Chapters 9-12

When my class got The Scarlet Letter books, I knew right away that I was not going to like this book. I had heard from other students, that it was an awful book. That night for homework we had to start chapters one through four. Eventually, when I started reading it, I found it hard to get into the book. After several days, and a couple chapters later I started to enjoy the book. I am loving the story line, but every now and then I am struggling with how Hawthorne writes. Reading chapters nine and ten, were one of the hard ones. Mainly because, in my opinion, nothing really happened. But, once I got to chapters eleven and twelve things flowed very smoothly. Early on in chapter nine, Hawthorne refers to Roger Chillingworth as a leech. He says, "For the sake of the minister's health, and to enable the leech to gather plants with healing balm in them..." (Hawthorne 112). After reading that I looked up the definition of a leech, which is a person who clings to another for personal gain, especially without giving anything in return (dictionary.com), I thought it fit perfectly with Chillingworth. In the Puritan times, physicians did not have needles to take out blood from their patients; so they used leeches. Chillingworth is described as a leech because he is trying to help Dimmesdale get better.  But, in reality he wants to know the truth about Dimmesdale. Hawthorne picked the right word to describe Chillingworth, because he will do anything to find out the truth and does not care about anyone is the process.

Also while reading, the townspeople's reactions to Chillingworth staying with Dimmesdale at the end of chapter nine stayed with me while I continued to read. The narrator tells the reader that there is a change in Chillingworth's facial expressions. They went from being calm and cool to being ugly and evil. Then the narrator goes on to say, "To sum up the matter, it grew to be a widely diffused opinion, that Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, like many other personages of especial sanctity, in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth," (Hawthorne 116). This quote shows that Chillingworth does not have good intentions for Dimmesdale. In the Christian world, Satan is referred to as the chief evil spirit or as the devil. Since Chillingworth is referenced as a spirit of Satan, he will probably make the worst come out of Dimmesdale. The narrator is pointing out that Chillingworth should not be trusted. As I continue to read, I am excited to see what will happen between the two of them.

Throughout reading these four chapters I noticed, that they were mostly about Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. I made the connection to the Michael Jackson and his doctor scandal. Since Chillingworth is Dimmesdale's doctor, I am predicting that a scandal will come out of their relationship. In 2011, a jury decided that Michael Jackson's physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was guilty in his death. Jackson spent the days leading up to his death in a sleep-deprived haze of medication and took a fatal dose of potent drugs prescribed by his physician. Murray decided to not tell the authorities that Jackson had been injected with propofol - which was the leading factor in Jackson's death. The Jackson family was very happy with the outcome, and continues to remember their lost son or brother. I picked this as my gossamer thread because, I thought it connected very well with these passed chapters of The Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth picks to live with Dimmesdale for a specific reason, and it is not to help him get better. Chillingworth wants to know the truth about Dimmesdale and will do anything to figure it out. Just like Dr. Conrad Murray, Roger Chillingworth will abuse his little power over Dimmesdale in the chapters to come.

Here is a link to read the story of the conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/us/doctor-found-guilty-in-michael-jacksons-death.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0