Symbol of Shame Essay Example for Free

Symbol of Shame Essay Symbolism in literature is the hidden meaning in a piece of work. It is used to represent moral and/ or religious values and beliefs. As time goes on in the world, society and what makes up society changes. In today’s sense, pride is based on the individualism that one has developed. The diversity in today’s society allows for many different beliefs and social concepts. Looking back to the early years when Puritanism was an ongoing religion with many followers, tradition along with strict biblical standards were everything; but now many things have changed. The reality of change is seen in the book, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorn whereby as society changes so to does the perception of all symbolism. The metaphorical meaning of the scarlet letter changes from this symbol of shame to a powerful symbol of identity to Hester; the transformation shows the changes Hester experiences in her life. These changes bring Hester power, power to stand for who she is, power to overcome the humiliation and pain. She then finds herself able, able of becoming herself, to become a representation of an individual with a strong sense of self-empowerment. The symbolism behind the scarlet letter changes throughout the novel. Initially the letter symbolizes the sin of adultery, the crime, the punishment, the humiliation that Hester has to endure because of the strict beliefs of the puritan society. This uncivil punishment causes Hester this â€Å"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. (Hawthorne, 74) At the beginning of the novel the A causes Hester much â€Å"dreadful agony† and â€Å"torture. It causes her torture to live with this permanent mark of sin on her. The A is the symbol of her pure â€Å"agony† and suffering. A change of heart comes; Hester alters its meaning through the hard work she does in the town. Society begins to recognize that the scarlet letter has now begun to represent not sin, but holiness and righteousness instead of the unforgiving sin and â€Å"dreadful agony. † Some people now began to think that the letter stands for Able since Hester is such an able, individualistic and, powerful woman. This change in the A is caused by the perception that people have: this change enables Hester to stand up for herself to be an â€Å"Able† woman. It has the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril, had she fallen among thieves, it would have kept her safe (135). The A is now a representation for sacredness and holiness. For Hawthorne to go from saying that the letter represents sin to representing holiness is a large step but is capable because of the strength and individual power Hester has gained thought the novel. For Hester the letter was meant for punishment but brought Hester sacredness, it brought Hester power, redemption and glory. The puritan society in the book Scarlet Letter is portrayed as a place of unchanging tradition and strict rules based upon religion. Those who went against society were punished strictly and looked down upon by the towns’ people. As time went on, those strict punishments turned into a source of identity to those who committed these cases of sin. The changes over taking the society are changing the metaphorical meaning of the scarlet letter, the â€Å"letter [first] was a representation of stigma in which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, [but then] became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, and yet with reverence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (206). The transformation of the scarlet letter from this â€Å"scornfulness and bitterness† to this sense of something to be sorrowed over something, to awe over, shows the metaphorical transformation of Hester. From at first Hester being this representation of sin and Hester seeing the letter as a symbol of unjust humiliation; to where Hester takes control of her own identity, and in doing so becomes an example for others to follow by. She is not the example of sin that was once set upon her, but now an example of redemption and self-empowerment. The power of individualism allowed for Hester to become her own representation of self- power and control. The transformation of the scarlet letter from this repulsion of sin to this case of respect metaphorically represents Hester’s own changes from her embarrassment and anger to her sense of redemption. The scarlet letter has a metaphorical representation of Hester’s actual self. The reality of change is seen in the book whereby as society changes so to does the perception of all symbolism. These changes allow for Hester to become herself, it enables Hester to have this sense of pride instead of embarrassment and agony. The metaphorical meaning of the scarlet letter changes from this symbol of shame to a powerful symbol of identity to Hester; the transformation shows the changes Hester experiences in her life. Along with time comes change, not always in a good sense but it’s what one makes of the situation to where it becomes good or bad. Hester first is in agony and feels as if she is getting tortured, but then becomes determined; she finds that in order to get free of this pain she must become powerful. She is not the example of sin that once caused her pain, but now she is an example of redemption and self-empowerment. You can always find something good in life no matter the situation, you just have to make change, look at the positive and turn anything negative into redemption. Look past at what you’ve done and strive yourself to become better.

