BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17^th 1706. He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17 children.

Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A.    Apprentice Printer

When Benjamin was 15 his brother started The New England Courant the first "newspaper" in Boston. Though there were two papers in the city before James's Courant, they only reprinted news from abroad. James's paper carried articles, opinion pieces written by James's friends, advertisements, and news of ship schedules.

Benjamin wanted to write for the paper too, but he knew that James would never let him. After all, Benjamin was just a lowly apprentice. So Ben began writing letters at night and signing them with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Dogood. Dogood was filled with advice and very critical of the world around her, particularly concerning the issue of how women were treated. Ben would sneak the letters under the print shop door at night so no one knew who was writing the pieces. They were a smash hit, and everyone wanted to know who the real “Silence Dogood.” was After 16 letters, Ben confessed that he had been writing the letters all along. While James's friends thought Ben was quite precocious and funny, James scolded his brother and was very jealous of the attention paid to him.

Before long the Franklins found themselves at odds with Boston's powerful Puritan preachers, the Mathers. Smallpox was a deadly disease in those times, and the Mathers supported inoculation; the Franklins' believed inoculation only made people sicker. And while most Bostonians agreed with the Franklins, they did not like the way James made fun of the clergy, during the debate. Ultimately, James was thrown in jail for his views, and Benjamin was left to run the paper for several issues.

Upon release from jail, James was not grateful to Ben for keeping the paper going. Instead he kept harassing his younger brother and administering beatings from time to time. Ben could not take it and decided to run away in 1723.

B.     Escape to Philadelphia

Running away was illegal. In early America, people all had to have a place in society and runaways did not fit in anywhere. Regardless Ben took a boat to New York where he hoped to find work as a printer. He didn't, and walked across New Jersey, finally arriving in Philadelphia via a boat ride. After debarking, he used the last of his money to buy some rolls. He was wet, disheveled, and messy when his future wife, Deborah Read, saw him on that day, October, 6, 1723. She thought him odd-looking, never dreaming that seven years later they would be married.

Franklin found work as an apprentice printer. He did so well that the governor of Pennsylvania promised to set him up in business for himself if young Franklin would just go to London to buy fonts and printing equipment. Franklin did go to London, but the governor reneged on his promise and Benjamin was forced to spend several months in England doing print work. Benjamin had been living with the Read family before he left for London. Deborah Read, the very same girl who had seen young Benjamin arrive in Philadelphia, started talking marriage, with the young printer. But Ben did not think he was ready. While he was gone, she married another man. Upon returning to Philadelphia, Franklin tried his hand at helping to run a shop, but soon went back to being a printer's helper. Franklin was a better printer than the man he was working for, so he borrowed some money and set himself up in the printing business. Franklin seemed to work all the time, and the citizens of Philadelphia began to notice the diligent young businessman. Soon he began getting the contract to do government jobs and started thriving in business.

In 1728, Benjamin fathered a child named William. The mother of William is not known. However, in 1730 Benjamin married his childhood sweetheart, Deborah Read. Deborah's husband had run off, and now she was able to marry. In addition to running a print shop, the Franklins also ran their own store at this time, with Deborah selling everything from soap to fabric. Ben also ran a book store. They were quite enterprising.

C.    The Pennsylvania Gazette

In 1729, Benjamin Franklin bought a newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin not only printed the paper, but often contributed pieces to the paper under aliases. His newspaper soon became the most successful in the colonies. This newspaper, among other firsts, would print the first political cartoon, authored by Ben himself. During the 1720s and 1730s, the side of Franklin devoted to public good started to show itself. He organized the Junto, a young working-man's group dedicated to self- and-civic improvement. He joined the Masons. He was a very busy man socially.

D.    Poor Richard's Almanack

But Franklin thrived on work. In 1733 he started publishing Poor Richard's Almanack. Almanacs of the era were printed annually, and contained things like weather reports, recipes, predictions and homilies. Franklin published his almanac under the guise of a man named Richard Saunders, a poor man who needed money to take care of his carping wife. What distinguished Franklin's almanac were his witty aphorisms and lively writing. Many of the famous phrases associated with Franklin, such as, "A penny saved is a penny earned" come from Poor Richard.

