...“I have one good reason why you should you walk away from temptation right now. One reason: God.Is.Better”- Francis Chan. The Screwtape Letters written by C.S.Lewis is a book about a devil named Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood. Screwtape writes letters to Wormwood to help him tempt his patient into doubting God. Lewis demonstrates that Satan introduces humans to distraction and doubt using devious but subtle tactics so that people fall farther from God. Satan diverts humankind from the Holy Spirit making humans seek the world instead of God. “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds:in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”(p.16) Screwtape encouraged Wormwood to mislead the patient...
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...The Screwtape Letters was written by C. S. Lewis. Lewis wrote this set of letters during the Second World War. This story was a prime example of how humans are constantly bombarded by different sinful temptations. Lewis flawlessly displayed the scripture, Ephesians 6:12, throughout the entire novel. The characters and their focus on the life of one specific human allude to the struggles they face as they attempt to confuse his religious and spiritual choices. Lewis’s narrator is named Screwtape. Throughout this novel, Screwtape is the only character that speaks. The Screwtape Letters are a collection of 31 letters that Screwtape has written to Wormwood, his nephew. The reader is not allowed the letters that Wormwood has written in reply to Screwtape, but by the letters that Screwtape writes, the reader can infer how Wormwood feels and what his responses...
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...Section #1: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, starts off by introducing how the book was written. The anonymous narrator stumbled upon some manuscripts labeled with a red “A”, all of which happened some 200 years before his time. He decided to write a fictional story about the facts he found in the manuscripts and thus, The Scarlet Letter was born. The story begins in a Boston Puritan Settlement in the 17th century. Hester Prynne and her young daughter, Pearl, are being led from the town prison, bearing the infamous “scarlet letter”. A man in the crowd said she was being tried for adultery, after her husband left and was supposed to be “lost at sea”, and gave birth to a child. She will not, however, give the identity of her lover, and the red “A”, along with her public shame, is punishment for her sin and secrecy. The man in the crowd turns out to be Hester’s long lost husband, who is now practicing medicine and is going by the name Roger Chillingworth. Several years pass and, being banished by the town, Hester and Pearl live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. The town repeatedly tries to take Pearl away from Hester, but with the help of the young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, the two manage to stay together. Chillingworth has his suspicions about Dimmesdale’s health and the fact he may be hiding a secret, so he decided to move in with him to give him constant care. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers a mark on the man’s chest...
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...others judge and make their own assumptions. However, in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character, Hester Prynne does the exact opposite as she openly shows her acceptance of her sin through the scarlet “A”, and Pearl. Pearl symbolizes Hester’s wrong doing. She is a constant and permanent punishment for Hester’s sin. A quote that shows Pearl’s symbolization is on page 74. “A lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion.” This quote basically is saying that Pearl is like a beautiful, eternal flower, from the foul indulgence of her mother’s guilty passion. The scarlet “A” is also a symbol of Hester’s wrong doing. Hester is forced to wear the “A” on her chest for the rest of her life to stand as a reminder to her, and the rest of the community of her sin, adultery, which is what the “A” stands for. “On the breast of her gown, its fine red cloth, surrounded with elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread” (46) describes what the “A” looks like. By wearing the scarlet letter every day, Hester has full and complete control of her sin. Removing the letter would mean society has power over her. Most people would move away after their sentence, if they were allowed so they could have a fresh start and meet new people and start a new life. However Prynne decided to stay in town and wear the scarlet “A” she made while she was in prison. The letter shows her acceptance and proves to everyone that she doesn’t care if...
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...Journal #4 (Revised) Throughout the course of “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne hints towards the fact that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father without ever really giving it away. For example, in Dimmesdale’s first description, Hawthorne says “The young pastor's voice was tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken. The feeling that it so evidently manifested, rather than the direct purport of the words, caused it to vibrate within all hearts, and brought the listeners into one accord of sympathy. Even the poor baby, at Hester's bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale, and held up its little arms, with a half pleased, half plaintive murmur.” (Page 63) This is one of the first hints that the Reverend is Pearl’s father. When Dimmesdale talks, his voice sounds so sweet that even Pearl was affected by it and holds up her arms as if to show happiness. The other Puritans (and the reader) think that Pearl is affected by Dimmesdale’s voice because he is so pure and holy. However, it affects her in a different way than the rest of the crowd because she is his daughter. Nobody realizes it at first, but Pearl recognizes from a very young age who her father is. The second hint was in the chapter of The Leech and the Patient. Roger Chillingworth is talking to Rev. Dimmesdale and says “Why should not the guilty ones sooner avail themselves of this unutterable. ” "They mostly do," said the clergyman, griping hard at his breast, as...
