Alienation in Scarlet Letter
There are many ways in which one can describe the idea of alienation and the relationship between an individual to a society. Whether or not people believe alienation to be beneficial to a person or group, the fact is that it has become a large part of what makes humanity so diverse. For this reason, alienation tends to be an underlying theme in a great number of novels. The uses and benefits of the alienation theme can vary from author to author, likewise, the portrayal and understanding of what it means to be an individual in a society differs greatly with each. Dependent upon an author, alienation can be considered a form of exclusion, a self-imposed act, or even the basis of a belief. Within The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes the theme of alienation to characterize Hester Prynne. She is set aside from the strict Puritan society, which is increasingly captious to her every move. Once she is put on the scaffold, Hester loses her identity, and becomes no more than her sin and her letter. The use of the "A" is a tremendous symbol of alienation, which is not often seen rather than implied by an author. This usage of a "visual alienation" is affective in conveying the demean
The idea of worshiping the hated individual was in a way rebellion to the conformity of government and society. In Vonnegut's radical view of individualism and alienation, he goes as far to saying that the qualities are to be idealized and worshiped. His explanation of the actual act of leaving society conveys that he is fed up with how society views individuality as a curse rather than a blessing. Through ideas that differ from that of the societal norm and understanding of what it means to be an individual, one has gone past the standards and in turn has been alienated. Each view, though extraordinarily different, conveys lessons that make alienation important to the structure of a society. Although he literally removed himself from society, this is not the only form that self-alienation can take on. Because everyone is a clandestine worshiper of Bokonon, the feeling of individuality by each of Vonnegut's characters is rather counterproductive. His basis is upon exclusion and harshness. It is evident that the townspeople no longer feel that Hester is worthy of being accepted by society, but she is forced to live as a letter of shame. Here he describes, "I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond. The three authors portray alienation as what they feel it should be or currently is within society. This understanding of variety within one theme is perfectly evident in the analyzing of alienation in The Scarlet Letter, Walden, and Cat's Cradle. Bokonon himself, who is the god-like figure, only obtained his infamous role through exile and forced exclusion the society in which he lived. Hawthorne's description is similar to that of Thoreau's, although in this case the alienation has become meaningless and petty.
Common topics in this essay:
Cat's Cradle,
Hester Prynne,
Worshiped Damned,
Walden Thoreau,
Thoreau Transcendentalist,
Walden PondThoreau,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
individual society,
Kurt Vonnegut,
means individual,
cat's cradle,
scarlet letter,
Scarlet Letter,
understanding means individual,
alienated society,
believe alienation,
society view,
society alienation,
understanding means,
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