Prompt #1: One of the author's goals at the beginning of a novel is to fully engage her reader. Select a passage from the first half of "Charming Billy" that you found particularly interesting and explain how you think it contributes to engaging the reader in the novel.
Alice McDermott's novel "Charming Billy" doesn't seem as much a novel as a compilation of life stories. Part of what makes this novel so vivid and enthralling is the way the author constructs her characters, and constructs their lives around each other. In the middle of these intertwined stories is Billy, the titular character, whose funeral introduces us to the world these characters live in. Billy is the spine of the entire book, while Dennis and Sheila and Eva and Mary and Holtzman are the limbs, branching off in every direction from this one central point. These stories are all connected through the reminiscing of times gone past after this main character has passed away, as told through the eyes of a narrator we barely know.
One passage that resonated with me was during the first chapter, when they were still sitting around the table reminiscing, and McDermott writes, "Billy had drunk himself to death. He had, at some point, ripped apart, plowed through, as alcoholics tend to do, the great, deep, tightly woven fabric of affection that was some part of the emotional life, the life of love, of everyone in the room."
I didn't realize, until going back and searching for the quote that first engaged me in this novel, how much this quote represents what the entire book is about. This quote, and this book, are about Billy, but also about the creation of this "fabric of affection" that he will later destroy. We need to first learn about his relationship with Dennis, or with Eva, in order for it to be more devastating when these relationships are destroyed. I think that this is part of what makes the book complex, and what makes it interesting for someone to read. We know from the very beginning that Billy is dead, and how he died, and the rest of his life is out of order, until, I predict, a whole picture of Billy is revealed.
I think the multiple dimensions and motivations in all the characters also contributes to entrancing the audience, since, everywhere you look, you can find something you relate to. Even though some readers may not have faced the struggles of having to bring relatives over from Ireland, or fighting in the trenches of World War II, they can still find themselves in Billy's anguish over losing Eva, Sheila's desperate craving for security, or Dennis' agonizing grief. The narrator, too, provides us with a way into the story. Just like us, she is an outsider looking in,
I look forward to seeing how this novel progresses, and hope that, now that Alice McDermott has entrapped us in "Charming Billy," the rest of the story can be unveiled.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Thursday, July 17, 2014
"The Scarlet Letter" - Character and Motivation
Prompt #2 - Choose one of the three main characters and discuss his/her motivations throughout the novel. What is the final outcome for the character you are discussing, and what does the outcome suggest to the reader?
Hester Prynne, throughout the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is motivated in her actions by the presence of the scarlet A, and her daughter, Pearl, who she genuinely starts to believe is the human embodiment of her punishment. Even though Hester attempts to do good deeds for others in her Puritan community and uses her skills as a seamstress to make a good living for herself, she is constantly living under the shadow of her past deed. Her daily reminders of her single sin are a constant motivator for her as the plot begins the thicken.
Hester, like all those living under the Puritan rules and regulations, finds most of her life centering around the church, even more so now that she has been shunned by it. Her isolation from the people of Boston and the religious figures is represented in her own geographic isolation. Her only salvation comes through her seamstress work, and her daughter, Pearl. This gives her both a reason to live and a permanent torment, and throughout the book Hester must struggle with balancing the joy she receives from them and the guilt she feels for not living a life of complete modesty. This mixture of feelings is what motivates her in a pivotal point of the book, when she must go to Governor Bellingham and plead to keep Pearl in her possession.
Governor Bellingham and the rest of the upper class white men dictating how society must be run decide that Hester Prynne, the adulteress, can no longer keep her daughter if she is to have any hope for a good future. Hester must go to them, pleading, to explain how her daughter is just a human version of the scarlet A. This can't be an easy moment for Hester - in the very beginning of the book, she was motivated by her pride and anger at those who judged her without really knowing her, and now she must admit to these people that they have succeeded in making her life miserable. But motivated through her love for her daughter and for, as we later find out, her loyalty to Dimmesdale, she can overcome these barriers, admit that she believes Pearl to be a spirit sent by God to punish her, earn the guardianship of her child, and resist the urge of witchcraft.
Hester Prynne, throughout the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is motivated in her actions by the presence of the scarlet A, and her daughter, Pearl, who she genuinely starts to believe is the human embodiment of her punishment. Even though Hester attempts to do good deeds for others in her Puritan community and uses her skills as a seamstress to make a good living for herself, she is constantly living under the shadow of her past deed. Her daily reminders of her single sin are a constant motivator for her as the plot begins the thicken.
Hester, like all those living under the Puritan rules and regulations, finds most of her life centering around the church, even more so now that she has been shunned by it. Her isolation from the people of Boston and the religious figures is represented in her own geographic isolation. Her only salvation comes through her seamstress work, and her daughter, Pearl. This gives her both a reason to live and a permanent torment, and throughout the book Hester must struggle with balancing the joy she receives from them and the guilt she feels for not living a life of complete modesty. This mixture of feelings is what motivates her in a pivotal point of the book, when she must go to Governor Bellingham and plead to keep Pearl in her possession.
