The Habitation of the House of 7 Gables

The House of 7 gables is surrounded by a plethora of history from the family who used to inhabit it, the people who lived in the town, and the town itself. While the author of the"House of Seven Gables" gives the house a mysterious, scary twist, the house is actually thought to be one of romance also, as the author also hints at. The house is now a museum site where tourist can take a tour inside the house. This house is located in what used to be Salem, Massachusetts, known most for the Salem Witch Trials. Salem was established in 1626 by Roger Conant and a group of immigrants from Cape Ann. Later, in 1628, they were joined by another group of immigrants led by John Endecott.

The people who immigrated to Salem were known as "Puritans", who are people who followed the teachings and ideas of John Calvin, a leader in the Protestant Revolution. The Puritans believed that the Church of England was beyond "repair" so to say, thus causing them to be persecuted. To escape such persecution, the group came to America.

They followed the Bible harshly and believed in conversion, not repression, though their actions showed repression. The Puritans banned dancing, religious music and erotic poetry. Dancing and erotic poetry, in their beliefs, led to immorality and religious music caused one to be put into a "dreamy" state which was not helpful when listening to God. As seen in the "Crucible", most anyone who went against these rules was a witch.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, author, and coincidentally, previous inhabitor of the House of Seven Gables, was also born in Salem On July 4th, 1804 (Nice birthday huh?) to Puritans John and Elizabeth Hawthorne. His birth home was located on 27 Hardy Street, where the house remains a museum. His father, John, was one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials, and when he died in 1808, his mother took on a life of seclusion.
Of course, as we know, Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of the "House of Seven Gables" and the "Scarlet Letter." Since we are now reading "House of Seven Gables", it's best to go into detail on the inspiration of this writing opposed to the others. Hawthorne based his story on a curse that supposedly was put on the family from a WOMAN who was put to death during the Salem Witch Trials. This curse is then the cause of the decline of the Pyncheon's home. The curse is ended when a descendant from the killed woman marries a niece of the family. Of course this is a story that could or couldn't be true, but it certainly makes a good plot.
Nathaniel Hawthorne dies May 19th, 1864 while in the middle (not literally) of writing a journal of his travels. His work, like many famous authors, lives on and gives snippets into the life of him, his family and many of the people of Salem. Nathaniel Hawthorne is certainly an author that is deserving of credit for his writing and the eye it gives us back into the early days of the country in which we inhabit.

Works Cited

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2229.html

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/architecture-and-design/the-house-of-the-seven-gables.shtml

http://kirjasto.sci.fi/hawthorn.htm

http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/

Welcome to the American Society!

How could one describe an American? Of course, general definitions go to say that it is one who has pilgrimmed out of their land, "put old predjudices aside", to find the freedom they are looking for. An American is integrated with other cultures to produce a society of different people, cultures, foods, etc. My personal definition is quite simple. An American is someone who has accepted the new freedoms (which is something everyone desires), yet has also realized the responsibilities that come with those freedoms. For example, an American has the right to bear arms, but with this freedom comes the responsibility of knowing that one cannot use such arms where they would inhibit another's freedoms. An American isn't necessarily someone with ALL the freedoms, but someone who was given such freedoms (and whether they have caused themselves to lose it or not doesn't matter).
To say that I had an epiphany and realized that I was an American would be quite a fallacy as I have known all my life of my American heritage, though my parents always have made known that I was also part of the African American heritage. After reading "What is an American?" and being able to construct my definition of an American allowed me better view of such a culture/heritage. I have always known I was an American and feel that my sense of joy, pride and responsibility for such a heritage which will alter as I learn more about America, what it means to be an American, etc.

Us Vs. Them = Us AND Them??