E.     Fire Prevention

Franklin continued his civic contributions during the 1730s and 1740s. He helped launch projects to pave, clean and light Philadelphia's streets. He started agitating for environmental cleanup. Among the chief accomplishments of Franklin in this era was helping to launch the Library Company in 1731. During this time books were scarce and expensive. Franklin recognized that by pooling together resources, members could afford to buy books from England. Thus was born the nation's first subscription library. In 1743, he helped to launch the American Philosophical Society, the first learned society in America. Recognizing that the city needed better help in treating the sick, Franklin brought together a group who formed the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751. The Library Company, Philosophical Society, and Pennsylvania Hospital are all in existence today.

Fires were very dangerous threat to Philadelphians, so Franklin set about trying to remedy the situation. In 1736, he organized Philadelphia's Union Fire Company, the first in the city. His famous saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," was actually fire-fighting advice. Those who suffered fire damage to their homes often suffered irreversible economic loss. So, in 1752, Franklin helped to found the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance against Loss by Fire. Those with insurance policies were not wiped out financially. The Contributionship is still in business today.

F.     Electricity

Franklin's printing business was thriving in this 1730s and 1740s. He also started setting up franchise printing partnerships in other cities. By 1749 he retired from business and started concentrating on science, experiments, and inventions. This was nothing new to Franklin. In 1743, he had already invented a heat-efficient stove — called the Franklin stove — to help warm houses efficiently. As the stove was invented to help improve society, he refused to take out a patent. Among Franklin's other inventions are swim fins, the glass harmonica (a musical instrument) and bifocals. In the early 1750's he turned to the study of electricity. His observations, including his kite experiment which verified the nature of electricity and lightning brought Franklin international fame.

G.    The Political Scene

Politics became more of an active interest for Franklin in the 1750s. In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of the Penn family over who should represent the Colony. He remained in England to 1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well. Early in his time abroad, Franklin considered himself a loyal Englishman. England had many of the amenities that America lacked. The country also had fine thinkers, theater, witty conversation — things in short supply in America. He kept asking Deborah to come visit him in England. He had thoughts of staying there permanently, but she was afraid of traveling by ship.

In 1765, Franklin was caught by surprise by America's overwhelming opposition to the Stamp Act. His testimony before Parliament helped persuade the members to repeal the law. He started wondering if America should break free of England. Franklin, though he had many friends in England, was growing sick of the corruption he saw all around him in politics and royal circles. Franklin, who had proposed a plan for united colonies in 1754, now would earnestly start working toward that goal.

Franklin's big break with England occurred in the "Hutchinson Affair." Thomas Hutchinson was an English-appointed governor of Massachusetts. Although he pretended to take the side of the people of Massachusetts in their complaints against England, he was actually still working for the King. Franklin got a hold of some letters in which Hutchinson called for "an abridgment of what are called English Liberties" in America. He sent the letters to America where much of the population was outraged. After leaking the letters Franklin was called to Whitehall, the English Foreign Ministry, where he was condemned in public.

H.    A New Nation

Franklin came home. He started working actively for Independence. He naturally thought his son William, now the Royal governor of New Jersey, would agree with his views. William did not. William remained a Loyal Englishman. This caused a rift between father and son which was never healed. Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. Though much of the writing is Thomas Jefferson's, much of the contribution is Franklin's. In 1776 Franklin signed the Declaration, and afterward sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI.

The French loved Franklin. He was the man who had tamed lightning, the humble American who dressed like a backwoodsman but was a match for any wit in the world. He spoke French, though stutteringly. He was a favorite of the ladies. Several years earlier his wife Deborah had died, and Benjamin was now a notorious flirt. In part via Franklin's popularity, the government of France signed a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans in 1778. Franklin also helped secure loans and persuade the French they were doing the right thing. Franklin was on hand to sign the Treaty of Paris in 1783, after the Americans had won the Revolution. Now a man in his late seventies, Franklin returned to America. He became President of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and signed the Constitution. One of his last public acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789.

Franklin died on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral of the man who was called, "the harmonious human multitude." His electric personality, however, still lights the world.

I.       Literary Works

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "The Way to Wealth". Applewood Books; November 1986. ISBN 0-918222-88-5

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin". Dover Pubns; June 7, 1996. ISBN 0-486-29073-5

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "Poor Richards Almanack". Peter Pauper Press; November 1983.ISBN 0-88088-918-7

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "The Poetry of Minor Connecticut Wits". Scholars Facsimilies & Reprint; September 2000. ISBN 0-8201-1066-3

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "Writings". ISBN 0-940450-29-1

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "On Marriage".

