35. The scarlet letter has not done its office because it was meant to eventually get Hester to reveal the identity of her accomplice by consuming Hester with guilt and making her weak however, the scarlet “A” had quite the opposite effect.
a. Verb Tense b. The scarlet letter “has not done its office” because its intention is to eventually get Hester to reveal the identity of her accomplice by consuming Hester with guilt and making her weak however, the scarlet “A” has quite the opposite effect. c. I changed “had” to ‘has” to keep the sentence in literary present tense instead of in past tense. 36. As the Reverend Wilson urges Hester to say the name of her accomplice, he offers her to tell him Pearl’s father in exchange for taking off the scarlet letter and Hester responds, “ Never! It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!”(55). Although, the letter was meant to inflict shame upon Hester, it was not meant to be so deeply branded in Hester that she refuses to say her partner in crime and stands up to the pressures of society.
a. Awk-Awkward b. As the Reverend Wilson urges Hester to say the name of her accomplice, he offers her to tell him Pearl’s father in exchange for taking off the scarlet letter and Hester responds, “ Never! It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!”(55). This shows that although, the letter was meant to inflict shame upon Hester, it was not meant to be so deeply branded in Hester that she refuses to say her partner in crime and stands up to the pressures of society.
c. I added a couple words to smoothen the transition between both sentences. 37. The intention of the scarlet “A” is to be a symbol of shame that is intended to lead to redemption and just a letter that was sewed onto clothing, not meant to be an irremovable symbol.
a. P/V-Passive Voice b. The intention of the scarlet “A” is to be a symbol of shame that is intends to lead to redemption and just a letter that was sewed onto clothing, and means not to be an irremovable symbol. c. I changed the sentence into literary present tense by changing “intended” to “intends”. 38.The intention of the scarlet “A” is to be a symbol of shame that is intended to lead to redemption and just a letter that was sewed onto clothing, not meant to be an irremovable symbol.
a. Ok, but how does this relate to the specific idea in your thesis. b. Delete c. Because, I changed my thesis, this example does not align with my essay so I deleted it. 39. In addition the “A” is supposed to weaken Hester by making her feel alone and an outcast of society however, Hester does not seem to mind the isolation because she embraces the letter and stands up for herself by embroidering it and she does not want to put Dimmesdale through the same agony she endures just to have a similar companion.
a. Missing “,” b. In addition the “A” is supposed to weaken Hester by making her feel alone and an outcast of society, however Hester does not seem to mind the isolation because she embraces the letter and stands up for herself by embroidering it and she does not want to put Dimmesdale through the same agony she endures just to have a similar companion. c. I added a comma to the sentence to break up the sentence in a logical manner so it makes sense to the reader.
40. In addition the “A” is supposed to weaken Hester by making her feel alone and an outcast of society however, Hester does not seem to mind the isolation because she embraces the letter and stands up for herself by embroidering it and she does not want to put Dimmesdale through the same agony she endures just to have a similar companion. a. But, does this really illustrate that she does not mind the isolation? I think you need textual evidence to support this claim
b. Delete c. There is a lack of texual evidence for this claim so I decided to delete it. 41. Furthermore, Hester find her place in society, which contradicts the intention of the scarlet letter. a. Proofread b. Furthermore, Hester finds her place in society, which contradicts the intention of the scarlet letter. c. I changed the sentence to “Hester finds” in place of “Hester find” because “finds” makes more sense in the sentence. 42. Eventually, Hester alters the townspeople’s opinion of the scarlet letter as a negative symbol by doing charity work and humbling herself therefore making her less of an outcast in society, contradictory of the “A”’s intended purpose.
a. Missing “,” b. Eventually, Hester alters the townspeople’s opinion of the scarlet letter as a negative symbol by doing charity work and humbling herself, therefore making her less of an outcast in society, contradictory of the “A”’s intended purpose. c. I added a comma between “herself” and “therefore” to structure the sentence to make it more understandable. 43. The significance of this passage is that it was not said to another familiar townsperson, but to an outsider, therefore the town is recognizing Hester as a positive presence and boasting about her good deeds to others.
a. Verb Tense b. The significance of this passage is that a townsperson says it to an outsider not another familiar townsperson, therefore the town is recognizing Hester as a positive presence and boasting about her good deeds to others.
c. I changed the sentence to include only literary present tense. 44. The significance of this passage is that it was not said to another familiar townsperson, but to an outsider, therefore the town is recognizing Hester as a positive presence and boasting about her good deeds to others.
