The Scarlet Letter Chapter 5

Why does Hester choose to stay in the town?


Hester Prynne did not leave the Puritan village, because "She could no longer borrow from the future, to help her through the present grief." That means she could not trust in the future, not be sure to get better.
Furthermore, "there is a fatality, a feeling so irresistible and inevitable that it has the force of doom, which almost invariably compels human beings to linger around and haunt, ghost-like, the spot where some great and marked event has given the color to their lifetime; and still the more irresistibly, the darker the tinge that saddens it. Her sin, her ignominy, were the roots which she had struck into the soil. It was as if a new birth, with stronger assimilations than the first, had converted the forest-land, still so uncongenial to every other pilgrim and wanderer, into Hester Prynne's wild and dreary, but life-long home." That means that she has a special feeling that she should stay here in her "new" home, no matter what has happened.
Another reason might be "All other scenes of earth--even that village of rural England, where happy infancy and stainless maidenhood seemed yet to be in her mother's keeping, like garments put off long ago--were foreign to her, in comparison. The chain that bound her here was of iron links, and galling to her inmost soul, but never could be broken." She says that the chains or the connections to the village where she was born and has lived for her whole childhood are broken, that she does not feel to have a real relation to her village in her home county.
Finally "she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom." That means that she feels guilty and wants to get her punishment at the place where she did her crime. And she knows that she will experience a lot of mortification.


How does the community treat her?


The community treats Hester very bad. She had to live in a very poor shelter away from other homes. She had no single friend. Later, the people of Boston tried to take her child away from her. She was treated as a victim with mortification,animosity and contempt. Having a child without marriage or from another man than her husband was a very bad crime for this time, especially for Puritans. Hester was excluded from her people.

The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne is a woman who is convicted and condemned by her " people" - puritan settlers who settled in the "New World" and have strict rules in their beliefs. She is very worried about her baby for whom she doesn't really see a future. She probably loves the father of her baby very much as she does not want to speak out his name since he would be probably imprisoned, too.
Roger Prynne (Chillingworth) is the husband of Hester Prynne and is a lot older than her. Even though he knew Hester didn't love him he married her (probably because he deeply loved her). When he found out about Hester's child, that is not from him, he got upset and deeply hurt. Therefore he decided to find the father of the child and probably to kill him. After telling his wife Hester his identity he made her swear not to tell it to anyone. After that he left her with her child.
Arthur Dimmesdale is a young but very respected Puritan minister who has a great intellect and who is very aware of the Puritan rules. On the contrary, however, he kind of defends Hester Prynne in front of the whole village which makes him generous, brave and nice.

Drum Taps by Whitman

In the poet "Drum Taps", Whitman describes preparations for a war ("The young men falling in and arming", "Outdoors arming—indoors arming—the flash of the musket-barrels").
In the abstracts he describes the terrible feeling he had while he was serving probably serving as a nurse.
("To sit by the wounded and soothe them, or silently watch the dead.")
All these events take place at Manhattan, New York City. So you can assume that Whitman has served for the Union. In this poet, he emphasizes how sad and terrible he feels about this war.

Description and challenges of the poet by Whitman

In the 4th paragraph Whitman says: "The American poets are to enclose old and new for America is the race of races."
He challenges him by saying:" For such the expression of the American poet is to be transcendant and new."
"Of all nations the United States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets and will doubtless have the greatest and use them the greatest."
"Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their poets shall." 
"Of all mankind the great poet is the equable man."
With all these statements Whitman challenges the American poet.

Whitman “Preface to ‘Leaves of Grass’”

In today's class we started reading the “Preface to ‘Leaves of Grass’” of Whitman.
After reading the first two paragraphs we noticed that Whitman used a very different style of writing than, for example, Emerson used.
He starts like this: "AMERICA does not repel the past".Then he lists a few things related to the American people (in his opinion) and ends the first paragraph by saying (the American people)..."and that he shall be fittest for his days.", which maybe means that he was a patriot.
In the second paragraph, he starts with: "The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth, have probably the fullest poetical nature."
He also names the greatest thing for the American people"the spirit of the citizen".That even confirms that he was really patriotic. But he names also issues that in his opinion is very bad, for example slavery, treatment of the Indian tribes and women's rights.

Democracy

In a democracy, the elected government must share its interests with its citizens.
My first responsibility as a citizen is to keep the democracy in my country and do not let it turn into a dictatur.
Thererfore, the probably most dangerous thing the democratic government has to be aware of is to keep order in the country, for example after a natural or economicv catastrophe. My responsibility in those situations is to trust the free elected government and not fight against it, for example by organizing big protests in order to cause chaos.
Another important responsbility as a citizen in a democracy is to follow the decisions of the government, to get interested and involved in politics and take the chance of going to free elections. It is also important to always have an own opinion and always to support it. This is the best aspect of democracy.

Responsibilities of the Scholar

In today's class we talked about which of the three influences to the scholar is the most, and which is the least important one. According to Emerson, we decided that nature is the most important one as he described it as "The first in time and the first in importance of the influences upon the mind is that of nature." As we went on reading the speech we found a very important statement: "Character is higher than intellect. Thinking is the function. Living is the functionary." By saying this he wantys to tell his audience, that it's not only important how "smart" someone is but how his character is like. (how he acts withy people etc.) He said this statement even though he belonged to one of the greatest thinkers of his time.
Emersson said in his speech that the American Scholar should never forget that he is a prior Mankind, but he also mentioned he should follow his own mind. I think by saying the American Scholar should never forget that he is a prior Mankind he wants him to broaden his understanding of the world from his own eyes (that is what he means by saying "Follow your own mind”)