Blog Post 3 - Responding and Reflecting 1

Lolita

As of April 20th 2015, I am on page 45 of Lolita. I know that this is not very deep into the book, but I already have a good sense of what will happen. Lolita is about a middle-aged man who likes young girls, or as he calls them “nymphettes”. I can infer that he likes young girls because they remind him of his first girlfriend, Anabel, who died at age 14. He ends up moving to the United States and staying with a woman named Charlotte Haze and falls in love with her young daughter named Dolores, or as he calls her, Lolita. Lolita reminds Humbert Humbert of his childhood girlfriend Anabel. This is why he starts to fantasize about Lolita and is happy around her. While he is in love with Lolita, Mrs. Haze likes Humbert Humbert and wants to marry him. Humbert Humbert has to deal with loving Dolores, and having Mrs. Haze love him.

I am not able to connect to this as I do not have the same feelings as Humbert HUmbert. However, I know that there was one gil who really like one of my friends. LIke Humbert, this friend did not have the same feelings.

I think that in the book, Mrs. Haze will find out about Humbert Humbert liking Dolores. When Humbert Humbert finds out, he takes Lolita somewhere. From hearing about Lolita from others around me, I know that Lolita ends up liking Humbert Humbert. The book starts as if he is talking to the jury. This leads me to believe that he either killed someone or got caught with kidnapping Lolita. In conclusion, I know that Humbert likes Lolita and small girls as they remind him of Anabel and youth.


This is when Humbert Humbert first sees Lolita. She is lying on the grass under a sprinkler reading a book. This is when Humbert first falls in love with her.

The Scarlet Letter

I have read about 75 pages (First 4 chapters) of the Scarlet Letter. This book is set in the 1600’s in colonial America. It is about a woman named Hester Prynne who has a child. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but no one knows who the father is. Her husband, was supposedly lost at sea a while ago, and since she has a child, she must have had an affair with someone. The people in the town are Puritans and are against having an extramarital affair. In order to not be punished, she has to say who the father of the child is. However, she does not want to give up the identity of the father, and is very strong minded in not doing so. I think she acts this way because she wants to be strong, and thinks that she is doing what is best for the child. She also does not want the father of the child to get in trouble. This makes me think that the father plays a big role in the town, and being charged with adultery could affect him.

Another sub-plot is that there is a mysterious an who comes to the town. He recognizes Hester, and Hester recognizes him. Later when he visits her and the child as a physician, it is shown that he was the lost husband. He also wants to know who the father of the child is to take revenge. Hester Prynne also refuses to answer her husband who goes under the alias of Roger Chillingworth. I think that he wants to take revenge as he is mad that his wife was having an affair and like any spouse, reacts harshly. He tells her that if she tells anyone that he is her husband, he will destroy the baby’s father. I think he also changes his identity as he doesn't want the townspeople to know who he really is because he might be punished for hiding.

I think that the townspeople will eventually find out who the baby’s father is. I also think that they will find out that Roger Chillingworth is actually Hester Prynne’s lost husband. I think that in the end, many people will end up dying or being killed.

I can somewhat relate to this. In 2nd grade I was playing with some friends, and I got in trouble. The friends I was playing with ran off, and were not caught. The teacher wanted me to give the names of the other kids. She said that if I give her the name I will not be in too much trouble. I told her I do not know their names, and she asked again. After repeating it for 5 or so times, she told me that I could not play during lunch the next day and had to sit on the bench. Similar t Hester Prynne, I did not rat out my friends.  


Roger Chillingworth meeting with Hester Prynne after she is publicly shamed by the townspeople.