The Saddest of All Prisons

“The saddest of all prisons is a person’s own heart,” quoted from Nathaniel Hawthorn. Despite all the infamous prisons in the world, the worst prison one can ever find is actually in one’s own heart, where a person conceals his or her deep emotions within themselves. In many of his work, Nathaniel Hawthorn proves how guilt can affect and isolate one from the society. For example, Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter, who as a respected minister in the Puritan community, had committed adultery. Instead of revealing his crime, Dimmesdale was too afraid to confess that he concealed his emotion deep within his heart. As these emotion and guilt builds up, it eventually destroy Dimmesdale by driving him sick and forcing him to commit suicide. These prisons of emotion often times can last forever in one’s heart and can never be broken. Would people today still hide away their guilt deep within their heart? I believe it would be a yes. However, we will never be able to find out since they hide their emotion “secretly” within themselves that they may just perhaps perform and act normally without being severely influenced by the emotion. As human, it’s normal for as to hide our feelings to avoid shame and humiliation from the community. It is unlikely that one would confess unless forcefully told to do so.

Comparing Poem

In The Tide Rises The Tide Falls, it mainly focuses on how human is so insignificant compare to nature that unlike nature which goes in cycle, human don’t. In the poem, it describes how a man’s trace on the beach is easily washed away in a night that the next day it seems as if the man has never walk on the beach. In my opinion, it illustrated that human is so insignificant that our trace on this earth can easily be washed away and vanished. However, on the contrary, in the poem The Cross of Snow, it conveys a feeling that one can never be washed away although the physical body may long be perished. In the Cross of Snow, the poet described how he remembers his wife’s death and his grief is like a big cross on a snowy mountain. Although his wife has passed away for 18 years and her body now longer leaves any trace on the earth, his memory of her still exist deep inside his heart. This is different from The Tide Rises and The tide falls although physically human’s trace disappear as time flies, memories of us will forever lies in people’s heart and can never be washed away.

Image of Grief

Choosing an image of a holy cross on the snow mountain, Henry Longfellow used a powerful image to convey his intense emotion of grief and sadness toward his wife’s death. With a holy cross, this conveys a sense of religious feel into the poem that indicates Longfellow was religious. By saying that he had bear the cross for 18 years and was changeless since her death clearly demonstrate his love for her that he felt probably guilt to be unable to rescue his love and forever grief over her death. An example of an intense image to express the feeling of grief is rain. When you feel sad, often times the rain starts to pour out like water fall from the sky, mixing with lighting and thunder. As you scream out loud “NOOOOOO!” holding someone you dear in your arm, unable to save her from the inevitable death, the thunder strikes the earth to express your anger and the rain to express your grief. Your tears mixed with the rain soak your clothes and wet your face. It seems like the god is weeping with you and sharing the same grief as you. Rain is a perfect example for expressing grief.

Human Life: A Cycle?

In nature, things happen in cycles. The weather turns hot in summer then turns cold during summer as the seasons revolve in cycles. The tides rise and then falls. The sun rises and then fall. Everything in natures works in a cycle. Is this the true for human life? I think in some aspect it’s similar to the cycles of nature. When we are born, we are naïve and barely able to walk. As we age, we begin to walk, talk and fill our mind with information and intelligence. However, as we approach 60s or 70s, our body begins to degenerate that we tends to get Alzheimer and forget things. Also, our physical body becomes weak and vulnerable to diseases that we can’t walk or talk properly. In this way, our human body works in a cycle just like a cycle of nature. However, in a spiritual way, our human life may never be in a cycle. As we grow and age, we experience many different things and intake many variety of information and memories. If we never obtain Alzheimer, no one will be able to take those memories away from us that it will never follow a cycle where we will be memory-less like when we are kids. As we leave this world, our spiritual body continues to exist even though our physical body may have disappeared. If one such believe in resurrection, then our spiritual bodies never walk in a cycle and keep moving on just in a different physical body.

A Realistic View of Life

We all once dreamt of being rich, famous, a movie star, princess, astronaut, pilot, billionaire, race car driver and etc. However, at some points in our lives, we often realize that these are all just fantasy and impossible dreams. When I’m small, I used to imagine that I would become a jet fighter pilot someday in the future. I dreamt of soaring up high in the sky and shot down enemies with advance technologies. However, as I grow up, I realize that being a pilot is not so much fun and easy. It takes more than just being able to fly a plane and have good eye sight. A pilot will have to withstand dizziness and fear while the plane is spinning upside down and traveling at a speed faster than the speed of sound. Also, it’s not so much fun to shoot missiles at people when you may also be easily targeted by other planes. When we are young, we used to believe that all stories end happily with the good guy defeating the bad guy. However, fairy tales don’t necessary happen in real life. Often times the bad guy kills the good guy and the bad guys gets kill by another bad guy and so on. Reality is cruel. Life itself is cruel. As we grow up, people begin to put more responsibility on us and life becomes more complicated than just going through school, getting a job, marrying and dying old. Life is unpredictable and often discouraging, but because of this uncertainty, we are able to treasure every moment of our life and live the best out of it.

Comparing Characters

In the Red Badge of Courage, Henry was influenced by many of the characters in the story, such as Jim Conklin, Wilson and the tattered man. Jim Conklin was a close friend of Henry that they have met each other since school. Jim Conklin mainly serves as a role model for Henry as an example of a courageous soldier. When Henry asked him about fleeing away from battle, Jim’s word comforts Henry that it’s normal for soldier to retreat and run. It gave Henry confidence and strength. Wilson, also known as the loud soldier, is also a classmate of Henry, although he is not as closed to Henry. In the beginning of the war, Wilson talks loudly and externally look like a brave and strong man. However, Wilson is actually quite afraid of death and gives his last letter for his family to Henry, afraid that he will soon get shot. It is amazing of how Wilson has transformed within only one battle that when Henry comes back to the regiment with a head wound, Wilson eagerly help Henry and tends his wounds. In the end, they become good comrades and friends. As for the tattered man, he serves as a reminder of Henry’s guilt of being a coward. The tattered man constantly asks Henry of his wounds and follows him around. For all these character, I’ll choose Wilson to write about. Wilson has the most dramatic change in his character beside Henry that he transforms into a real soldier in the end of the story.

Henry's Relationship

In the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Henry experiences different relationship with each of the characters in the story. Henry was a close friend of Jim Conklin, since they have known each other in school. Jim Conklin primary serves as a role model for Henry. Although Jim is also a rookie in war just like Henry, Jim displays a brave, courageous characteristic that Henry admires. When Henry asked Jim Conklin whether he will flee if other runs, Jim Conklin replied by saying he will do things along with the flow and trend. This comforts Henry that even his role model is willing to flee and retreat from battle. As for Wilson, Henry has also known him in school, yet he is quite annoyed by him. Although Wilson acted as if he is not afraid of battle by talking loudly, secretly Wilson is actually quite afraid of dying. During his first encounter with the enemy, Wilson is so scared that he entrusts his last letter to his family to Henry. When Henry returns to his regiment having a wound on his head, Wilson is a good friend of Henry that he tends and takes care of him. The tattered man deeply annoys Henry by questioning Henry’s wound. Henry is deeply annoyed by the question that it reminds him of being a coward without the “red badge of courage.” In the end, Henry abandons the tattered man, feeling guilty for leaving this lonely, hopeless man wandering in the field alone.