·           Franklin, Benjamin, "Satires and Bagatelles".

J.      Analysis Message of Literary Works

After The Pennsylvania Gazette, Poor Richard was the most profitable enterprise that Franklin undertook as a publisher. It sold about 10,000 copies a year. Given the now indissoluble connection between “Poor Richard” and Benjamin Franklin, it should be emphasized that most of the material in Poor Richard was not actually written by Franklin. This was especially true of the aphorisms, their most famous feature. Franklin could have had no idea that the brief sayings he used, taken from “many Ages and Nations,” would become the primary basis for his international fame as an author. He never pretended they were his own. He wrote in Poor Richard for 1746,

“I know as well as thee, that I am no poet born; and it is a trade I never learnt, nor indeed could learn. . . .Why then should I give my readers bad lines of my own, when good ones of other people’s are so plenty? ’Tis methinks a poor excuse for the bad entertainment of guests, that the food we set before them, though coarse and ordinary, is of one’s own raising, off one’s own plantation, etc. when there is plenty of what is ten times better, to be had in the market.”

Intellectual property, the ownership of ideas, was not what mattered. The point was not where the ideas had come from but the uses to which they could be put.

In 1732 I first published my Almanack, under the name of Richard Saunders; it was continu’d by me about 25 Years, commonly call’d Poor Richard’s Almanack. I endeavor’d to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such Demand that I reap’d considerable Profit from it, vending annually near ten Thousand. . . . I consider’d it as a proper Vehicle for conveying Instruction among the common People, who bought scarcely any other Books. I therefore filled all the little Spaces that occur’d between the Remarkable Days in the Calendar, with Proverbial Sentences, chiefly such as inculcated Industry and Frugality, as the Means of procuring Wealth and thereby securing Virtue, it being more difficult for a Man in Want to act always honestly, as (to use here one of those Proverbs) it is hard for an empty Sack to stand upright. (Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography)

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His autobiography lists his 13 virtues as:

1.     "Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."

2.     "Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."

3.     "Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."

4.     "Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."

5.     "Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."

6.     "Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."

7.     "Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."

8.     "Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."

9.     "Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."

10. "Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation."

11. "Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."

12. "Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."

13. "Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates."

REFFERENCE

·         Infamous Practices: Risk-Taking in Franklin's Early Journalism.

·         The Journalist as Man of Letters"; recorded relevant items from bibliography in Reappraising Benjamin Franklin

·         http://www.librarycompany.org/bfwriter/poor.htm

·         http://www2.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/16071783/lit/franklin/

·         http://media.isnet.org/iptek/100/Franklin.html

·         http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Benjamin_Franklin_(buku)

SOCIOLOGY OF LITERATURE IN "NORTH AND SOUTH"

1.      From chapter 17 “What is a strike?”

Answer: Higgins explains that the strike has failed. He credits this to the workmen's false premises and miscalculations. They did not expect the masters to bring in Irish hands, nor did the Committee men expect "passions getting the better of reason, as in the case of Boucher and the rioters" (225). These Milton workmen were the cruelest blow to the cause. Higgins was now out of work; he knew that Hamper would never give him his job back and he chafed at asking Mr. Thornton, even though he eventually would agree to do this at Margaret's insistence. The strike thus ended the way Bessy predicted it would –the masters appeared to have triumphed and the workers would need to return to work for the same wages –but as the novel progresses, the reader discovers that this strike was in fact unique. Mr. Thornton was affected; his business fails (until Margaret rescues it) and he eventually learns that a more humanitarian way of conducting business is personally and professionally profitable.

2.      Make a list of all the words and phrases which Higgins uses to describe: (a) the mill owners; (b) the workers; (c) himself; (d) the mill owners’ action; (e) the workers’ action; (f) his own actions. From this evidence, try to describe Higgins’ view of the strike (e.g. by considering who does what to whom).

