"In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike and marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it." (Ch. 2)
What does this passage mean? Do you agree? Why or why not? What experience(s) in your life has been, to a degree, like this?
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It means that she believes our nature provides for situations of this type - that she believes we have some instinctive way of blocking out these moments, but that then occasionally our walls spring cracks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this to an extent. It does seem like there are moments or concepts or truths that human minds sometimes refuse to accept, but still have a hard time denying every so often.
For instance, I once was tackled out of my shower at gunpoint and cuffed by policemen, in my home, through no fault of my own. This is still so far from the normal flow of my life that I'm almost uncertain it was even me. But then, when I hear footsteps outside the shower, it continues to shake me a little.
Jacob Nicholson :]
3rd Hr
2 down, 8 to go.
This quote from the story is explaining that situations of hard circumstances can happen to people, and amazingly the hardships we go threw dont usually rub off on us; but sometimes they do.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Jacob on this one. Sometimes our minds can pressure the blow of hurt; but not entirely. Four years ago my grandma was thrown under a car when it hit black ice in the winter. This atrosity,too was well out of normal human context. Sometimes my brain wont me think that this happened. But I know it did.
Anna Mason
Third hour
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ReplyDeleteIt means that we all have some sort of inner strength or something given to us that allows us not to feel the full strength of any pain we might endure at some point in our lives. I somewhat agree with this because their are times in your life when you can be strong enough to work through a hardship, but sometimes you just have to let your emotions out, because no one can be 100% strong all the time. This applies to a time in my life about 3 years ago when my grandma was in a car crash,it hurt me to know my grandma could have lost her life,but i pushed through it and it has taught me to be a more aware driver because of it.
ReplyDeleteBethany Gander
6th hour
What the passage means to me is that all humans react the same way when something out of the ordinary happens to them. Like myself, I try and put up a mental block or wall in my head because I dont want to believe that something horrible could ever happen. Four years ago, i lost my grandma to lung cancer. She was like a bestfriend to me. When i found out that she died, i was devistated. I tried making excuses for why she wasnt around because i couldnt accept that she had died. A few months after her death, my mom was diagnosed with the same EXACT lung cancer, and to top it off, she had a few brain tumors. It felt as if I just got hit with millions of emotions. I couldnt keep them hidden anymore. After awhile, it felt as if I learned to except what had happen. I know that all this is real, I just dont want to admit to myself that it is.
ReplyDeleteKris Callahan, 1st Hour
The human condition is that, many times, when an atrocity happens, it doesn't always register at first. One does not really feel anything at the moment. It is the aftermath, the few days or weeks later when it finally hits, and one feels the pain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this, because this kind of situation happened to me recently. My best friends mother is sick with cancer, and she only has a few days to live. I'd known this for a while and it was expected, but i hadn't really felt anything until a couple weekends ago, when i went to see her. She looked like she'd gained 60 years in a matter of weeks. When i saw her my stomach sank, and i could feel the pain.
Kathleen Ferrero-1st Hour
The qoute states to me, that when some on feels sad about something a wave of pain a greef WILL catch up with them in the end. No matter how hard you try it will not leave you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do agree with this passage, a few months ago my aunts told our family that my grandma of my dad's side of the family is not looking well at all. She is always at the bar, and drinking her life away. We are not sure why she is doing this all of a sudden and why so often. But I do not have a good feeling and this will hit me in the future.
Nate Nugent first hour
This passage means that sometimes people won't exactly feel the pain at first but then at somepoint the emotion and reality of the situation will truly set it and the person will finally react to what had happened.
ReplyDeleteI definitly agree with this passage. Almost 7 months ago my grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 6 months to live. I was of course upset about it, but it didn't occur to me that she would get sick at such an alarming rate. It would hit me every couple weeks that time is going by quickly. Too quickly. Well a month ago my dad told me that she had past. Again I was upset. It really hit me though when I was standing in her apartment and she wasn't there sitting in her recliner that she seemed to never leave holding the dog she never stopped yelling at. Death tends to do this to a lot if not everyone.
Katie Hays- 1st hour
This passage means that it is human nature to deny what we don't want to be true. We hold back our feelings hoping that they'll go away, when in reality, they just grow while waiting to come out.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with this. Like Katie, my grandpa recently passed away. He had been healthy all his life, but when my mom came home one day telling me he was in the hospital and not doing to well I figured he'd get better, just like always. Then a few days later, the doctor told us that he didn't have long to live and again, it didn't hit me. After a few weeks of seeing my grandpa slowly fade away, he passed away. It wasn't until his wake that the reality hit me. I think it wasn't until then that I believed it because the proof of the fact was evident and couldn't be denied any longer.