William Blakes The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and Lond

Compare and Contrast William Blake's The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London I am going to compare and contrast three of William Blake poems, where he shows his feelings about the way people treat children: The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London. The Chimney-Sweeper is about a child who sweeps chimneys. William Blake sets this poem in the winter. The children worked in the cold. Blake says, â€Å"A little black thing among the snow,† â€Å"The little black thing,† Is the child who is dirty from cleaning the chimneys who stands out in the snow. He also looks like a black mask on the landscape. Like a dirty stain. â€Å"Crying weep, weep in the notes of woe!† Blake hears them crying a song. As children do when they are sad, the notes of woe are notes of extreme sadness. â€Å"Where are both father and mother? Say? They are both gone up to the church to pray† this sounds as if someone is asking the boy questions and he answers. The child’s parents are missing. They don’t know where their parent are, they could be praying at church. The church back then was in possession of a lot of land, building and laid down guide lives for people’s life styles. It also seems as if the church supports the parents and does not consider that they have done any thing wrong. The parents are sending the children to work at early age, and in dangerous conditions (chimneys). In the second verse William Blake talks about the child as a happy child, but since he’s been take up the chimneys he is aware of the dangers of his new job hence â€Å"cloths of death,† he’s now a different person. His new job has changed his life, and he lives his life wondering if today he will die up a chimney. It has robbed him of a lif... ...the priest and King for not noticing and accepting the bad environment the poor are living in. Blake doesn't like the Priest and Church for not caring for the poor, even though they worship God and the Priest, it is unfair. Blake thought very highly of children, he felt sorry for the children who became chimney sweepers. He states this many times in his poetry. He thought that the children were the future and that they shouldn't be treated like dirt. They shouldn't get starved for hunger, the wealthy should have looked after the children, but they didn't. The children didn't get any importance then. Blake wanted the rich to know the suffering and pain they have put the poor side through. This povety is also happening in the world now and William Blake now helps the world relise that there is povety in the world, and also emphasizes to care for the poor. William Blake's The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and Lond Compare and Contrast William Blake's The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London I am going to compare and contrast three of William Blake poems, where he shows his feelings about the way people treat children: The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London. The Chimney-Sweeper is about a child who sweeps chimneys. William Blake sets this poem in the winter. The children worked in the cold. Blake says, â€Å"A little black thing among the snow,† â€Å"The little black thing,† Is the child who is dirty from cleaning the chimneys who stands out in the snow. He also looks like a black mask on the landscape. Like a dirty stain. â€Å"Crying weep, weep in the notes of woe!† Blake hears them crying a song. As children do when they are sad, the notes of woe are notes of extreme sadness. â€Å"Where are both father and mother? Say? They are both gone up to the church to pray† this sounds as if someone is asking the boy questions and he answers. The child’s parents are missing. They don’t know where their parent are, they could be praying at church. The church back then was in possession of a lot of land, building and laid down guide lives for people’s life styles. It also seems as if the church supports the parents and does not consider that they have done any thing wrong. The parents are sending the children to work at early age, and in dangerous conditions (chimneys). In the second verse William Blake talks about the child as a happy child, but since he’s been take up the chimneys he is aware of the dangers of his new job hence â€Å"cloths of death,† he’s now a different person. His new job has changed his life, and he lives his life wondering if today he will die up a chimney. It has robbed him of a lif... ...the priest and King for not noticing and accepting the bad environment the poor are living in. Blake doesn't like the Priest and Church for not caring for the poor, even though they worship God and the Priest, it is unfair. Blake thought very highly of children, he felt sorry for the children who became chimney sweepers. He states this many times in his poetry. He thought that the children were the future and that they shouldn't be treated like dirt. They shouldn't get starved for hunger, the wealthy should have looked after the children, but they didn't. The children didn't get any importance then. Blake wanted the rich to know the suffering and pain they have put the poor side through. This povety is also happening in the world now and William Blake now helps the world relise that there is povety in the world, and also emphasizes to care for the poor.