Answer: Higgins, in particular, who Thornton considers among "mere demagogues, lovers of power, at whatever costs to others,"(Gaskell, 1855, chapter 38) assumes the responsibility for raising the Boucher children and embodies the values of maternal tenderness ( lacking in Mrs. Thornton) and strength (not possessed by Mrs. Hale) with great dignity. Gaskell endows John Thornton with tenderness in his heart, a soft spot according to Nicholas Higgins. Thornton's pride hides this capacity from public view but shows it in his affection for his mother and his quiet attention towards the Hales . He expresses it later more obviously when he develops good relations with his workers beyond the usual "cash nexus" and builds a canteen for factory workers (meal preparation, a domestic sphere), where he sometimes shares meals with them. Margaret's and Thornton's individual evolution eventually converges and, learning humility, they are partly freed from the shackles of separate spheres: he has known friendly relations at the mill and she asserts her independence from the kind of life that her cousin leads. She initiates their business meeting which he chooses to interpret as a declaration of love (Stoneman, 1987, pp 137–138). In the final scene, it is she who has control of the financial situation and he who reacts emotionally. They now meet as just man and woman and no longer the manufacturer from the North and the lady from the South (Gaskell, 1855, chapter 52). The blurring of roles is also evident among the workers where many like Bessy are women.

3.      Make a list of all the words and phrases which Margaret uses to describe: (a) the mill owner’s possible actions; (b) Higgins’ description of his own role; (c) the actions of workers in a strike. From this evidence, to describe Margaret’s view of the strike.

Answer: There are many things Margaret does not understand when she moves to Milton, and the strike is one of them. Bessy's opinions on the strike are unwavering -she feels that it is painful and useless. Despite the fact that there might be a valid reason behind it, she cannot help but perceive a strike as a loathsome thing that eradicates a man's hope and confidence. She has seen too many of them fail to be optimistic. The masters always have won and they always will win. Bessy's predictions turn out to be true, for Boucher and men like him feel too frustrated to hold out for diplomacy and thus turn to violent means. Irish hands are brought in and the Committee fails to secure any negotiations. Things return to their normal mode of operation. However, one thing Bessy does not live to see is the change within Mr. Thornton that leads to his better treatment of his workers and a more progressive, humanistic way of conducting business.

4.      What is the difference between Margaret’s suggestion that ‘the state of trade’ might not allow the owners to give the workers the same ‘remuneration’, and Higgins’ response that he is not talking about the state of trade but ‘rate o’ wages’? How, in Higgins’ view, do the owners use term ‘state o’ trade’?

Answer: Margaret once again shows her strength by protecting Mr. Thornton by her "womanly weakness". She sees, first hand, the suffering and starvation of the workers who have chosen to strike. She also sees the desperation brought on by this suffering. For me, it seemed that the work kills the bodies and the spirits of the workers. No work seemed to do the same in a different way.

It was against this background of agitation for worker's rights that Gaskell wrote in both N&S and Mary Barton about industrial relations in Manchester which was both a centre of trade unionism and a centre of exploitation by unscrupulous employers. We must remember that although communism has been discredited in our era it was seen as a lifeline to workers struggling under the most appalling working conditions the world had ever seen. The idea that by 'combining' in large groups they could force employers and governments to improve working conditions and pay, and to better living conditions generally, was a novel one, to which thousands enthusiastically subscribed despite the cruel strike-breaking methods exerted upon them by employers and the police. People in this area were also well aware that in 1819 Manchester had been the scene of the infamous Peterloo Massace where a peaceful assembly of men, women and children was mown down by soldiers on horseback and armed police, murdering 18 and injuring 700.

Even wages (and benefits) can be a large part of moral responsibility issues, alongside working conditions, layoff considerations, and any rights that may or may not exist to share in profitability. And, there are probably other major areas that we should name, such as an industry's impact on the environment in which it operates, even perhaps on the environment into which it provides products and services (e.g., Walmart's recent efforts to require its suppliers to reduce packaging wastes associated with their products).

5.      What is the effect of the fact that Higgins speaks in a working class northern dialect, while Margaret speaks in Standard English? Does it make his view of the strike more incredible? Less incredible? More authentic? Less authoritative?

Answer: The revival of social paternalism was a dominant feature of the Victorian effort to counteract the consequences of a competitive market economy. Paternalist ideology reasserted a belief that relations between employers and workers should be constituted in moral as well as economic terms and that society was properly seen as a hierarchical order in which the wealthy and powerful would protect the poor in return for their deference and duty.

