tenses and progressive tenses are formed by using the appropriate subjunctive form of haber or estar followed by the appropriate participle. Key Takeaways The subjunctive mood is a key aspect of Spanish grammar and is much more common in Spanish than it is in English.The subjunctive is used primarily for viewing a verbs action from the perspective of the speaker rather than stating it as a fact.The subjunctive mood is used in the present and imperfect tenses.