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...The novel, The Scarlet Letter is a novel that contains a lot of rhetorical devices. It contains metaphors, allusions, rhetorical questions, parallel structure, alliteration, etc. In chapter 11, Dimmesdale is having so much conflict with him hiding the sin that he had committed and the guilt is eating him inside. In this chapter the writer uses Parallel structure, Hyperboles, metaphors, and similes. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne used some rhetorical questions,hyperbole, personification, and parallel structure, “ Then, what was he?—a substance?—or the dimmest of all shadows? ...from his own pulpit, at the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was. “I, whom you …, I, who ascend the sacred desk...I, in whose daily.. I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a gleam along my earthly track...—I, who have laid the hand of baptism upon your children,—I, who have, to whom the Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted,—I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!” (Page 132) The author is showing how Dimmesdale feels internally over this situation, he ( dimmesdale) has repeated themselves over and...
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...SCENE: 17TH CENTURY BOSTON, then a Puritan settlement. CHARACTER OVERVIEW: Hester Prynne: Heroine • passionate and strong—she endures years of shame and scorn (due to adultery) • protagonist and the wearer of the scarlet letter (a patch of fabric in the shape of an “A,” signifies that Hester is an “adulterer.”) • married an elderly scholar, Chillingworth, who sent her ahead to America to live never followed her • waiting then had an affair with a Puritan minister named Dimmesdale o then gave birth to Pearl. • She equals both her husband and her lover in her intelligence and thoughtfulness. • alienation causes her to make acute observations about her community, particularly about its treatment of women Pearl : Hester’s illegitimate daughter • young girl with a moody, mischievous spirit and an ability to perceive things that others do not o EX: quickly finds out the truth about her mother and Dimmesdale (the lover). • The townspeople say that she barely seems human and spread rumors that her unknown father is actually the Devil(how ironic). • wise far beyond her years, frequently engaging in ironic play having to do with her mother’s scarlet letter Roger Chillingworth: Hester’s Husband • self-absorbed and both physically and psychologically monstrous o single-minded pursuit of retribution reveals him to be the most malevolent character in the novel • ACTUALLY Hester’s husband in disguise. o much older than Hester is and had sent her to America...
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...Lawrence: The Devil in Hester’s Hell D. H. Lawrence’s On The Scarlet Letter critically analyzes Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. While deconstructing Prynne’s character, he uses a variety of literary techniques. In this critique, Lawrence voices his disapproval of Prynne, for he sees her as a horrible role model for women. Lawrence’s sarcastic tone, relevant allusions, and short, choppy diction are effective in evaluating Hester Prynne. Lawrence’s mocking tone reinforces his beliefs that Hester Prynne should not be regarded as a standard that anybody should live by. After calling Prynne a demon, Lawrence stated, “A man must be pure, just that you can seduce him to a fall.” Lawrence’s...
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...Chapter 22, “The Procession” of The Scarlet Letter configures all the components into place to reveal the conclusion of the novel. The entire chapter is committed to the foreshadowing of events that expose the true relationship between Dimmesdale and Hester to the entire Puritan community. Therefore, Hawthorne makes great efforts to depict the atmosphere of the procession. To present the reader with a general comprehension of the era, Hawthorne sets the scene with a thorough analysis of monarchy power. He extensively describes how the of flaunt of strength from the monarchy overpowers almost everything. This exhibits his aversion to those who receive power without working for it. Hawthorne elaborates on how primitive statement were elected by power rather than qualities- “elevated to power by the early choice of the people, seem to...
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...Sonia Del Hierro Ethics 10/29/2012 The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis’s novel is about a man who finds happiness and meaning in life through Christianity, and, in the end, gains salvation and the presence of God upon his soul. And yet, Lewis tells this story as if it ends terribly and only gets worse from the beginning. Screwtape, a wise, elder demon corresponds, in thirty-one letters, with his young apprentice nephew, Wormwood; he gives him advice about how to go about stealing the soul of a British man from his first conversion to his redemption. Lewis raises major ethical points by fleshing out the mistakes and every day succumbing to sin of Christians. Lewis gives more than a few examples of this ordinary everyday Christian man giving into the temptation of sin, without even knowing it; thus, giving an extremely real insight to the reader’s own life and the decisions they, themselves, make. From judging people based off looks in his second letter to praying in his third letter to worrying about the future in his fifteenth letter, Screwtape endorses the very things the reader recognizes in his or her own actions in a scary, ‘is-there-a-demon-behind-me’ kind of way. Lewis points out major flaws in the Church on several different occasions, but one in which the “Church of England might have become a positive hotbed of charity and humility” (85) had it not been for the demons’ relentless labor to oppose such outcomes. Screwtape tells Wormwood that if he cannot keep his...