It occurs to me that this is another contrast between the North and the South, and perhaps accounts for Margaret's views. In farming community, the farmer and the workers would necessarily have to work together for a common goal that would benefit both, that is to say, the crops. If the workers and the farmer shared the food, then that would constitute some or all of the workers' pay and would motivate both sides to cooperate for the best outcome. Perhaps part of the problem in the mills is that the only compensation is monetary.

Romantic Analysis in "The Scarlet Letter"

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.    Background

According to Cooper (1988) a literature review uses as its database reports of primary or original scholarship, and does not report new primary scholarship itself.  The primary reports used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases reports are written documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, critical/analytic, or methodological in nature. Second a literature review seeks to describe, summarize, evaluate, clarify and/or integrate the content of primary reports.

The review of relevant literature is nearly always a standard chapter of a thesis or dissertation. The review forms an important chapter in a thesis where its purpose is to provide the background to and justification for the research undertaken (Bruce 1994). Bruce has the topic of the literature review, has identified six elements of a literature review. These elements comprise a list; a search; a survey; a vehicle for learning; a research facilitator; and a report (Bruce 1994).

The quest to discover a definition for “literature” is a road that is much travelled, though the point of arrival, if ever reached, is seldom satisfactory.  Most attempted definitions are broad and vague, and they inevitably change over time.  In fact, the only thing that is certain about defining literature is that the definition will change.  Concepts of what is literature change over time as well.  What may be considered ordinary and not worthy of comment in one time period may be considered literary genius in another. Generally, most people have their own ideas of what literature is.  When enrolling in a literary course at university, you expect that everything on the reading list will be “literature”.  Similarly, you might expect everything by a known author to be literature, even though the quality of that author's work may vary from publication to publication.  Perhaps you get an idea just from looking at the cover design on a book whether it is “literary” or “pulp”.  Literature then, is a form of demarcation, however fuzzy, based on the premise that all texts are not created equal.  Some have or are given more value than others.

Most forays into the question of “what is literature” go into how literature works with the reader, rather than how the author set about writing it.  It is the reception, rather than the writing, which is the object of enquiry.  Largely, what we call “literature” is often a subjective value judgment, and naturally, value judgments, like literary tastes, will change.

Literature is as literature does.  In exploring ideas about what literature is, it is useful to look at some of the things that literature does.  Literature is something that reflects society, makes us think about ourselves and our society, allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on “the human condition”.  It both reflects ideology and changes ideology, just like it follows generic conventions as well as changing them.  It has social and political effects: just ask Salman Rushdie or Vladimir Nabokov.  Literature is the creation of another world, a world that we can only see through reading literature.

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A.    Novel

The present English (and Spanish) word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the Italian novella for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the Latin novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive ofnovus, meaning "new". Most European languages have preserved the term "romance" (as in French, Dutch, Russian, Croatian, Romanian, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian "roman"; German "Roman"; Portuguese "romance" and Italian "romanzo") for extended narratives. A novel is a long, fictional narrative which describes intimate human experiences. The novel in the modern era usually makes use of a literary prose style, and the development of the prose novel at this time was encouraged by innovations in printing, and the introduction of cheap paper, in the 15th century.

Novel is an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience, usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. Within its broad framework, the genre of the novel has encompassed an extensive range of types and styles: picaresque, epistolary, Gothic, romantic, realist, historical to name only some of the more important ones.

B.     Synopsis of The Scarlet Letter

Inside the jail is one Hester Prynne, an adulteress who's just about to be released from prison so that she can be paraded through town, displaying the scarlet "A" that she's been forced to wear as evidence of her adultery. How do we know she's an adulteress? She's got a baby daughter, Pearl, but her husband has been away for two full years. Even we can do the math on that one. Despite all the shaming, Hester protects Pearl's father from punishment by refusing to give up his name. The adultery parade (worse parade ever) is winding through town when… Hester Prynne's long-lost husband arrives in disguise! Once she's back in prison, he shows up and orders her to keep her mouth shut so he can carry out his Nefarious Plan of ferreting out and seeking revenge on her lover. For some reason, she agrees.

