In-Class Essay: Lopsided Results

Artist's rendering of "The Birth-Mark"

Of those dozen of you who completed the in-class essay assignment today, nine wrote on "The Birth-Mark," two wrote on "Ethan Brand," and one on "The Minister's Black Veil." One hundred percent of the girls chose "The Birth-Mark" -- even those who are going to dramatize "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "Lady Eleonore's Mantle." I wonder if somehow this particular Hawthorne story was more vivid than the others? Or simply easier to write about?

Artist's rendering of Georgiana

Other results: The only Hawthorne story not chosen to be encapsulated and dramatized is "My, Kinsman, Major Molineaux." I guess no one wanted to get tarred and feathered.

History of the Pillory

Enduring the barrage of smelly eggs and rotting vegetables, dead cats or animal offal, sticky mud and human waste...

When we were reading The Crucible, I mentioned the various modes of public punishments used by the Puritans. The pillory, in particular, as described vividly on page 50 is important to The Scarlet Letter. Note, however, that Hester is sentenced only to "stand a certain time upon the platform, but without undergoing that gripe about the neck and confinement of the head." Here's the beginning of a brief illustrated history of the pillory:

Although Puritans left England to escape religious persecution, people living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony were expected to conform to strict, autocratic standards established by the community’s leaders. All of the leaders, of course, were men.

Seeking to remain essentially British, as they tried to purify the Church of England from within, the Puritans carried on with certain customs they had known before The Great Migration. One of those traditions was punishment in the pillory.

Tracing its history to the 12th century, the pillory was a common sight in towns throughout Britain and on the continent. It consisted of an upright board with a hole in the middle where a person's head was set. As often as not, a person's ears were nailed to the board. Usually there were two openings for hands.

Also known as a neck-stretcher, the pillory's purpose was to publicly punish (and humiliate) people for all kinds of offenses. Frequently, a pillory could be rotated, so members of the public could get a good look at the person on display, as depicted by William Pyne in The Costume of Great Britain (1805). The most famous pillory in London was at Charing Cross.

Sometimes people locked in a pillory had bricks, or other heavy objects, thrown at them. Not a few died as a result, since they were unable to protect themselves with their hands.

Others, like Daniel Defoe (the author of Robinson Crusoe) who spent three days in the Charing Cross pillory (beginning July 31, 1703) for writing a pamphlet (The Shortest Way with Dissenters), were showered with flowers by a sympathetic crowd. Most, however, endured the more usual barrage of smelly eggs and rotting vegetables, dead cats or animal offal, sticky mud and human waste.

Read full history and more...

Hawthorne Museum & Custom House

Remember The House of Seven Gables? Did you know the house was modeled after a real residence in Massachusetts? The house (above -- notice how the lighting affects the image) is now a Hawthorne museum, and it has its own website:

http://www.7gables.org/

One section of the site includes information (and a photo) of the Custom House -- or "Counting House" as it's called -- in Salem.

http://www.7gables.org/tour_countinghouse.shtml

The Counting House, circa 1830, is typical of the small buildings in which sea captains, or “supercargoes” like Salem-native, Nathaniel Bowditch, completed much of their business. This was a place to balance accounts, pay fees due, and figure profit before or after a sea journey. While this building dates slightly later than the time our merchant families were active in the Triangle and China Trades, it is a prime example of a counting house from Salem.

Approved Proposals -- Three-Book Project

The following are the approved proposals. The book in bold-face is the book on which you will be making a presentation on January 25. Your data sheet for that book will be due at that time.

Peter
Three books by John Steinbeck: Travels With Charley; The Short Reign of Pippin IV; and collection of short stories

Julianna
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain; Time and Again by Jack Finney; and The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. Link: the element of time travel

Naomi
A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Link: "coming of age in America" novels

Ashley
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut; and The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. Link: anti-war themes

Jennifer
Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott; The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; and Peony by Pearl S. Buck. Link: The boundaries of love

Larry
Three books by Mark Twain: Collection of short stories; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Sean
Three books by Chaim Potok: The Chosen; The Promise; and My Name is Asher Lev

Annmarie
Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes; The Outsider by Richard Wright; and Contending Forces by Pauline Hopkins. Link: themes of racial segregation

Olivia
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. Link: themes of racial injustice

Joseph B
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo; The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane; and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut (or, alternate: Catch-22). Link: exposition of the horrors of war

Gabriela
Black Boy by Richard Wright; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; and Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Link: themes of racism

Elizabeth
Contending Forces by Pauline E. Hopkins; Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain; and Uncle Tom's Cabin by Hariet Beecher Stowe. Link: slavery and the treatment of "black people" before and after the Civil War

Marcella
Three books by Willa Cather: My Antonia; O Pioneers!; and A Lost Lady. Additional link: growing up in the American West