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...Hester would comfort them as best she could, telling them that their are brighter times that will come and that the truth would be revealed on it is own, and that the scarlet letter that used to represent Adultery now meant Angle instead. Although Prynne was a figurehead for helping the poor and aiding the sick she is still marked by the letter A and the Puritans will never forgive her for that, on her tombstone it is written “On A Field, Sable, The Letter A, Gules.” (Hawkthorne 235) this represents the hypocrisy of the Puritans, they think of Hester as their own, a kind woman who helps the people and sought for her help, yet they cannot look past her sin and declare her as a disgrace, they go to her in secrecy but they do not want people to know that she helped...
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...flowers…whispered.., “Adorn thyself with me, thou beautiful child, adorn thyself with me!” In this passage we see Pearl embrace who she is- a product of sin. “With these[twigs, flowers, she decorated her hair, and her young waist, and became a nymph-child, or an infant dryad , or whatever else was in closest sympathy with the antique wood. In such guise had Pearl adorned herself, when she heard her mother’s voice, and came slowly back.” In the forest Pearl can be who she is, when suddenly her mother interrupts her. This may be a symbol representing Pearl’s willingness to embrace her physical embodiment of sin and her mother’s desire to abandon the very reminder of it by escaping Puritan society and “[undoing] the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter.” Given the fact that Hawthorne’s language demonstrates nature’s positive reaction to both Hester and Pearl, it is impossible to assume that nature is used to resemble Hawthorne’s feelings about Hester and Dimmesdale’s decision. Instead, we must assess Hawthorne’s language to get a better understanding of his stance on their decision. Furthermore, Hawthorne’s language suggests that Hester and Dimmesdale’s decision to leave Puritan society is just as “wild,” and “heathen,” as nature; this negative image seems to represent Hawthorne’s reproach of Hester and Dimmesdale’s choice. After Dimmesdale’s decision to accept Hester’s invitation to leave Puritan society behind, Hawthorne describes Dimmesdale’s emotional state as, “the exhilarating effect-upon...
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...Over the course of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), the author, Martin Luther King Jr., makes extended allusions to multiple philosophers, among them Aquinas and Socrates. His comparison would seem to indicate that he shares an affinity with them. However, the clarity with which he makes his arguments and the dedication to a single premise strikes most strongly of Kant. Just as Kant’s magnum opus, Critique of Pure Reason, attempted to completely upend a previously accepted mode of thought, so also was King’s work devoted to a single objective: the protection of civil disobedience as a form of protest such that the Civil Rights Movement could continue in uncompromised form. Despite this singularity of purpose, the complexity of the situation meant that a more nuanced response to the statement A Call for Unity as published by eight Alabama Clergymen was necessary. In this way, King’s letter in fact served a fourfold purpose: to establish himself as a legitimate authority in the eyes of his audience, to show the trials of the black in America, to justify his cause, and to argue the necessity of immediate action. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, written to the Clergymen from Birmingham Prison, he uses the rhetorical appeal of ethos to establish his credibility on the subject of racial discrimination and injustice. He starts off the letter with “My Dear Fellow Clergymen”. By him saying this, he is putting himself on the same “level” as the clergymen, sending the message that...
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...In the first chapter of Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many words to convey that the tone is gloomy, depressing, and towards the end it is somewhat hopeful. Right at the beginning of the chapter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses words like sad and gray to describe what the men are wearing. Sad and gray are depressing and gloomy words because the definition of sad is the feeling of being unhappy and gray is often associate with rain and rain is like the people up above crying. Following paragraph 1, the first thing that Hawthorne states is that a cemetery and prison must be built as it is a necessity, despite coming to the new world for a utopia like home, which would not need a cemetery or prison. Even though the prison is just 15 to 20...
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...Devin Ponder Eng291-001 13 September 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Rhetorical Analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., is a letter in which King is writing to his “fellow clergymen” in a response to their recent criticism of the actions he was leading in Birmingham at the time. The letter was written in April of 1963, a time when segregation was essentially at a peak in the south. Birmingham, in particular, is described by King as “probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King 7). King goes on to inform the clergymen of the reality of the situation where he is and how waiting isn’t an option anymore. In the letter, King uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to accomplish the task of appealing to the readers from a logical standpoint. King first establishes his credibility to answer the clergymen by naming his personal title and comparing himself to such a higher historical authority as the apostle Paul. King uses repetition of his personal experiences in Birmingham to describe the situation from an emotional standpoint. By stating his credibility and giving his personal experiences, King gives the readers no choice but to listen to what his reasoning is behind his actions taken in Birmingham. He does so by describing how he has dealt with the situation in Birmingham appropriately using the four basic steps of any nonviolent campaign, and defining what those are. By coordinating the rhetorical...
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