Angela Wilcox
Third Hour
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ReplyDeleteThe passage means that we sort of have an inner strength inside of us that helps us endure painful moments in our life at the moment it is happening, but the aftermath of the whole ordeal leaves a hurtfulness inside of you.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this passage because... Well because it's pretty much true from what I can see. I haven't really had any moments in my life when this has happened.
Richie Keith
3rd hour
He's saying that the initial pain is usually not bad compared to the aftermath. I guess I agree with this for the most part, because of the basic psychological principle of shock, where you don't really know what's happening and are just blank, and you don't recover until after it's done.
ReplyDeleteThis happened when my great-grandmother died, it didn't actually hit me until she was buried.
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ReplyDeleteShe remained tough through the main humiliation, but afterwards felt the full pain of the experience. Yes, I do agree with this passage. It reminds of when I'd get a really bad cut and at first it didn't hurt because it was kind of numb, but after a little while it would begin to sting and then finally burn at its full intesity.
ReplyDeleteSarah Walker
3rd hour
I also agree with this passage, although for slightly differences. I apologize if someone has already stated this, but in my opinion, it means that you can put up a brick wall for a long time while you are enduring a torture, but eventually you have to cave.
ReplyDelete---Kyle Turner---
6th Hour
Well to be honest, i can only guess what this actually means....
ReplyDeletei believe it means that when we make mistakes at first, our punishments are the things that run through our minds to begin with, and in this books case, pain, and suffering are punishments... and thats what scares people so much at first..
but, then after all the suffering is said and done, you begin to actually think about your mistake and cause yourself more pain and suffering then in the begining, which can last forever, and p.s. - sarah's example was good lol.
I think it means that when you do something you dont exactly understand the consenquences of whats happeneing until after you do it. so i agree with what its saying. The experience i have i can't exactly share but if you want to know Mrs. billings i can tell you in private at school or something.
ReplyDeleteI beleive that this passage means two different things in a sense. I believe that it means: that while people my know the real and undeniable truth often many of us don't and can't believe it, i also think that it means there are people in this world that get into trouble and do not realize what they did or the consequences like jamie said until after everything is done and over with.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with this passage, but i do not think its one hundred percent correct for the simple fact that unsinkable ships have sunk and we the people gave it that name. AKA we are all responsible for the actions and consquences that we may endure in our lives
I agree with many of the other responses.
ReplyDeleteI think this passage means humans instinctively block out events that would hurt them. A physical example would be when someone is severely hurt and the brain sends messages to the nerves, so we can't feel anything. But eventually that defense goes away.
I also think in this passage, Hester is in denial. She thinks she can get through this tough time in her life but she knows she really can't. That hits her when she's put back in prison after being in the marketplace.
I agree with this passage because I have experienced an event where I have been in denial.
My experience started when my dad had mentioned that he was thinking about moving out of state after I had graduated high school but I never really thought he was serious. Months and months had passed and I didn't think anything of it but recently he had told me he had a job opportunity in Arizona and he was leaving in October for a few months to see if he liked it. Right then it really hit me, wow he might actually be leaving. It was a total shock but yet I really had known he could be moving all along.
Bri Groble, 3rd hour.
It means that when something bad happens to us it doesn't hit us until later. We can't think clearly and might not understand what is going on but later when our heads are clear we realize the depth of the situation.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that comes to mind is when I was 6 my parents got a divorce and my dad moved out. It didn't phase me until the next week when I cried in my sister's bed all night.
Austin Martinovich 3rd hour
This statement means that although terrible incidents may hurt us in life they don't always affect us right away. As we grow up we see the effects of this impact in our lives. The first thing I can think of is my brother moving to college. Although it's not a huge tragedy... i wasn't upset until i realized he was gone and i cried for two days.
ReplyDelete-Laura Johnson 1st hour
I believe this passage means that we are all going to have terrible things happen in life. Some of us might deal with the greif better and sometimes reality doesn't settle in until days after. For example, last may my grandpa passed away. He was not doing well for a long time but with every day he lived it gave me hope that he'd still be there in my future. I can still remember the twinkle in his eyes when I would walk into his hospital room. (He liked me better than my brothers lol). Then when the day came where he had passed on, I just didn't believe it. He had been fighting and I never thought he would give up. None of this seemed realistic until the day of his wake..
ReplyDeleteto me this means that when bad things happen you don't feel them at first. It takes a little while for you to accept it. Just like Richie iI haven't had any experiences like this either.
ReplyDeleteBilly Keene 3rd hour
The passage means that when a person does something bad they won't realize or feel that they did something bad. Kind of like how people live in thier emotions. After a while they would begin to understand that they did something wrong. I do agree with this passage. Some people need time to realize they did a bad deed. It is like when a little kid want a cookie from the cookie jar and goes to get it and gets in trouble and doesn't realize they weren't allowed to have it.