Hester's husband tells the townspeople that he's a physician named Roger Chillingworth. He's a smart fellow, so he realizes pretty quickly that the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the likely father of Hester's baby. Obviously, his next step is to stalk the minister day and night. The minister is too afraid to confess his sin publicly, but he's feeling pretty guilty, not to mention antsy from Chillingworth's constant examination, and also maybe in a little pain from strange red mark that's on his chest

Oh, and this goes on for seven years.

Finally, Hester realizes that her husband has been doing some really wack psychological manipulation to the man she loves, and she reveals Chillingworth's true identity to Dimmesdale. They concoct a plan to settle in England and create a new life together. Yay, happy ending!

Or not. Dimmesdale ultimately backs out and confesses his sin to the townspeople on the scaffold where Hester was publicly shamed seven years earlier. He goes out with a bang by ripping his shirt open (à la Jean Valjean) to reveal the mark on his chest, just before dying.

That's all very dramatic and satisfying, but it's not the end. About a year later, Chillingworth dies and leaves all his money and property to Pearl, which means she and her mom can finally get themselves out of that awful community and return to England to build a new life. Yay, happy ending for sure this time!

Not quite. Years later, Hester actually returns to the colony, resuming the scarlet letter of her own will. When she dies, she's buried near the minister, and they share a gravestone marked with what else? the letter "A."

C.    Character and Characterization

Character in literature is defined as persons, animal, things, or natural forces presented as persons in short stories, novel, movie, plays, or narrative poems. Characters may be flat, minor characters; or round, and major. The main character in a story is generally known as the protagonist; the character who opposes him or her is the antagonist. Character is revealed by how a character responds to conflict, by his or her dialogue, and through descriptions.

Abraham Lincoln (1860) said, “Reputation is the shadow. Character is the tree.” Our character is not just what we try to display for others to see, it is who we are even when no one is watching. Good character is doing the right thing because it is right to do what is right. The dictionary definitions said, character is a “complex of mental and ethical traits” and that those traits, or qualities, are “built into an individual’s life.” It is those character qualities, those character traits that determine a person’s response in any given situation.  For example, a person in with a strong character quality of truthfulness is much more likely to accurately report the facts in a given situation than a person who is not a truthful person.

Characterization is the art of creating characters for a narrative, including the process of conveying information about them. It may be employed in dramatic works of art or everyday conversation. Characters may be presented by means of description, through their actions, speech, or thoughts. Characterization is the process of establishing a character’s personality in a narrative or drama. This can be done in a number of ways, through a character’s actions, speech, appearance, thoughts and what the other characters in the narrative or drama say or think about him.

Tarigan (1985) mention several ways an author characterizes his story or behavior of each character, as follows: Physical description, stream of conscious thought, reaction of events, direct author analysis, discussion environment, reaction of author, conversation of author about character.

There are two types of characterization: explicit characterization and implicit characterization. Explicit characterization is when the story narrator describes the characters himself, for instance describing in detail the color of a character’s eyes, or directly specifying whether he is honest or deceitful. Implicit characterization on the other hand is when the audience is left to deduce the character’s personality through his actions, speech, thoughts, appearance and interaction with other characters. This can be done by describing how other characters react to his physical appearance, or how the character reacts to certain situations.

D.    Romanticism

Romanticism differs significantly from Classicism, the period Romanticism rejected. Romanticism is more concerned with emotion than rationality. It values the individual over society, nature over city. It questions or attacks rules, conventions and social protocol. It sees humanity living IN nature as morally superior to civilized humanity: glorification of the "noble savage." It conceives of children, essentially innocent by nature, as being corrupted by their surroundings. Many works emphasize the emotional aspects excessively, moving the piece toward Dark Romanticism and the Gothic. Romantic literature places an emphasis on the individual and on the expression of personal emotions. Literary Romanticism should not be confused with romance literature.Romanticism was evident not only in literature, but also in art, music and architecture.

A.    The ways of Romanticism:

1.      The American Period of Romanticism (1830-1865) was "an age of great westward expansion, of the increasing gravity of the slavery questions, of an intensification of the spirit of embattled sectionalism in the South, and of a powerful impulse to reform in the North" (Harman 454). It has many of the same characteristics as European Romanticism but had several uniquely American aspects.

