Nathaniel Branden

In his 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the turbulent effects of sin and guilt in a seventeenth-century Puritan society. The story begins and ends on the town's scaffold, first with Hester Prynne standing before the crowd, so young but already burdened with the life sentence of wearing a scarlet “A” for adultery. She holds her child, who is more a complicated symbol of an act of sin, than a familiar comfort. In the crowd stands her lover and her betrayed husband, whose…

The veil of guilt Hawthorne’s story “The Minister’s Black Veil” symbolizes guilt. Everyone sins, therefore they have guilt. Some people do not feel guilty for their sin, unlike the Minister, he took it past “normal”. It showed physically rather than emotionally like most people. Hooper also felt it emotionally he has seen it on his face every time he looked into a mirror, Hooper would shudder when he has seen his reflection. So the people weren’t the only ones that thought that the black veil…

In “On the Subway”, Sharon Olds brings two worlds into close proximity using imagery, symbolism, and diction. Through these literary devices, the reader can understand the insight the narrator is trying to create. These literary devices help the reader understand the differences of the two worlds Sharon is writing about. Olds uses imagery to provide a visual representation of the two characters in the poem. In the poem, the narrator in on a subway, and ends up sitting across from a boy.…

Take it Like a Man As people age and grow, they learn new ideas and outlooks on life that allow them to grow as a person. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale changes and grows throughout the novel. He is weighed down by the sin of adultery that he has committed, and the pain of sin that Dimmesdale faces causes him to realize that he has power to change his situation. Arthur Dimmesdale explores different ways he can handle his sin and suffering, allowing…

In the poem “ Imagine the Angels of Bread” , the author shows the inequality and injustices in the world. Reflecting on what is happening now and in the past. Those who don’t have much is given everything and those who have inflicted pain will have pain themselves. The world Espanda made is in which everything bad is equaled out from the good. The role reversal are really sets the tone. The author states , “ that squatters evict landlords, gazing like admirals from the rail of the roof deck “.…

Wall-paper” is not being able to accept the truth. In The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale has hard time accepting the fact that he committed a sin and in “The Yellow Wall-paper”, the narrator doesn’t think she is crazy but she is. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr Dimmesdale struggles accepting or facing that he committed a sin with Hester Prynne. People of the society knows him as a very religious minister and that's why he couldn't tell anyone about his sin. He feared that what…

Scarlet Letter and Crucible Essay To listen to your conscience rather than society's norms is often an unpopular opinion, especially in a religious environment. However, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller argue just that, in their renowned literary works The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. The Scarlet Letter the life of Hester Prynne, a woman who commits adultery with the town’s minister Dimmesdale, while The Crucible reminds us of the the Salem Witch Trials with John Proctor, a farmer who…

In the second line of the first stanza, the speaker uses an apostrophe. The use of this apostrophe is very significant as it helps the reader to comprehend the deep connection that exists between the sequoia tree and the speaker. Though he is burying a son, he does not explicitly say how old the son was. He instead uses imagery to let the reader know that the son he is burying was at a very tender age. This is seen in the use of words such as “Wrapping in your roots a lock of hair, a piece of…

The wind blew as the flame colored leaves fell from the tree and plummeted onto the ground. I could practically feel the seasons transitioning from summer to autumn as today happened to be known as "The Evil Haunted Shrub." The evil haunted shrub was a name given to the forest that seemed to be one of the loneliest forest that still remained. Other than trees I considered it to be nearly empty, however the town considered it to be the deadliest forest around, especially the night before…

The Right to Judge In the book, “A Scarlet Letter”, it seems that many people were quick to judge Hester for the things they thought she did. Whether what the people thought about her were true or not, they quickly made up their minds about who they thought she was. During the time period of this book, adultery was one of the most shameful crimes that could have been committed. The town’s perception of Hester after her adultery makes it hard for her to live a life of normalcy. One of the…