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I have an assignment for my AP English class to write an essay on the role of the "individual spirit" of a novel and how it is affected by societal pressures. Can somone please help me on what in the world an individual spirit is? I have an idea but I'm not sure! Please Help me!
If it helps these are the four books I have to do it on:
The Red Badge of Courage
The Great Gatsby
The Scarlet Letter
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

By Demingy (Demingy) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 07:57 pm: Edit

What do you think it is? I'm not being a smartass here; I think that individual spirit really depends on how you view it.

By Rachelvish (Rachelvish) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 09:18 pm: Edit

Well... concerning the Scarlet Letter- remember how the novel begins sort of confidently- showing Hester and how beautiful and confident she is...but you can tell she starts to change that even on the first time she mount the scaffold- how upset she seems to be. She keeps on getting more morose and pieous as the novel progresses- an important scene, for example, is when she is in the woods with Dimmesdale, and she takes off the scarlet letter, and suddenly she lets down her hair and is beautiful again. The scarlet letter obviously represents societal pressure, and you can see her initial confident and spirited personality is weighed down and affected by this Letter- something in that sense- I hope I helped.

By Harleylover (Harleylover) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 12:12 am: Edit

Actually Demingy, there is a right answer to the essay, it's not just how I view it. I was just curious as to WHAT by deffinition individual spirit of a novel is. Becuase what I THINK it means is just like a theme to the stories. And I'm sure if that's what it really means, then my essay would ask for "a theme in the novels" not the individual spirit. I was just wondering if anyone else had this kind of topic?

By Harleylover (Harleylover) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 12:13 am: Edit

THANK YOU Rachelvish!!

By Televelis (Televelis) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 04:30 am: Edit

I think your teacher means the tone and the mood... a combination of the two. S/he is just combining them into one category called "invididual spirit"