2.      Conditions that influenced American Romanticism: Frontier promised opportunity for expansion, growth, freedom; Europe lacked this element.
Spirit of optimism invoked by the promise of an uncharted frontier. 
Immigration brought new cultures and perspectives
Growth of industry in the north that further polarized the north and the agrarian south.
Search for new spiritual roots.

3.      Literary Themes:

Ø  Highly imaginative and subjective

Ø  Emotional intensity

Ø  Escapism

Ø  Common man as hero

Ø  Nature as refuge, source of knowledge and/or spirituality

B.     The Aspects of Romanticism in The Scarlet Novel

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter is about a courageous woman, Hester Prynne, and her struggle to split from society in order to live the loving life she has always wanted. By the use of symbolism, Hawthorne is effectively able to portray the forest, which promotes individuality, and the town, which rewards conformity. The clothes portrayed by the Puritans, the town, are dull and plain whereas those expressed by the Romantics, the forest, are vivid and eccentric. Also, the various events of the novel contrast from cold and punishing with the Puritans to hopeful and exciting with the Romantics. Finally, the characters representing the Romantics are passionate and carefree whereas those of the Puritans are serious and punishing. Because the Romantic ideas incorporate an enjoyable, fulfilling life whereas the Puritan ideas incorporate a cold and punishing life, it is evident that Hawthorne is trying to spread the thought of individualism, a quality greatly promoted in the Romantic lifestyle, through his novel.

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne continues to show the clothes of the Romantics as vivid and eccentric and the clothes of the Puritans as plain and dull in order to spread his underlined theme of individuality. The people of the town wore very unadorned and dull clothes, lessening their opportunity of individuality.

In order to be complete servants of God, the towns’ people wore clothes “{of} a coarser fibre” (48).

They did this in order to not make themselves appear like they were better than God, rather much lower of an individual than he. By doing this, the people of the town clumped together to form a society ruled by only one opinion. In consequence the ruling of the society brought devastation and pain to those who tried to express their individual ideas, eventually leading to death or public humiliation. Also, Hester’s clothes act as a transition between the Puritan and Romantic beliefs, for although she wears the emblem of humiliation, the scarlet letter, she lavishes it up with extravagant detailing.

Although Hester was forced to wear the Scarlet “A” on her bosom, she used her needlework to “add the richer and more spiritual adornment of human ingenuity” to the once plain emblem (75).

This shows that, although she still confides with the town to ware the mark of shame, she still tries to break free and make the mark her own. This scene is significant for it begins to portray Hawthorne’s universal theme of individuality. In consequence, the people eventually replace the meaning of Hester’s scarlet letter from that of adulterer to that of able. Finally, Pearl becomes the complete symbol For the Romantics when she garnishes herself with ornaments of the forest. As Pearl and Hester are on a walk,

“Pearl {takes} some eel grass” and adorns herself with it (161).

This shows that Pearl wears clothes of a free spirit like that that the forest represents. This scene is significant for it portrays the true individual, one who does for himself not what others do, in Pearl. In consequence, the reader begins to see a transformation in Pearl, from a symbol, arguably, of the devil, to that of the true individual. By observing Hawthorne’s depictions of the clothes used throughout his novel, it is obvious that he is telling the reader to break from society and become an individual. Hawthorne contrasts the events in the novel from cold and punishing with the Puritans to hopeful and exciting with the Romantics in order to further show that the Romantic beliefs are greater than that of the Puritans. In the beginning of the novel, the town’s true, punishing personality is expressed as they sentence Hester Prynne, a young woman who has committed adultery, to public humiliation among the scaffold.

As the members of the town see young Hester suffering an untold of punishment, they still wish her dead for she has “brought shame upon [them] all” (49).

Even after the town has unfairly punished Hester, they still wish to punish her more. This signifies the cold and unjust nature of the Puritans, who want nothing more than strict laws and harsh punishment. In consequence, Hester refuses to show that the town has broken her and continues to keep her pride and remain dignified. In addition, the act when Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold to relieve himself of his guilt, serves as a transition between the town and forest, for although he is splitting from society, his is doing so in the confines of his own knowledge, not making it public.

Dimmesdale’s ascend of “the guilty platform” serves as a remedy for his suffering for prior seven years (137).