Contrary to what the title states, I find it highly unlikely that a person battling another person could really become close and merge with their enemy. I feel there is too much tension between them to be resolved most times, especially in extreme cases like that of the Crucible. Those who knew the people hanged were innocent will probably never forgive Reverend Parris for his aiding in the execution of those individuals and no matter how much they try to forgive him, they will always have a deep down resentment for what he did, especially being the spiritual leader of Salem.
The reverse certainly could apply also as it does in real life. Two people who were best friends have a falling out of some sort, and get a new group of friends or whatever and now it turns into a battle to get them back for the feelings they caused by breaking off the friendship, which causes a "Us and Them (Or a Me and her/him) to become a Us vs. Them (Me vs. him/her)." I feel most people are too shallow to surpass the strife in their life to form a bond, though it does happen. I don't feel the people in Salem will ever forget this episode in which they lost family, friends and such because children were claiming they were with the "Devil" without substantial evidence except for children's word, in which they found lied at the end when it was too late.
While many can stitch up the situation where they were against a specific person, for the most part, I feel truly becoming one with those in which you opposed will always be rocky as somewhere deep down, there will be this feeling of potential betrayal, which will keep a true relation from forming. Humans tend to be mistrusting like that. :)

A Different Opinion Calls For the Calling of a Stooge?

I'd hardly classify John Proctor as hero or stooge as he hasn't done anything heroic or stooge-like. He, in my opinion, is a trend-setter. He's a representation of the voices of those in the Puritan community who were fearful to speak out against Pastor Parris' and other pastor/religious leaders teachings in church and in the conducting of the town's rules. While he didn't claim to NOT be a Christian, he also wasn't an extremist where he would resort to calling anyone who wasn't uniform to the customs of the town a "witch" or "heathen" and he made this known. He wasn't doing anything wrong by stating his opinion and I'm sure many others in the town shared such an opinion, but didn't want to risk being killed for this.
John Proctor was more of a free-spirit in the fact that he believed in what the town did, but didn't make his religion and opinions the ONLY thing a person could freely believe without consequence and felt that he should make it known. He was a possible precedent incarnate of what was to come of the religious status in America. More people would begin standing up for their beliefs and morality, thus rendering strong control of the church over state affairs useless. While the hold the church has isn't completely obliterated, it's a lot less strenuous today than in the time of the Puritans. John Proctor is a man who is respected in my mind and shows that uniformity in the same religion doesn't always have the "peaceful, conformist" effect it is supposed to.

Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God

Why is everything I love to do a sin before God? I was practically excommunicated from my family when I hugged the girl of my dreams after we took a walk in the woods. My family began to say that "God was going to release the floodgates on me and them" because I had committed fornication. My heart hurts so bad knowing I caused the girl I love to commit such a sin before marriage, but I just couldn't help it. Another instance was when I was late getting the chores done due to the fact that I got caught up in one of the other chores that seemed to take a while. My mom said then that my place in heaven was going to be lost if I took such a long time working to avoid giving God his due praise. I praise him ALL the time. I thank Him everyday, all day for waking my family and I up, for allowing us our own property and availability to praise Him how we want and even for Melinda-my love. Why do I have some impending feeling that God doesn't want us to live like this? Like what we're doing is extreme? I dare not speak out as they will feel I'm committing witchcraft or something....
Pastor Edward's sermon was quite strong last Sunday. He mentioned that all the sinners were going to perish under God's wrath and somehow I felt as though he were talking to me and as soon as Melinda and I caught eyes, we exchanged mutual guilt. I don't want to pull her down with my lustiness and desires. That hug had made my week and if I could only obtain one every blue moon, how happy I'd be. She completes me, but I cannot complete my desires and have us fornicating. I've already been destined for hell and my sins aren't going to bring Melinda down. I'll go to hell to keep her from going there. But Melinda said something interesting when we walked. She said that God wants us to ask for forgiveness and love him, not fear him in the way that Pastor Edwards seems to preaching and I completely agree, but again, we dare not say that or else some tragedy could occur. If only we could share our views with others we know....