ReplyDeleteo(^-^)oKourtney Vara 3rd Hour(o^-^o)
I think that this passage explains how the human memory can be used as a punishment. If you never remembered being punished, you would live through it once, and then probably go on to do the same thing that got you into trouble in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as time goes on, and you see the consequence of your actions past the initial puishment, you begin to realize that your actions were even worse than you suspected at first. An example of this from the book is how when Hester first stepped out of the prison, she walked to the scaffold with her head held high, and even though she felt shame, she carried herself with pride. As time went on however, attention directed at the scarlet letter seemed to hurt Hester more and more, the longer that she wore it.
Drew Coveyou 3rd hour
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ReplyDeleteI believe that this passage means that everyone tries to forget bad things that happen in their lives and tries to convince themselves that no matter what, it's not true. Everyone, at one time or another, tries to deny their true feelings, trying to forget. But we soon realize that trying to deny the truth is going to make things worse.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this passage because over the summer, my great aunt died. She has always been there for me and my family, and when my mom told me one morning that she was gone, i didn't even shed a tear. A few days later, my parents, older sister, and I stayed at the funeral home for her wake for 6 hours. The second I walked into the building and saw her, I ran to my grandma and just started crying. I think that once I finally started to believe it was true, it hurt worse.
Saralyn Simpson
3rd Hour
i believe this passage tell about how we as humans don't really know how to feel about something until we have had the time to reflect on it and understand it. only then do our true emotions show.
ReplyDeletei agree simply because of past experience. when the big man was diagnosed with cancer i didn't think anything about it. now after I've had the time to look back and think about it i realize how serious and painful it was to my dad, family, and especially me.
Ammdaddy 1st hour
by the way mrs. billings i dont like doing this...
ReplyDeleteYou suffer more after the fact. You try to just get through it when it happens. Afterward you can think.
ReplyDeleteYes, you can block out stuff that happens when you are little. When you block stuff out and forget, when you realize what you did it hurts badly.
Grief and guilt always comes after the fact. That is all I will say.
Rachel Timmer 6th, sorry I keep forgetting.
ReplyDeleteI think that this means, when something bad happens to you, you just try not to belive it at first. Until reality comes and knocks you down. It is hard to accept things that hurt.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this quote and can relate.
A really good family friend was killed in a car accident, and at first it didnt feel real. It wasnt until the funeral that I knew he wasnt coming back.
This passage means that when something bad happens to someone they put up a mental block and act likeit never happned because they just do not want to believe it. A couple of years ago my grandpa died. When my mom came to the school to tell me I just did not want to believe it. When she told me I did not cry once. I did not even shed a tear on the way down to the wake but when I finally got there i saw him laying there and i just started crying non-stop. I think that i put up this mental block because my grandpa was my best friend and i just did n ot want to believe that he was dead.
ReplyDeleteBreanna Roberts 6th hr
I think this passage means that when a person does something wrong they shouldn't be punished for it physically, they'll know what they've done and will be paying for it mentally and emotionally on their own. That often enough is worse than anything another person can do to them. I definately agree with this passage. I think people don't realize this though when they treat other people with so much disrespect. No matter what goes on in the world around you, when your mind decides to punish you it doesn't really let go. There's nothing worse than hating and blaming yourself.
ReplyDelete3rd hour
I dont agree with one person again but mixes of all...
ReplyDeleteCertain harmful life changing events happen to everyone. After all that you endure it will be worth it in the end, and something great will happen.
yes i do agree. I agree with the statement because I've seen it happen not only to me but to people around me.
One thing that has happened to me when i was young was that we barely had a house sometimes no heat or electricity... Now, i went from a three bedroom trailer to a five bedroom house with little to no stuggles.
....Daymion Haggard 3rd....
This passage is telling us that we suffer through difficult situations everyday, big or small, but we feel no emotion until later when the consequences hit us. It is a defense mechanism to protect ourselves from the pain that will emotionally hit us but eventually you will have to face the truth and deal with it in your own personal way.
ReplyDeleteMy grandpa suffered from cancer and many other things that went with that and he lasted for quite sometime..we would all go and see him practically everyday whether he was in the hospital or the nursing home. He held on for quite sometime and after he had passed my grandma is a very strong women. I must get it from her because I couldn't get the feeling through my head it didn't hit me until I went back to the farm and the funeral and he wasn't coming home in the truck..
I can see how almost everyone is coming up with their answers and agree with their opinions. However I believe that a different way of looking at it is to look directly at Hester Prynne and her punishment. At first she thought that the punishment was terrible but eventually grew numb to the embarrassment and got through it. In a way thought, the real pain came in the years after her public humiliation. She lost all that made her special and it must have been extremely painful to see how people treated not only her but also her beloved Pearl. She may have thought that she escaped her worst pains after the scaffold but actually she hadn't seen nothing yet.
