REFLECTION

PART I
The topic of my personal memoir was my Atlanta Mission Trip that I took over the summer with my youth group. My second piece was written about the hypocrisy of Hester by Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter. My third piece was based on the character Mary Warren from the play The Crucible. My fourth piece was an essay based on a personal nature experience that I related to Emerson and Thoreau's way of thinking.
When I was writing my personal memoir I was really trying to remember all the sensory details and memories from my trip. In writing "The Scarlet Letter: The Hypocrisy of Hester" I was trying to distinguish just exactly what is was that made Dimmesdale tick. Through my piece on Mary Warren, the main point I was trying to convery was all the different sides or personalities of Mary Warren were demonstrated in the play. In my final nature essay, my main purpose for writing it was to relate my modern experiences with the historical Emerson and Thoreau's perspectives.
The thoughts that were running through my head when I was writing each of these pieces were very numerous. While writing "Only in Atlanta" I was trying to capture the experience that I had working with underprivelaged children in Atlanta on paper. The thoughts of my nature essay followed the same type of writing, it captured another memory in a different manor. My nature essay was less about recalling an experience as much as using sensory details to describe the feeling of my experience at the beach. In both the "The Scarlet Letter: The Hypocrisy of Hester" and "Crucible Metaphor Essays" my thought process was simply to produce a good character analysis from my opinion.
Once I look back at my essays that I have written, I realize that couple of the pieces have some similar characteristics. My nature essay and personal memoir are definitely connected in that they are both personal recounts of what I saw and what I felt. None else knows how I feel, enough so that they could write it down and it and be correct. Also, the remaining two essays that I composed were based on a form of character analysis. Each one shows a personal understanding of the characters in the book and the ways that I related to the them.
I've disovered that through my writing processes this year I have noticed things are a little bit different for me. Colons, semi-colons, and commas used to be a source of trouble, but now I feel that I developed a better sense of when it is appropriate to use them. Another thing I've noticed is that I'm able to develop my ideas more. It's not that I couldn't develop my ideas before, it's that I now feel as if my ideas are more elaborate. I've really tried to step outside the "cooky-cutter" ways of writing. Finally, I've notice that I've been able to pick out and correct a lot more grammatical errors. Sometimes I'll start writing and just get so into it and start going so fast that my thoughts will end up on the page but not necessarily in the correct format. Basically, I get what I want to say written down before my brain discloses the thought, then go back and make sure the words are written in the way they should be.

PART 2
My first drafts ended up needing a lot more work than I thought they would need. Even though they weren't perfect the first time around, I believe that's the way it should be; as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day." The first major revision was in my Scarlet Letter essay. My contributors all unanimously agreed that I needed to develop my ideas about hyprocrisy when I was describing Hester and Dimmesdale. Also, I decided to add more book reference when I was talking about Dimmesdale. The Scarlet Letter: The Hypocrisy of Hester
In my second piece, I was able make some revisions also. I thought I had done a well enough job of presenting my thoughts but my callaborators thought differently. This is the point where I came in and added some relationship details between my experience and Emerson and Thoreau's. Also, I believe this case in partcular is an excellent example of what I was talking about in part 1 about developing ideas. Here I thought that the piece was complete, but when another person comes in and reads it, they see what it's lacking. By having people help me out, I'm able to learn where I'm going wrong in writing. This has been extrememly benneficial. Nature Essay: Some Beach, Somewhere

PART 3
One of my classmates that I noticed in particular was Eric Brujell. Through reading his piece I felt like I could relate with his loss of grandfather. I personally lost my grandfather this year so I could see how important it was for Eric to recall a positive memory of his grandfather. It also let me see a more sensitive side of Eric that I think that he usually doesn't like to show. In reading this memoir I learned some things about Eric that I didn't know. I think that's what you are suppose to accomplish when writing a personal memoir. Eric's Personal Memoir
The second person I chose was Luke Mostellar. The thing I liked best about Luke's essay was his mechanics. His special attention to detail led to me to feel like I was in the story. This is especially true because I'm not even Luke's class so I wasn't there to experience what Luke's class did. Luke definitely has a talent for writing. Luke's October 11th Post
Finally, the third person that I selected was Cauley Simmons. When I read her story "Lizzy" I couldn't help but kind of frown at her sad story. Before the end I was smiling though. Cauley's story takes you on emotional rollercoaster. She uses a great deal of suspense when she toils with your emotions. she makes you wonder if she going to make friends at her new school. Then she breaks her heart when she tells you Lizzy treats her. Finally, Cauley makes you laugh when you disover that Cauley and Lizzy could put their differences aside and became friends. Her special attention to details also caught my eye. For example, when describes the chain reaction that caused her to fall on Lizzy and then again when she discusses the long process that her and Lizzy had to experience to become friends. Overall, this is an exceptional story of a classic friendship. Cauley's "Lizzy"