a. Ok, now connect this to your thesis b. The significance of this passage is that a townsperson says it to an outsider not another familiar townsperson, therefore the town is recognizes Hester as a positive presence and boasts about her good deeds to others. This shows how through her good deeds, Hester is becoming more engrained into society contrary to the original purpose of the scarlet letter.
c. I connected this example back to the original thesis. 45. The significance of this passage is that it was not said to another familiar townsperson, but to an outsider, therefore the town is recognizing Hester as a positive presence and boasting about her good deeds to others.
a. Active Verbs b. The significance of this passage is that a townsperson says it to an outsider not another familiar townsperson, therefore the town is recognizes Hester as a positive presence and boasting about her good deeds to others. c. I changed “recognizing” to “recognizes” to get rid of past tense and to stay in literary present tense. 46. Also the possessive adjectives “own” and “our” is used to describe how much Hester is a part of the town.
a. Are b. Also the possessive adjectives “own” and “our” describe how much Hester is a part of the town to her fellow townspeople. c. I changed the sentence so that it eliminates past tense and stays in literary present tense since “are used” is past tense. 47. The significance of this passage is that it was not said to another familiar townsperson, but to an outsider, therefore the town is recognizing Hester as a positive presence and boasting about her good deeds to others.
a. Boasts b. The significance of this passage is that a townsperson says it to an outsider not another familiar townsperson, therefore the town is recognizes Hester as a positive presence and boasts about her good deeds to others. c. I changed “boasting” to “boasts” to get rid of past tense and to stay in literary present tense. 48. The town’s interpretation of the “A” representing “Able”, their acceptance of Hester, and Hester’s elaborate scarlet “A” demonstrate that the “A” has “not done its office” because the symbol is now viewed in a positive light and is not so much a badge of shame.
a. P/V-Passive Voice b. The town’s interpretation of the “A” representing “Able”, their acceptance of Hester, and Hester’s elaborate scarlet “A” demonstrate that the “A” has “not done its office” because the townspeople view the symbol in a positive light and is not so much a badge of shame.
c. I changed “viewed” to “view” to eliminate passive voice. 49. The town’s interpretation of the “A” representing “Able”, their acceptance of Hester, and Hester’s elaborate scarlet “A” demonstrate that the “A” has “not done its office” because the symbol is now viewed in a positive light and is not so much a badge of shame. a. Instead of summarizing your analysis in the final sentence, make sure to discuss each example and then to include a tie-back sentence b. The town’s interpretation of the “A” representing “Able” shows their acceptance of Hester as she has become more self-confident contradicting the intention of the scarlet letter.
Additionally the elaborate scarlet “A” demonstrates that the “A” has “not done its office” because the symbol is now viewed in a positive light and is not so much a badge of shame due to Hester’s self-confidence and courage to accept the letter rather than deny it. Lastly, her rebelliousness is shown in her refusal to reveal the name of her daughter’s father another unintentional effect of the scarlet A. Inclusively, the scarlet letter “[has not] done its office” because instead of achieving its original purpose it instilled self-confidence into Hester that helped her integrate into society, as well build up her courage and independence. c. I added some sentences for each example to conclude.
50. Hester reinvented the meaning behind the scarlet letter not only in the town’s eyes but her own as well. Instead of falling victim to the harsh punishment of publish shame that intends to debilitate her, she allows the “A” to empower herself to stand up to the ridicule of society.
a. Verb Tense b. Hester reinvents the meaning behind the scarlet letter not only in the town’s eyes but her own as well. Instead of falling victim to the harsh punishment of publish shame that intends to debilitate her, she allows the “A” to empower herself to stand up to the ridicule of society. c. I changed “reinvented” to “reinvents” to maintain literary present tense throughout the essay. 51. The essay as a whole.
a. Lauren, you are off to a solid start here and you make some interesting points about the ways in which the A does not fulfill its purpose. However, the primary issues are that, for many of the paragraph-level claims, you do not make clear how these are connected to your thesis, resulting in a lack of focus on your main idea. Remember that one of your tasks as a writer is to make clear to your reader how the ideas in your paragraph support the idea in your thesis, so make sure you explain that connection for each claim. Additionally, make sure to comment on each example of textual evidence individually instead of stringing these together and then analyzing them as one big group.
You’re off to a solid start here, but these issues do prevent you from making as clear and as forceful an argument as you could. Please let me know if you have any questions. b. Again, I need to learn how to state my ideas more clearly so the reader understands what I am trying to say. Also I need to connect my thesis clearly to each of the examples I used to keep my essay focused on the main idea. In addition, I need to work on keeping in literary present tense and making logical transitions between each of my sentences and paragraphs. Overall, I need to work on strengthening my arguments by providing evidence and being concise.
