The Use of Symbols in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay

The Use of Symbols in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a few key symbols to represent major themes in the book. The most obvious and well known, as it is in the title, is the scarlet letter Hester is forced to wear. Three other symbols are the scaffold, the sun, and the forest. To begin with, the most important and influential symbol in the entire book is the infamous scarlet letter, hence the title, The Scarlet Letter. In the second chapter, Hester walks out of the prison, wearing the infamous scarlet letter ‘A’. During the first few years of Hester’s punishment, the letter was a daily reminder of shame. In chapter five, Hawthorne writes,, "†¦Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture." As the story unfolds, though, this letter comes to mean other things to Hester and the people. Rather than bringing torture to Hester, it eventually becomes a symbol to some people meaning "able." In chapter 13, Hawthorne writes, "They said that it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength." A few pages later, Hawthorne writes, "The scarlet letter had not done its off ice." The scarlet letter was meant as a punishment for Hester, and yet here we see that it hasn’t punished Hester. Then, in chapter 18, Hawthorne writes, "Thus, we seem to see that, as regarded Hester Prynne, the whole seven years of outlaw and ignominy had been little other than a preparation for this very hour." Although the scarlet letter does bring shame to Hester, as Hawthorne writes, it has not performed its duty. Hester pl... ...d. (For example, in chapter 21, Hawthorne writes, "Their immediate posterity, the generation next to the early emigrants, wore the blackest shade of Puritanism, and so darkened the national visage with it, that all the subsequent years have not sufficed to clear it up.") The common interpretation Hawthorne tries to get across implies that Natural Law (as seen in the book) is equal to God’s Law, and that the Puritans have all their beliefs mixed up and they’re wrong. This is where Hawthorne errs. In reality, Puritan Law is closer to God’s law than is Natural Law, as we see it in the book. The Puritans base their law on God’s Law, but the Natural Law portrayed in the book isn’t based on God’s law. In closing, Hawthorne uses several symbols to portray themes and ideas in this novel. Each of these has common interpretations, many of which aren’t completely accurate.

Apple †Strategic Management Essay

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad. Vision Statement Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 19805 with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals, and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software, and Internet offerings. â€Å"Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to them.† Mission Statement Apple Computer is committed to protecting the environment, health and safety of our employees, customers and the global communities ‘where we operate. We recognize that by integrating sound environmental, health and safety management practices into all aspects of our business, we can offer technologically innovative products and services while conserving and enhancing resources for future generations. Apple strives for continuous improvement in our environmental, health and safety management systems and in the environmental quality of our products, processes and services. Objective The Company is committed to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, peripherals, and services. The Company’s business strategy leverages its unique ability to design and develop its own operating systems, hardware, application software, and services to provide its customers new products and solutions with superior ease-of-use, seamless integration, and innovative design COMPETITION When it comes to Apple‘s competitors I believe ther e is no one. The innovation,development and the trendsetting technique that Apple has introduced in electronics worldcannot be matched with any of other companies. If you do not agree with me I would suggest you to search for Apple‘s competitors on Google or anywhere else but you will hardly find any original Apple‘s competitor. According to Tim Bajarin, Apple‘s competition is coming from the likes of Amazon, Google, Real Networks, and to some degree, Sony, because of their strong investment in content. But I do not agree with his viewpoint. Products like iPad,iPhone, iPod and services like iTunes and Apple stores have no competition at all and most importantly Apple is not a company that satisfies customer needs but it manufactures those products that become customers need

Fyodor Dostoyevskys Underground Man - 1913 Words

Note: I had an issue with formatting, hence the large spaces between paragraphs. Vanishree Gandhi Dostoyevsky’s Underground Man 1. How does the underground give him to the opportunity to exert his individuality that he is unable to enact in the real world? The novel ‘Notes From the Underground’, written by philosopher Fyodor Dostoyevsky, is a narration of ideology and life experience written by a male character who calls himself the underground man. The underground man’s ideology is a personalized application of Kierkegaard’s existentialist theory to his life. It is my belief that the underground creates this ideology after learning of his imminent death from liver disease in order to prove to himself that his life was successful and†¦show more content†¦The ‘spite’ or shame he refers to here is felt for himself. He tells us that ‘It was not only that I could not become spiteful (to others), I did not know how to become anything; neither spiteful nor kind, neither a rascal nor an honest man, neither a hero nor an insect. Now, I am living out my life in my corner, taunting myself with the spiteful and useless consolation that an intelligent man cannot become anything seriously, and it is only the fool who becomes anything.’ ‘I was in the service that I might have something to eat (and solely for that reason), and when last year a distant relation left me six thousand roubles in his will I immediately retired from the service and settled down in my corner.’ Thus underground man feels that he does not know who he is as an individual and that is why he cannot find his passion. Leaving his job did not give him happiness; he left a job he enacted only out of survival and now possibly has the financial stability to follow his dreams, but does not know how. Thus he finds comfort in Kierkegaard’s theory because it suggests that his misery is a sign of the individuality he craves. Also indirectly, his obsession with Kierkegaard’s existentialism can be seen as his passion. Thus Kierkegaard’s theory solves the problem of passion in his life. The second problem is an explanation as to why his intelligence is notShow MoreRelatedNotes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky1616 Words   |  7 PagesFyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, journalist, and short story writer that discussed the psychological state of the human soul in many of his works, one in particular is Notes from the Underground; which was published in 1864. 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The narrator’s own self-loathing characterized by self-alienation is so obvious, that he is often referred to by critics as the Underground Man (Frank 1961, p. 1). Yet this Underground Man is the central character of Dostoyevsky’s novel and represents a subversion of the typical courageous hero. In this regardRead MoreInvisible Man By Ralph Ellison1415 Words   |  6 PagesRalph Ellison’s Bildungsroman, Invisible Man, was published in 1952 but is a recollection of the narrator’s experiences during the 1930s. The unnamed narrator tells his story retrospectively, speaking in the present tense during the prologue and epilogue but switching to the past when recounting his story. At the present time during the prologue, the narrator is living in a â€Å"basemen t shut off and forgotten,† as he puts it, draining free power from the Monopolated Electric Company, having secludedRead MoreEnglish Literature- an Episode in the Life of an Author5918 Words   |  24 PagesTestament† -Celebrated the strength of human mind. -Capable of confronting the ultimate meaninglessness of existence. Extentialism in literature.in utmost care of class 12 by P. Baburaj Fydor Dostoyevsky Herman Melville Leo Tolstoy Fydor Dostoyevsky’s â€Å"Notes from underground† is a passionate monologue by an embittered angry, selfdestructive figure definably asserting his freedom in the society increasingly controlled by technology. Melville ‘Bartleby the scrivener’-recounts the faith of the men. Anti -Hero