Freedom 3

Upon finishing the book, I was glad to know that everything finally came full circle and that it was concluded with a happy ending. Something I found interesting while reading however, was how much Walter and Patty both had changed after separating. Before they separated, Walter was the level-headed man who was focused and never let things get to him, while Patty was the depression-ridden one who was on the brink of being crazy. After their separation, they sort of trade places. Walter becomes a bit malevolent and on the crazy side. Much like how Patty used to terrorize the neighbors, Carol and Blake, Walter begins to bother his neighbors about their cats and starts to have an obsession with putting an end to the cats' hunting. Patty takes on Walter's previous role by becoming more of a selfless and caring person towards her family and others. What I got out of this role-switching transformation was that Patty and Walter were truly meant for one another. I think that the reason they became so much like each other was that by being apart, they were truly missing their other halves. They took on the roles of each other as a way of dealing with being apart, and filling the void they were feeling.

When I first started this book, I really doubted that Patty and Walter were made for each other. As I continued to read I was actually persuaded otherwise by how deeply they seemed to care for one another. A part of this book that really showed how much the two Berglunds are meant to be together is ther back on page 491 after Walter first reads Patty's story about her and Richard. In this scene after Walter yells at Patty about what was written, Patty replies by saying "I gave it to Richard last night to try to explain why I stayed with you. Always stayed with you. Still want to stay with you". From this quote you can finally see that deep down Patty is strongly connected to Walter, a type of connection that couldn't be broken by fighting, depression, or even infidelity. This is the point in the novel where for the first time, the reader knows how Patty feels about Walter, after knowing all along how attached Walter is to her. Patty and Walter's story is one that was full of many twists and turns, and points where it seemed as if there was no way they would last. Its a relationship such as their's that shows obstacles are what prove how strong a bond is, and Patty and Walter's is as strong as can be.

Freedom 2

Something that this book tends to bring up frequently is depression. At some point throughout the book, almost all of the characters have gone through a depressed state, have mentioned their depression, or have been prescribed for antidepressants. My question is, what is the authors point in focusing so intently on this subject? Maybe it is to convey that rates of depression in current day America are steadily rising. Although this book is mainly fiction, the precise details and current events of the time it was written in are purely factual. By showing that many of the characters in the novel are depressed, maybe it signifies that the author feels America is swirling into a depression.

By the way the author writes, I can tell he has a strong dislike for many of the things going on in our nation. One passage in particular that I can sense this in is on page 325 when Walter and Lalitha are out to eat and are looking over a menu at a typical American restaurant. "Between the horrors of bovine methane, the lakes of watershed-devastating excrement generated by pig and chicken farms, the catastrophic overfishing of the oceans, the ecological nightmare of farmed shrimp and salmon,the antibiotic orgy of dairy-cow factories, and the fuel squandered by the globilization of produce, there was little he could ever order in good conscience...". This quote shows the authors feelings on what American industrialization is doing to our planet. This quote brings up matters such as overfishing, ecological imbalance, nonrenewable resources, and many others; all issues greatly contributed to by America. The story in this book serves as a message: America needs change. 

Freedom 1

So far the book Freedom is fairly interesting. While reading, I have developed a great dislike for the character Patty. I know that Patty is deeply depressed and has gone through so many difficulties in her life, but I think that there is no excuse for the way she treats Walter. From the start, Patty has been nothing but selfish in their relationship. The only reason she is even interested in him instead of Richard is because she knows that he would do anything for her. Patty knows that she is more attracted to Richard than to Walter, but if she chose Richard, he wouldn't be the type to stick by her side no matter what. Patty is a broken person and feels as if she needs Walter's desperate affection in order to make her feel better about herself. No matter what Patty does in this book, it is all about herself, and it drives me crazy. What bothers me the most is that every single problem Patty has she brings upon herself. Her complaining is something that becomes tiring and irritating because she could easily fix her life if she tried.