Beneath the Hunger Games

Kate Raffety 22nd of May, 2012 BENEATH THE HUNGER GAMES The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is an insightful allegory set in a post-apocalyptic future. Through a gripping plot and intriguing characters along with rich intertextuality, symbolism and themes, she raises concerns and gives her opinion on issues in our communities and governments, taking many to the extreme to reinforce her message, while keeping it a fast passed fictional story. Government control of people is the most prominent theme in The Hunger Games, as it is featured throughout the novel in a variety of ways.Propaganda, censorship, inequitable distribution of wealth, and manipulation are some of the many ways in which the Capitol controls people. All the wealth and resources flow to the Capitol and it is in control of everything. It uses propaganda and censorship to influence and direct public opinion, and the only information the districts receive is from the Capitol. The government broadcasts are compulsory viewi ng and all of it is extremely biased and misleading.Sometimes half the truth is just as effective as a lie, with the capitol only selecting parts of the information to release, in this way it is easy to guide people’s opinions. This technique is used on the districts, with all of the information they receive, and on the people from the Capitol, with the information they receive about the districts. Together the districts could easily overthrow the Capitol, so it is important that they be kept weak and separated. The most important of the Capitol’s strategies for gaining and maintaining power, however, is the age-old technique of divide and conquer.It involves breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually are isolated and weak. The Capitol has absolute power over the districts, which is ultimately demonstrated by the games themselves. â€Å"Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch- this is the Capito l’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. [ ] To make it humiliating as well as torturous, the Capitol requires us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the others. (pg 22) The districts are battling starvation, while the capitol lives in luxury with anything they want at their disposal. At first glance the novel and our society seem quite different, but in reality there are many similarities. Whereas extreme inequity and class separation are noticeable in the novel, they are also prominent throughout the world, with great disparity in standards of living among and within countries. The Games are enjoyed as reality television for the people of the Capitol.Their acceptance of it as entertainment, and their lack of compassion towards the tributes is an example of voyeurism and desensitisation. These are two challenges that younger generations face with technology giving them access to television, the internet, video games and movies. They are becoming faster paced and increasingly violent and explicit and emotional responses can become dampened. Reality television is becoming common with people living vicariously through the drama and becoming detached from reality. The standards of humanity in this novel are quite low.There are key aspects of the novel, however, that show that human beings are essentially good when left to their own devices. After her father died, Katniss had to provide for her mother and younger sister. Katniss was searching for any morsel of sustenance to bring home to her family one night around the bakery when Peeta’s mother yelled at her to move on. Peeta, seeing her situation, let two loaves fall onto the coals of the oven and was punished for his carelessness. When he was told to feed them to the pigs, he instead slipped them to Katniss.The next day they caught each other’s eyes and when she looked away her eyes fell on a dandelion, which reminded h er of how her father taught her to live off the land and thus she realised how she would support her family. Peeta saved Katniss and she felt this was a debt she owed him that may never be repaid. He wasn’t obligated to help her, in fact he could have been penalized for it; he did simply because it was the right thing to do. Katniss cares about her family more than anything, especially her little sister.But against all odds her sister is chosen for reaping, and Katniss, driven wild with fear, volunteers to take her place. â€Å"In District 12, where the word tribute is pretty much synonymous where the word corpse, volunteers are all but extinct† (pg 27). Katniss believes certain death now awaits her in the arena, but knows that the loss of her sister would be far worse. While in the arena, Katniss meets Rue, the tribute from district 11 and the two form an alliance. Katniss protects and helps her as best she can, giving her food and her precious sleeping bag while she carries the majority of the responsibility.Rue can give little to Katniss for her to truly benefit from their partnership, however Katniss sees that Rue, the youngest of all the tributes, is vulnerable and does her best to keep her safe from harm, even if it means putting herself in danger. When Rue dies Katniss shows great respect for her and district 11. Katniss then finds Peeta, who has been severely injured and begins to nurse him back to health. He is too weak to sustain himself so Katniss takes on the full responsibility of providing for him, dressing his wounds and taking the majority of the night watches.It would have been much easier for Katniss to leave Peeta and escape up a tree where she feels secure, but despite this she does all she can to help him. She risks her life to save his when she goes to get the medicine and would have died if Thresh, the male tribute from district 11 hadn’t felt the need to repay the debt of helping Rue. Thus, both Thresh and Katniss s aved someone in a last-man-standing battle. This shows that they see themselves as more than just a pawn in the Capitol’s games, they never loose touch with their humanity.Inhumanity is portrayed in many ways in the novel including the Capitol making minors fight to the death, making previous victors mentor them, and inequitable distribution of wealth. In selecting minors as tributes, the Capitol’s message was plain, â€Å"look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you† (pg 22). Taking children who are hardly considered old enough to fend for themselves and putting them in this position is inhumane on many levels.The Capitol sustains power by fear, granting minimal rights to district citizens, no freedom of speech, and harsh punishments for disobeying their many strict rules. They treat their people as chattels who exist only for their benefit. Whereas this them e has been exaggerated in the novel, it still has parallels to our society. There are many ways in which governments treat their people and how the people treat one another that Collins has commented on with The Hunger Games. The novel teaches us that the tyranny of a cruel and powerful government is a threat for which we must always remain vigilant.Collins raises concerns about the path that society is travelling down with her novel. In some ways The Hunger Games is a warning, the message simply being that society should never end up like the one in the novel. Throughout her novel Collins comments on government control, inequity, class separation, reality television, humanity, inhumanity and the path that society has taken. She has taken many of the themes in her novel to the extreme, but this only makes what she has to say stronger. Collins, S. 2009. The Hunger Games, Scholastic, London. 454 pg.

Social Contract The American Revolution, And The Irish...

Throughout history, man and government have had a social contract that has been agreed upon. Philosophers throughout history have debated what the social contract is defined as and whether it was right for a citizen or government to break this contract. Multifarious revolutions in history related to the American Revolution, Bolshevik revolution, and the Irish revolution these groups of people fought for what they believed their natural rights were. Either party can break a social contract between a government and it is sovereign when they believe their rights are infringed upon. A government s role in the social contract subsists to protect the rights of their people and the citizen’s responsibility is to allow the government to protect their rights without oppressing them. The government and its citizens should break the social contract that is agreed upon if the majority society feels that their government is oppressing them. The American revolutionary’s were a minority who wanted to become liberated from a government they felt their divine right were being infringed upon. So they believed that they had a right to revolt over their government breaking the social contract with their philosophical beliefs lean towards Locke they decided to revolt against their government. The government was not protecting the rights of their colonist’s for example taxing them without their representation in the government. This event is considered a tipping point for he revolutionaries,Show MoreRelatedHistorical Steps Toward Religious Liberty824 Words   |  4 Pagestwo Christian groups threatened the peace of the colony, so the 2nd Lord Baltimore guaranteed freedom of religion for all Christians and allowed Protestants to hold office. The Halfway Covenant. When non-Puritans moved to Massachusetts, it created social tension. Only Puritans were allowed to vote. 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