Although the act does not fully relieve him of his pain, as it should not, it gives him an excuse to keep moving on. This event shows that Dimmesdale is a weak and cowardly man, not yet strong enough to confess his sins, therefore forced to relieve his pain in this cowardly fashion. This event foreshadows that when Dimmesdale finally enlightens the town of his past adulteries, relieving him entirely of his guilt. Lastly, their confrontation in the forest allow Hester and Dimmesdale the freedom to express their true feelings towards each other.

As they sat next to each other, “hand clasped in hand, on the mossy trunk of the fallen tree” Hester and Dimmesdale were finally able to express their love and plan their escape from the horrid society of hypocritical Puritans (176).

This event marked the first in seven years since the couple could express their feelings and communicate freely. This event expresses the complete Romantic ideas; sharing love, becoming individuals, and splitting from the Puritan lifestyle. In consequence the couple undergo the complete transformation from Puritans to Romantics, stressing Hawthorne’s underlined message of individualism as they convert. Because Hawthorne shows the Romantic events as loving and hopeful episodes, whereas he illustrates the Puritan events as cold and punishing affairs, he is further showing the importance of a Romantic lifestyle in relative to the Puritan lifestyle. Hawthorne portrays the characters of the Romantics as passionate and carefree whereas he portrays those of the Puritans as punishing and serious. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband who was left behind in England when Hester ventured out to America, serves as an evil antagonist in the novel, constantly tormenting pour old Dimmesdale.

As Chillingworth transforms himself from the once kind doctor Hester had married into the evil, revengeful person now hated by all, he effectively “transformed himself into the devil” (153).

Chillingworth is the complete symbol of the Puritans, ruthless, punishing, and relentless. As the devil, he serves as the relentless adversary who tortures Dimmesdale to his death. In consequence, once Dimmesdale has died, he feels his life has no purpose and therefore he, himself, ceases to live. The death of the minister symbolizes the final demolition of the Puritan religion, therefore expelling the devil. Hester Prynne serves as a transition character between the Puritans and Romantics, for although she tries to split from the dreary society and start a loving relationship, when caught, she confides back with the church in fear of God’s wrath.

Although Hester tries to completely split from the Puritan code, her most notable mark is still “[her] badge of shame” (101).

Instead of making a complete break from the church, she still continues to wear the scarlet letter. This signifies that she continues to confide with the church in hopes that she will one day be able to live life as an individual in heaven. With these hopes Hester carries out her life continuing to wear the scarlet letter until death. Finally, because of her carefree attitude towards life, Pearl becomes the complete character of the Romantics.

As Pearl came across the brook, it “reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesque of her beauty, in its adornment of and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized than the reality” (187).

This quote is explaining Pearl as she walks through her kingdom, the forest. With the will to now think freely and express her joyful attitude, Pearl now lets her imagination overpower her as she walks among her kingdom. In consequence, we now see Pearl as a beautiful girl who has become one with nature. Because Pearl, representing the Romantic beliefs, has become an individual, free thinker, whereas Chillingworth, representing the Puritan beliefs, has ceased to live, it is evident that Hawthorne id trying to preach the ideas of Romanism and ultimately individualism.

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

1.      Romanticism symbolizes a life of enjoyment and self-pleasure whereas Puritanism symbolizes a life of cold and punishment, it is evident that Hawthorne is trying to spread the thought of individualism, a quality greatly promoted in the Romantic lifestyle. 

2.      The clothes portrayed by the Puritans are dull and plain compared to the vivid and eccentric clothes worn by the Romantics. Also, the cold and punishing events of the Puritans contrast to the hopeful and exciting events of the Romantics.

3.      Finally, the characters representing the Romantics are passionate and carefree whereas those of the Puritans are serious and punishing. Without individual opinion, our society would become one ruled strictly by one voice, eventually leading to the hypocrisy which corrupted the Puritan civilization.

REFFERENCE

·         Bode, Dr. Carl. Highlight of American Literature. 1985, English Language Programs Division, Educational and Cultural Affairs United States Information Agency, Washington, D.C.

·         The Norton Anthology of American Literature. W. W. Norton & Company. New York. London

·         http://www.deakin.edu.au/library/research/literature-review.php

·         http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/academy/foundation/what_is_literature.htm

·         http://www.shmoop.com/scarlet-letter/summary.html

·         http://www.luc.edu/faculty/cschei1/teach/rrn.html

·         http://www.writework.com/essay/romanticism-scarlet-letter-1