Education and Country Development Ashley Noack

M. Chau-Lee English 3H 11/ 13/14 Is The Scarlet Letter A Feminist Novel? A feminist is defined in the British Dictionary as a person who advocates equal rights for women. However incredulous it may sound, women had to fight for rights for equality in things such as politics, economics, and their personal affairs. If the revolutionary feminist concepts were surfacing in the time of Nathaniel Hawthorne, circa 1850, then how was it that he was inspired to write Hester’s character? However,one consideration may be that it was written unintentionally with a feministic tone. This novel stands for the main ideas that gave feminism its momentum: gender equality and love for oneself as a woman. Hawthorne displays Hester as a free woman in the ending of the book, and also deems her and Dimmesdale as equals by having them receive identical markers on their tombstones. The Scarlet Letter epitomizes the strength of women while also providing as an indicator for early feminism, as it’s profound perceptions were not something yet established in this earli er time period. The Scarlet Letter is indubitably a feminist piece of literature.The three main characters work off of one another; Hester is strong while Dimmesdale is feeble and Chillingworth is corrupt; She effortlessly conquers her sin and continues with her new life, while Dimmesdale cannot admit his sins, and Chillingworth seeks revenge on Dimmesdale. The women in the novel were strictly bound to a certain spectrum inAn Assessment of the Grandmother from â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† by Flannery O’Connor The grandmother who remains unnamed all throughout in the story is the protagonist and the central character of Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"A Good Man is hard to Find, a tragic story of a family who decided to go on vacation but got killed randomly on the road by a criminal on the loose named â€Å"The Misfit†. She is endowed with a joyful spirit, a passion in life in spite of her age. She is a non-stereotypical woman whose old fashion clothing and beliefs contradict her strong, manipulative mind, an opposite trait of a passive and complacent woman in her time. The Grandmother is a smart woman who knows how to assert herself by trying to use all the†¦show more content†¦Finally, when she realizes defeat, the grandmother is the first one all set to go the next morning, an indication of the dynamism and flexibility of her character. This same manipulative character is so important in the development of the plot that it will set fire and conflict of the stor y. The grandmother persuades her son Bailey to make a detour and let the family see an old house off road. When Bailey says no, she again uses her grandchildren by telling them lies about the secret panel in the house where the old family that used to stay in that house hid their silver. The grandmother knows she ignites the children’s imagination and senses winning this time. This sends the children to a frantic tantrum and ultimately changes Bailey’s mind. The detour causes them an accident and their encounter with The Misfit. In her encounter with The Misfit, still high with power over her ability to changer her son’s mind, she does the same tactic to The Misfit, and hopes not to get killed by persuading The Misfit to change his ways. She evangelizes on his morality and flatters him by constantly telling him he is a good man and that he comes from a nice people (364). Her desperation is overwhelming as she desperately tries to reach out with The Misfit by ca lling him â€Å"one of her children† and touching him on his shoulders. This desperate action brings her to her death in the