A Mixture is Formed (There goes the Neighborhood)

We live in a society which holds the belief of "Change is good/different is good" and while there are those select few that will never completely believe that, for the most part, it's adapting. So many different components of American history allowed this to occur (i.e. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, etc), but one group of individuals no older than us sophomores to make a significant change was the Little Rock Nine.
For those unfamiliar with this group of teenagers who made such a big movement toward African American rights, the Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American teenagers who attended Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Until they arrived, this was a segregated Caucasian school and though they made a difference later on, at the time of their arrival, they were an invasion.
To even try and imagine what were going through the heads of the children (of both races) is quite difficult and only they will know, but for the Caucasian children I'd imagine such thoughts as "Why are THEY here?" and "They don't belong here" are some mildly stated words. The main reason for such an outburst this made was not only, in my opinion, because of racism, but their comfort zone or "neighborhood" was being disrupted. What they were used to and had grown up with was changing and naturally, reacted in the way they had seen and experienced which happened to be with racist, threatening comments. They didn't want someone or, in the minds of many Caucasians at the time, someTHING disrupting what had been so good all these years.
As for the African American students and their parents, I'm sure they began to wonder whether their being enrolled in this school was worth the death/lynch threats, yelling and serious glares. Unlike the Caucasian students, there were ONLY 9 African Americans. They were being put into a situation where adaptation was harder and probably felt as if the weight of the world was put on their shoulders. But what they didn't know then was that they were setting a trend/precedent for those of future generations.
Because of this "force" of change, similar to that of Christopher Columbus and the Native Americans, there are now integrated schools where children of all races can come and learn and befriend each other. While at the time, people didn't want such a thing to occur and the normalcy for that time and era was broken, it had better results than many in that time period could ever have imagined. While the "neighborhood" disappeared so to say, it created an entirely new, different and integrated community for the generations following this, and the Little Rock 9 was only one of many groups/people to contribute to this.

Who is Gabrielle Burns? (An introduction)

Hi. My name is Gabrielle Almatine Burns and I attend Whitney Young Magnet High School. I was named after my grandmother (my only grandparent still living) and she has played a strong part in my life along with my parents. I'm 15 years old and during my 15 years, I've had my dosage of pain, stress, joy, elation and just un-describable emotions bestowed upon me. I believe they happened for a reason to shape me into who I am today. After losing a best friend, I realized how precious life is and how it shouldn't be taken for granted. I try and live each day doing what I'm supposed to do and am trying to stop worrying about what I think others will think of me (though it's hard sometimes).
I'm an introvert and quite shy. Excluding in-class discussions, I'm a rather socially awkward person. People appear attracted to my personality from what I understand, though talking and socializing isn't easy at all. The most talking I do to my friends is through electronic communication as face-to-face confrontation isn't required. I feel this is attributed to the fact that I don't want to say anything wrong or offending and electronic communication can reduce this. I'm a perfectionist, so to say, when it comes to having a good relationship with people and having them know the true me and what I'm like.
My hobbies include reading (typically romances, teen fictions, realistic fictions), writing (short stories, novels, poems, journals, etc), hanging online (facebook, emails, etc), traveling (which I discovered after going to California twice in one year) and such. I'm not athletically inclined but I do enjoy playing basketball and want to play football. If I get in shape for next year, I intend to try out for the Whitney Young team. I'm not the typical girl and enjoy wearing clothes that are comfortable rather than "cute," but I'm slowly learning to mix the two. I'm a gym shoe fanatic and love buying and wearing new shoes. Nike's are my favorite kind. I've been a tomboy all my life and fail to see myself changing anytime soon.
I enjoy giving advice to people and just listening to them. I've been told I'm easy-going and easy to talk to. Whenever I am able to help people see something from another perspective that allows them to better a situation, I gain a metaphorical "high." Helping others is what I aspire to do in life and what career path I'll take to do that I know not, but as of now, I'm leaning toward the medical field. I've called myself a "nerd" (yes, a self-ordained name) since 5th grade and though many say I'm not a nerd, I feel quite the contrary. It's not a derogatory name to me and not a name I want to change. I'm proud of my quirky and intellectual ways. Once a person gets to know me, they'll better understand the reason for this name.
My religion, family and friends come first in my life. I put them ahead of myself and would do anything (or almost anything) for them and would do my all to keep them from harm's way. Materialistic things will fade away but the memories and love I get from my family, friends and God won't. This is merely a snippet of who I am and I hope as we endeavor through our Sophomore, Junior and Senior year, you get to know more of who I am.