The Scarlet Letter: The Hypocrisy of Hester

Dimmesdale is perceived as being innocent and unfaltering simply because he is a minister. One can tell this is not true when reading from a limited omniscient point of view. The preacher preaches the word, then turns his back on it when it comes to his personal status. Hypocrisy: a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude that one does not possess. See also: Dimmesdale. How can you expect people to respect and follow your teachings, when you can't even apply them to your own life?
Dimmesdale has created an image of himself for the world to see, out of the public scaffold. The scaffold can be a podium of shame; hoisting all that is wrong with you high in the air for all the world to see. In this case, Dimmesdale's major flaw is that he is a hypocrite. The way Dimmesdale leads two lives causes him to be labeled as a hypocrite because behind closed doors he breaks the rules as much as he wants. In the case of carnal knowledge involving Hester, Dimmesdale is very open with his feelings. He proclaims his love to Hester because it is what he feels, then he shuns Hester in front of everyone else. He walks one way but talks another.
It's understandable why Dimmesdale is trying to hide his skeletons in the closet due to his highly revered position; it's frowned upon in modern society. Today, if a person like him were to reveal secrets such as this in a high ranking position, he would be under a tremendous amount of public scorn and scrutiny; society would turn their backs and feel betrayed. Throughout the book, the frail preacher struggles with his conscience. He knows what is right but wants to know if he can bear paying the price for being involved in the corruption of Puritan society by way of adultery.
On the other hand, Dimmesdale is interested in maintaining the relationship he has with Hester. He feels an overwhelming amount of responsibility for not being in Pearl's life. The constant struggle with his conscience is antagonizing him every minute of his day. The prestiged preacher seems to find comfort in physically beating himself up inside a closet, away from the rest of the world. It seems that the fighting and guilt in his mind are easier to relieve through cutting and brusing himself instead of actually revealing the truth to people. The man of the town manages to work through the pain but still wants to find a way to reveal his true identity in the easiest way possible.
Dimmesdale doesn't know what's right and what's wrong. He doesn't know which way is up and which way is down. Eventually he settles the battle by attempting to leave for Europe. Unfortunately he never makes it to Europe because he collapses and dies on the scaffold before he could set sail. Before his soul settled permanently, Dimmesdale got the chance to redeem himself and tell the entire Puritan community of his sin of adultery. It was kind of ironic that right after he confesses all his deadly sins and secrets, he actually dies.

Some Beach, Somewhere

"Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
I can directly relate with this profound essayist when I reminisce about the time I traveled to Emerald Isle, North Carlina on spring break. Personally, I love the beach. My mom tends to want to explore the mountains. I for one, could not wait to get the island. I was picturing a marvelous beach and listening to crooning waves crash against the shore. As soon as I arrived at the beach house, I greeted the friends we were meeting there, then made a quick dash for the back door. There was a sliding glass door leading to a deck with stairs that went right onto the beach. I called into the house, "I"ll be right back!" I slipped off my flip flops and scurried down the stairs. I didn't even care that the sand was piping hot against the balls of my feet. It was warm sand that I rarely got to experience! I wanted to "chant the beauty of good" more than ever. When I saw the foamy waves, I couldn't resist; I started making my way toward the edge of the water.
My toes had the powdery white sand slinking in and out between them. I inched toward the water as I heard screeching seagulls all around. There was a slight breeze, and it wasn't too hot nor too cold. Before I stepped in the water, I glanced up and down the beach, almost as if I was checking to see that nobody was watching me commit a forbidden sin. One step. Two more steps. A couple of tiptoe steps. Brrr! Retreat! The water felt like an artic glacier in liquid form. My small toes scurried out fast and set out to defrost in the warm sand. While waiting for the feeling to come back to my feet, I noticed a couple of seashells and crouched down to pick them up. There was one, amidst all the broken shells, that was a perfect creme color without any cracks or blemishes. Once I scooped up the glossy souvenier, I headed back up to the house. This is where I discovered another set of stairs that lead up to a small deck at the top of the house.
Simplicity is what I found atop that roof. "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."- Henry David Thoreau. A single solitary chair withing a rickety bannister was up there. I proceeded to sit there in that chair and just breathe in the salty air. Soon thereafter, I noticed the sun was going down. I've never seen anything more beautiful than a soft orange sun, setting in a baby pink sky, proceeding to descend over a vast water that was never ending. We arrived at the house at about 4:00pm, and my mom came outside to get me at about 8:30pm. She was freaking out because she didn't know where I was. I let out a yell from the roof and she walked up the stairs. My mother forced me to come down from the roof for dinner, but I continued to linger as I walked down the steps; I just couldn't get enough of the star-filled sky. It's not every day that I experience their twinkles quite so bright, for I live in the city and it tends to masquerade all thought of even looking into the sky for beauty. Maybe that's why I agree with Thoreau's philosophy of a life frittered away by detail and simplifying things. I don't think I'll ever get more simplistic than sitting atop a house watching the sunset. It's a good thing I still have the pearly seashell to help remember to step back and simplify.
Emerson and Thoreau would have definitely appreciated the safe haven of a solitary beach. I think they would have sat in rocking chairs next to me on the roof. Just like these two fine gentleman, I was able to get out of reality for a couple of moments and breathe in clean air and thoughts. Emerson and Thoreau were a tag team that tried so desperately to change the world's perspective the way they changed their own. They turned bad situations, like a death in the family, into an appreciation of the simpler things in life. I realized that taking a step back and changing my perspective, really helped me to appreciate the world around me in the way that Emerson and Thoreau did.