Minuscule, barely-recognizable waves emanate from the center of the pastor’s glass of water with every increasingly solid thud of fists upon wooden podium. Blood rushes to his head with every beat of his heart to fuel the rampid, raging fire within his mind. Louder and louder the minister’s voice rose ‘till it seemed as though the heavens themselves could make out a faint whisper of the good news. The good news being told that glad morning told of a man who insisted upon harboring guilt, shame, and fear inside his heart. It told of a man whose heart resembled that of a man sitting two rows back of the alter in that very sanctuary. The story, having done its job, had already penetrated that lonely, dreadful heart long before, when the pastor still held fast to his wits. The poor man simply sat, hunched over, his Bible resting upon his leg, starring at the glass of water on the podium as if losing count of the ripples might cost him his salvation. All around him sat the aristocracy of the town; the rich, the confident, the beautiful, the holy, the righteous, and the rest of the Christian faith. Deeply in listful dream, the young man contemplated the words of the minister and their pertinence to himself. Over and over, these words pierced and jabbed at his heart, urging him to repent of his sinful desires he’d encountered just days before. Suddenly, seemingly without warning, all his fellow churchmates rose to their feet and began to sing. It was the last hymn of the morning! Awakened from his transient slumber, he too stood to his feet to praise his God.
Doubtlessly, all across the country men and women sit amongst fellow followers in the same state of mind, questio…
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…any women and men find themselves contemplating their own repentance and salvation in capricious slumber. Certainly, Young Goodman Brown is no exception!
Works Cited and Consulted
Benoit, Raymond. “‘Young Goodman Brown’: The Second Time Around.” The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 19 (Spring 1993): 18-21.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc.,1959.
The Holy Bible, King James Version-Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/kjv.browse.html
James, Henry. Hawthorne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997.
Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965.
Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.
The Lie in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
The Lie in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House
An action or statement that may be considered a lie to some may, in fact, not be considered, a lie to others: it might simply be considered, omitted information. The lie might seem to have an evil intent when first heard, but the true intention behind it may have been for helpful purposes or for protection. In Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, a lie was created to help and protect a loved one – yet it resulted in a catastrophic act.
The character Nora lives her life, in one sense, as a complete lie. She never thought for herself or had her own opinions. Nora’s father would tell her “what he thought about everything” leaving her no “opinion but his” (Ibsen 428). If she did have an opinion of her own, she keep quiet, knowing he would not have agreed. She played his “little doll” until she moved in with Torvald, her husband. She felt as though she “was passed from Papa’s hands into…[Torvald’s]” ( Ibsen 428). Now she played the role of Torvald’s “little doll,” pretending to take on his views of everything. By going from her father’s views, to Torvald’s views, she has been lying to herself. The same form of lying or omitting the truth can be found in Kate Chopin’s fictional story, “The Story of an Hour.” Mrs. Mallard had been lying to herself for years. She was married to her husband for years thinking “she had loved him–sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 297). If she would have been truthful to herself, and fessed up when she realized she did not love him, the rest of her life would not have been lived as a lie. The truth could have set her free from her unwanted marriage and she could have done what she really wanted to do in her life. Mrs. Mallard’s feelings can be co…
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…aspell, Susan. Trifles. Literature and Ourselves. 2nd Ed. Ed. by Gloria Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Waller. New York: Longman, 1997:364-75.
Hurt, James. “from Catiline’s Dream.” Literature and Ourselves. 2nd Ed. Ed. by Gloria Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Waller. New York: Longman, 1997: 435-40.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. Literature and Ourselves. 2nd Ed. Ed. by Gloria Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Waller. New York: Longman, 1997: 377-432.
Johnston, Brian. “Three Stages of A Doll House.” Literature and Ourselves. 2nd Ed. Ed. by Gloria Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Waller. New York: Longman, 1997: 442-50.
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 138.” Literature and Ourselves. 2nd Ed. Ed. by Gloria Henderson, Bill Day, and Sandra Waller. New York: Longman, 1997: 343.
Sunset Beach. Spelling Productions. 1999. Channel 5. 10:00 a.m.