In studying many centuries of American literature several themes have been touched upon. Throughout the course various authors have written about the reoccurring idea of freedom. Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” The idea of freedom is the foundation and backbone for the Founding Fathers in writing the Constitution for the land. Freedom and can take many forms for a person such an individual freedom. This paper will compare the meaning of freedom to different authors and how they develop and present their ideas in their works.
Individuality is the freedom to develop and express a unique personality in both the public …show more content…
The novel takes place in a 17th century Puritan Community located in Boston. The novel tells a story of a woman by the name of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and her struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. With the help of the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale- who is secretly the child’s father, she manages to maintain custody of Pearl. The novel’s climax takes place when Hester Prynne’s revenge seeking husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes into town and finds out the truth. He reveals his real identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. The characters technically have all the freedom they could want, since they know they can leave this Puritan community at any time but do not to because they are bound by societal pressures. “Stretching for the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward; until, on the threshold of the prison door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” When Hester is released from jail she is given a scarlet letter patch to wear on her breast. She ultimately does have the choice to taken off the and leave to a new community or back to New England- and no one in Boston could have or would have …show more content…
As the community’s minister, he is more symbol than human being. Except for Chillingworth, those around the minister willfully ignore his obvious anguish, misinterpreting it as holiness. Unfortunately, Dimmesdale never fully recognizes the truth of what Hester has learned: that individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and by a reconfiguration, not a rejection, of one’s assigned identity. Ultimately for Hester her decision in choosing to stay and refiguring the scarlet letter as a symbol of her own experiences and character are rewarding. Her past sin is a part of who she is; to pretend that it never happened would mean denying a part of herself.
In comparison to The Scarlet Letter, Ben Franklin’s The Autobiography also touches upon the idea of individual freedom. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790. Franklin’s work is divided it into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them during his life. Even though unfinished and published after his death it has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever
Individuality is the freedom to develop and express a unique personality in both the public …show more content…
The novel takes place in a 17th century Puritan Community located in Boston. The novel tells a story of a woman by the name of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and her struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. With the help of the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale- who is secretly the child’s father, she manages to maintain custody of Pearl. The novel’s climax takes place when Hester Prynne’s revenge seeking husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes into town and finds out the truth. He reveals his real identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. The characters technically have all the freedom they could want, since they know they can leave this Puritan community at any time but do not to because they are bound by societal pressures. “Stretching for the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward; until, on the threshold of the prison door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” When Hester is released from jail she is given a scarlet letter patch to wear on her breast. She ultimately does have the choice to taken off the and leave to a new community or back to New England- and no one in Boston could have or would have …show more content…
As the community’s minister, he is more symbol than human being. Except for Chillingworth, those around the minister willfully ignore his obvious anguish, misinterpreting it as holiness. Unfortunately, Dimmesdale never fully recognizes the truth of what Hester has learned: that individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and by a reconfiguration, not a rejection, of one’s assigned identity. Ultimately for Hester her decision in choosing to stay and refiguring the scarlet letter as a symbol of her own experiences and character are rewarding. Her past sin is a part of who she is; to pretend that it never happened would mean denying a part of herself.
In comparison to The Scarlet Letter, Ben Franklin’s The Autobiography also touches upon the idea of individual freedom. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790. Franklin’s work is divided it into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them during his life. Even though unfinished and published after his death it has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever