The Scarlet Letter is Like...

After reading the introduction of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, I immediately thought of a certain character, Carrie. The horror movie Carrie came out last year based on the book by Stephen King and is about a "devil child" teenage girl with supernatural abilities. Carrie’s mother is a devoutly religious, and always punishes Carrie for doing normal activities that are deemed inappropriate by the mother. However, it is revealed that Carrie’s mother gave birth to Carrie out of wedlock; hence she is a “devil” born out of sin. One time, when beaten by her mother, Carrie screams that it isn’t her who is the sinner, but it is her mother who has done the sinning. Her mom accuses Carrie of being a “slut”, “whore girl”, and “jezebel” when Carrie wants to dress like normal girls at school instead of the long dresses and shirts she is always forced to wear by her mother. Carrie also has telekinetic abilities that her mother believes are traits only of the devil. Similarly, Pearl in The Scarlet Letter was born out of wedlock. Also, she is described as moving “by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her” (Hawthorne 95). Both girls have religious mothers who have sinned, causing their sin to be passed down to their children, who are devil- children and have strange devilish abilities. What a coincidence, though I wouldn't say they look quite so similar...
 

Why the labels? Why the stereotyping?

“Since you’re Asian, have you gotten plastic surgery to have double eyelids?”

Believe it or not, but I have received this question multiple times in my lifetime. There is something about our society today that urges people to be placed into certain categories based on how they appear. It is believed that all teenagers are troublemakers, everyone who wears glasses is a nerd, and that all Asians don’t do anything except study. To go with that last point, one well-known Chinese person, Jeremy Lin, fit the usual description of “nerdy, bookwormy Asian male” from Harvard, as quoted from a Berkeley blog. However, he has defied many racial stereotypes including the belief that all Asian people are short and un-athletic. Becoming a professional basketball player caused quite a stir amongst the public. An Asian NBA player was practically unheard of, and there had never been a player before Jeremy of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.  In fact, “Both fans and competitors hurled racist slurs at him”, says biography.com. I don’t understand what the huge deal is with this. All the other basketball players had never had this sort of issue. There shouldn’t be anything different about a Chinese person than, say, a Caucasian player. At the end of the day, everybody is playing the same game with the same goal in mind. No single person can be defined by a label. There is so much more to everyone than just “that person who is like everybody else”. People are much more complex than what their outward appearances show. Labels are superficial and unnecessary in today’s world. We can’t call people something that they’re not.

The Bond Between Siblings

In The Glass Castle, there are many relationships among people in the family and friends. However, the strongest bond is the sibling bond between Jeannette and Brian. They are very close in age and are always there for each other. Whenever Jeannette is in trouble, Brian always races to her rescue.  Every time the dad comes home drunk late at night, there is some mention of Brian making his way to him to try to prevent his dad from hurting anyone. One time, Jeannette and Lori "were sitting at Grandma's old upright piano trying to teach each other to play" when Rex stumbled in and "pulled over Grandma's china closet, sending her fine bone china crashing to the floor". Immediately, "Brian came running in. He tried to grab Dad's leg, but Dad kicked him off" (Walls 122). He is so caring about his siblings and makes sure that they’re protected. In fact, he later went on to become a part of the police force, to protect anybody from danger. However, this sort of behavior is not just because Brian is brave; According to studies by Dr. Björn Brembs, siblings have a coefficient relatedness of 50% in their genes, thus promoting altruistic behavior- when people act in a certain manner that may be risky for themselves but will benefit someone else. Since Brian and Jeannette are siblings, it would make sense that they would make sacrifices for each other. Jeffrey Kluger, the author of the book The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us, has done some research about siblings and their relationships as well. He has concluded that conflicts with parents, including parental abuse, will strengthen siblings' relationships with each other. Kluger mentions in an interview, "When your parents, who are the anchors you're counting on the most, are falling down on the job, siblings look to each other and find ways to pull together, because the last thing you can afford to see fractured at that point is the unit among yourselves." Jeannette and Brian have both suffered through their parents' crazy habits and abusive behavior, and it has made their relationship all the more stronger. Siblings will always be there for each other. There isn't anything they wouldn't do for the other. Jeannette and Brian are no exception to this correlation; they have, and will always be, right there for one another.