ReplyDeleteT.J. Draper 3rd hour
What the quote states is that there are instances in time where the human mind, in an effort to protect itself and the human in general, block out things deemed to hard to comprehend or to see. That happens to be the case usually with bad breakups, deaths, and unbelievable events happening, like say "the end of the world", and is generally an excruciating time. I completely agree because I too have felt this way. There are so many things that have made me feel this way a big few in particular, but it would have to be getting hit by a car while walking for me, as i still can't believe that happened.
ReplyDeleteNick Green 6th hour
P.S. Jake, bro, what did you do!!! hahaha!
This passage explains the type of psychological shock we can put ourselves into when we're in a bad place. Hester's bad place was on a podium in front of her whole town, she didn't want to feel ashamed or embarrassed so she drifted off into her memories where she felt safe. I totally agree with this passage, because I do the same thing when I'm in a bad spot. Whenever I have to go to a funeral for a family member I know what's going on but in my mind I drift off to happy memories that are always comforting
ReplyDeletelucas frederes 3rd hour
ReplyDeleteThere are times in everyone's life where something horrible happens and we go to our "happy place" just to numb ourselves to the reality of the situation. However, when we snap back to the reality in front of us, we begin to feel what we would have felt during the actual experience.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. Most people are looking for an escape from reality. It's our mind's involuntary way of lessening the shock of an experience.
This happened to me throughout most of sophomore year. I used to dread waking up every day and having to deal with the people who made me miserable.
Dayne Davis--6th Hour
What i got out of this passage was that it's human nature to hide the feelings we don't want others to find out about or ones that we are too afraid to face. It would be better to just face our feelings better it's just easier to just act like they aren't there. But eventually they come out and they hit even harder than when they first began.
ReplyDeleteI think that the passage means that you don't really know how bad something is till after its over. I agree because theres times when people go into shock about something and don't truely realize what's going on. For example, losing a family member or getting in a car accident.
ReplyDeleteAshley Boaz 3rd
This passage means that when Hester was going thrugh her humiliation with the scarlet letter, she had to keep going and not let it bother her.
ReplyDeleteI agreee with this because even when a bad trama or a dramatic thing happens in our life, we sometimes do not believe that it has happened until we realized it has.
An example of this in my life was when my great grandpa passed away suddenly. I remember talking to him the night before his passing. I was staying at a friend's house that night, and when my mom came and picked me up, she told me what happened. I was in such shock that I completely ignored what she said. I remember crying for days and I finally had to move on.
Ali Stevenson - 1st hour
I think the passage means that you dont know what it really feels like to have something bad happen to you until it actually does happen. I agree, when people had family members die i was sad but i didnt know how it really felt until my grandparents passed away.
ReplyDeleteIt means, to me, that the punishment for a crime or sin is by no means the real punishment. The real punishment comes after the "official punishment", and destroys the sinner/criminal by way of how people change in how they treat them. They become more isolated, more hated, more feared, and more discriminated against.
ReplyDeleteChristian Blunk 3rd Hour
This book shows you better then anything that you cannot escape the mistakes you naturally do in life. Mistakes are few and far between. Everybody has them and you cannot escape them. But basically this statements telling you that whether it's infidelity, revenge, a mistake, or even a lost friend you never get the blunt of your error until later when youve had time to think about it.
ReplyDeleteEddie Weber 6th hour
ps.....ur 2 smart jake
I think the passage means you cant prevent something that is suppose to happen no matter how bad you want to.
ReplyDeletedeath is an example
This passage means that even though a painful and horrible situation seems bad enough, you will never really know how bad it is until afterwards. I agree with this passage because sometimes a small event seems horrible at the time but after it you realize it wasn't that bad. For example, every day during swim practice I think that I will never be able to make it to the end, but after practice I realize it wasn't as bad as I thought.
ReplyDeleteElaina Bruck 6th Hour
The quote to me is talking about how no matter how bad the torture or pain is from something that is happening in the present, it is not near as bad as the pain the continues to linger with you no matter what. Like one time i rear-ended a lady in my jeep coming out of a stop sign because she had left the stop sign and then i turned to look for traffic and then started to go, not realizing that she had stopped again for NO REASON....anyways i always look twice now and hate stop signs
ReplyDeleteCorey Skolek, 3rd hour
You never know how bad your act is until your punished for it. i mostly agree with that. I have a really bad guilt complex so i know what its like to feel a lot of regret about something.
ReplyDeleteMarcia Kreifels 6
This passage means that Hester didn't break down until she got to the prison. Then it hit her and she started to cry. My experience with this is when my grandma died it didn't hit me until after the funeral.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Berryman
6th hour