Governor Bellingham and the rest of the upper class white men dictating how society must be run decide that Hester Prynne, the adulteress, can no longer keep her daughter if she is to have any hope for a good future. Hester must go to them, pleading, to explain how her daughter is just a human version of the scarlet A. This can't be an easy moment for Hester - in the very beginning of the book, she was motivated by her pride and anger at those who judged her without really knowing her, and now she must admit to these people that they have succeeded in making her life miserable. But motivated through her love for her daughter and for, as we later find out, her loyalty to Dimmesdale, she can overcome these barriers, admit that she believes Pearl to be a spirit sent by God to punish her, earn the guardianship of her child, and resist the urge of witchcraft.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
"The Scarlet Letter" - Setting, Social Conditions, and Customs
Prompt #1 - Setting includes more than just time and place. It also concerns social conditions and customs of a given location and time period. Discuss the setting of "The Scarlet Letter" and how it contributes to your understanding of the book so far.
The setting of "The Scarlet Letter" is revealed throughout the first chapters of the book, through both Nathaniel Hawthorne's physical descriptions, and the way his characters act and interact with each other. How his characters treat the protagonist of the novel, Hester Prynne, sets the setting surrounding her and the expectations placed on her for the rest of the book. The first few chapters of the novel are dedicated to educating the audience about social conditions and customs of Puritan-era Boston through the characters gathered around the prison door at the beginning of Chapters 1 and 2. The situation of Hester Prynne at the beginning of the novel is revealed throughout the following couple chapters.
Chapter 1, though very brief, is what starts to establish the setting. It gives us a physical description of the Boston prison as well as giving some background of the time period and the customs of incoming settlers in the New World. Most of this short chapter is dedicated to describing the need for a new settlement to set aside land for both a prison and a cemetery, a social custom that gives our first hint at what life must have been like. When law and order is so ingrained in a society that one of the first buildings they erect is a place to keep the "sinners" or the "damned," it creates a whole new backdrop for crime and punishment, and the Puritanical setting of "The Scarlet Letter." These people, especially these women, who Hawthorne says are, "[standing] within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the not altogether unsuitable representative of the sex," are influenced by the rigid monarchy and religious orders they follow. These same factors that influence these strong, independent women are demonstrated in the setting in the moments before Hester Prynne is condemned to walk to and stand on the platform, bearing the scarlet A for all to see. Everyone's reaction to Hester's situation is mostly derived from their fear of God and strong opinions on religion. Rather then having concern for Hester, or her child who has been condemned for doing nothing wrong, the women in front of the prison wonder about how this will influence the "God-fearing gentlemen" or "Reverend Master Dimmesdale's congregation."
These social customs and deeply set morals are what have shaped the world Hester has been condemned to live in. She remarks that her first steps leaving the prison, not the ones walking to the scaffold, were the hardest, since she knows they only mark a lifetime of similar shameful steps, brought on by the expectations and people surrounding her. She is sent off to another setting, a small, remote cottage, which demonstrates the society-imposed isolation she finds herself living under. It's ironic, really, how as the book goes on these harsh conditions of the time period are only pinned to Hester Prynne, who tries to do good, instead of the other members of the Puritan community. At one point in Chapter 5, it says, "except for that small expenditure in the decoration of her infant, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them." So, while the harsh expectations, social conditions, and customs set in place in the beginning of the novel are what create the setting of "The Scarlet Letter," throughout the book this may be open to change and interpretation based on which characters are being held up to this original moral standard.
The setting of "The Scarlet Letter" is revealed throughout the first chapters of the book, through both Nathaniel Hawthorne's physical descriptions, and the way his characters act and interact with each other. How his characters treat the protagonist of the novel, Hester Prynne, sets the setting surrounding her and the expectations placed on her for the rest of the book. The first few chapters of the novel are dedicated to educating the audience about social conditions and customs of Puritan-era Boston through the characters gathered around the prison door at the beginning of Chapters 1 and 2. The situation of Hester Prynne at the beginning of the novel is revealed throughout the following couple chapters.
Chapter 1, though very brief, is what starts to establish the setting. It gives us a physical description of the Boston prison as well as giving some background of the time period and the customs of incoming settlers in the New World. Most of this short chapter is dedicated to describing the need for a new settlement to set aside land for both a prison and a cemetery, a social custom that gives our first hint at what life must have been like. When law and order is so ingrained in a society that one of the first buildings they erect is a place to keep the "sinners" or the "damned," it creates a whole new backdrop for crime and punishment, and the Puritanical setting of "The Scarlet Letter." These people, especially these women, who Hawthorne says are, "[standing] within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the not altogether unsuitable representative of the sex," are influenced by the rigid monarchy and religious orders they follow. These same factors that influence these strong, independent women are demonstrated in the setting in the moments before Hester Prynne is condemned to walk to and stand on the platform, bearing the scarlet A for all to see. Everyone's reaction to Hester's situation is mostly derived from their fear of God and strong opinions on religion. Rather then having concern for Hester, or her child who has been condemned for doing nothing wrong, the women in front of the prison wonder about how this will influence the "God-fearing gentlemen" or "Reverend Master Dimmesdale's congregation."
These social customs and deeply set morals are what have shaped the world Hester has been condemned to live in. She remarks that her first steps leaving the prison, not the ones walking to the scaffold, were the hardest, since she knows they only mark a lifetime of similar shameful steps, brought on by the expectations and people surrounding her. She is sent off to another setting, a small, remote cottage, which demonstrates the society-imposed isolation she finds herself living under. It's ironic, really, how as the book goes on these harsh conditions of the time period are only pinned to Hester Prynne, who tries to do good, instead of the other members of the Puritan community. At one point in Chapter 5, it says, "except for that small expenditure in the decoration of her infant, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them." So, while the harsh expectations, social conditions, and customs set in place in the beginning of the novel are what create the setting of "The Scarlet Letter," throughout the book this may be open to change and interpretation based on which characters are being held up to this original moral standard.
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