A question that I had been pondering while reading this book is why it had been titled 'Freedom'. It wasn't until I came to a passage on page 192 that I could find a reason for this. On this page it is talking about Patty and her self-pity. "She had all day every day to figure out some decent and satisfying way to live, and yet all she ever seemed to get for all her choices and all her freedom was more miserable. The autobiographer is almost forced to the conclusion that she pitied herself for being so free." After reading this I realized that the book is called 'Freedom' because its entire point is to draw out all of the flaws of the American system that go along with the liberty we are granted. The theme of this book is that too much freedom can lead to downfall. This quote shows this by tying in the character Patty to this theme. Patty fits this because she is a woman granted so much freedom that she should be content with, but she misuses it by choosing unhealthy and selfish things to do with it. This theme is then applied to larger concepts in the book such as population growth and global warming. The root of both these monumental problems is that people are given too much freedom, which then leads to major problems in the world. When people are given the freedom to reproduce without care, it leads to overpopulation. When people are given the freedom to harness energy from the earth, it leads to global warming. I think this book is trying to say that freedom is only a good thing when its in moderation. 

The Scarlet Letter Blog Post Two

My first thought after finishing the book The Scarlet Letter  was what the last line could possibly mean. This line reads "ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES."(180). The reason I was so transfixed with this particular line is because it is what was written on Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale's gravestone, and also it says that it "might serve as a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend" (180) meaning that this line serves as a moral of this story. In order to understand this line, I began by looking up the two words that were unfamiliar to me on Thefreedictionary.com. These two words were "sable" and "gules". According to the website, sable is an adjective that means "Of the color black, as in heraldry, or mourning." and gules means " The heraldic color red". After looking up these words I then understood that this line means on a black field, the letter A shines red. What I took from this line being inscribed onto the gravestone was that even though Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale both had passed on into the afterlife, their sins would forever follow them there. This told me that the author's views on death are that what you do during life will follow you after you have died. This line truly does serve as a motto for the entire novel because throughout the story, Hester was plaqued by the pain of having to wear the scarlet letter and Arthur Dimmesdale was kept in constant misery by the pain hidden in his heart by the adultery they had committed. No matter what either of them did to try to escape their struggles, they were both eternally trapped by the sins they had previously committed.

The Scarlet Letter Blog Post One

While reading The Scarlet Letter, something that really stood out to me was the way the letter makes Hester feel. I find it interesting that Hester is so deeply pained by her wearing of the scarlet letter, and also how scrutinized she feels by every person around her. Although we were not introduced to Hester until after the letter had been fastened to her chest, I feel as if the letter transformed who she once was, and has turned her into an extremely paranoid person. An example of this is on page 67 when Hester's daughter Pearl is throwing wild-flowers at her. Instead of interpreting Pearl's actions as an innocent form of childplay like most mothers would, Hester becomes deeply upset by it. "Still came the battery of flowers, almost invariably hitting the mark, and covering the mother's breast with hurts for which she could find no balm in this world". This quote shows how sensitive Hester has become because of her sentence by showing that even something as non-threatening as flowers can make Hester feel awful about herself. Truly, I do not think that Pearl meant to hit the letter, I just think that Hester is so greatly focussed on this letter which represents her biggest downfall in life, that she feels as if she is being targetted because of it. This quote also shows how helpless the letter makes Hester feel when it says that it covered her in "hurts for which she could find no balm in this world". By saying this, it expresses how Hester feels doomed by the scarlet letter, and knows that there is nothing she can do to fix the situation she is in.

Overall, what I think the scarlet letter represents is how obsessed humans are with how they are perceived by others. The only reason Hester is so troubled by her wearing of the scarlet letter is because of how she knows she will be judged by others. It is merely human nature to be fixated on how others view you and how you are judged, and because of the letter Hester is seen right away as a shameful adulterer who doesn't have good morals. A lesson that is displayed by this, however, is that you truly can not judge a book by its cover. Although Hester did commit a great sin, it does not have to define who she is. Hester is a loving mother who cares deeply for her daughter and also cares strongly about her virtue and her role in society. The scarlet letter only magnifies to the public one sin Hester has comitted, which ends up masking what a great person she really is.

Lastly, the scarlet letter has made me think a lot about how this book connects to society today. In our era, a huge concern  is appearance and body image. People strive to look perfect, and focus strongly on the "flaws" they have. What I thought the scarlet letter Hester wears is similar to is one of the supposed flaws people focus on today. An example of this is when a person is self-conscious about being overweight.  When a person feels as if they are fat, they believe all those around them are constantly judging them. Any time someone gazes upon the areas of their body they are uncomfortable with, they feel as if they are being judged and that others will automatically see them as a lazy glutonous being.. This is just like Hester's situation because she feels as if every time a person looks at her all they see is the red A on her chest, and that secretly every person she meets is judging and looking down upon her as a wicked adultress. The big similarity between these two situations is that your appearance gives you a back-story, whether it is true or not.