Response to the veil

The Black Veil, written by the Romanticist Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book in which a man suddenly decides to wear a random veil to a church meeting. Everyone is shocked, simply because it does not fit their conformist ideals of wearing a plain clothes, especially of his position as a minister. Wearing a veil is one of the most outrageous things a person could probably do, especially a black veil. Black is usually the dim color of death, or anything taboo. A veil is something that hides secrets, because it does not show the wearer's face completely, thus it could mean that the audience of the church had somehow hypothesized in the back of their heads that the minister was hiding something, therefore finding his presence uncomfortable and then departing. The atmosphere of the whole area was just insane, because people were left probably with an uncomfortable feeling (I know I would be) when they sense his presence. A man reading at the altar, reading the Holy Bible, in a black veil.
It's signifying that he's hiding a secret. A minister, a man of God, a man of truth - hiding a secret!? A role model in their society that they had looked up to was concealing a secret? People know that people only hide things when they think others would it unacceptable or that they're doing it for personal gain. Obviously both of these are not accepted principles, so in their eyes he is, subconsciously, a heretic.

Parable

Once upon a time, a hungry boy was playing video games. After hours and hours of playing video games, home alone, he had to find a way to feed himself. He looked through his house for hours, and finally found one precious, golden cup of noodles. Inside the package was a packet of special powder flavorings, as well as another packet of dried vegetables. The chunk of noodles itself was so perfectly formed in its dried up state that the boy started drooling before he even added the hot water.
To his surprise, he had a kettle of water boiling for some reason already. He did not know how it got there, but he was thankful and didn't ask anymore questions.
He poured the hot water into the cup of noodles, and then added the flavoring and dried vegetables.
He was really hungry, so he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and started crunching on that block of noodles. He had a spoon too, and started drinking the scalding hot water that he had just added.
It was so hot it burned his tongue, and he swallowed it to get it out of his mouth. The water made its way down his throat and burned his whole throat as well as the insides of his mouth.
Lesson here: do not drink cup noodle soup without letting it cool down first.

The Saddest of All Prisons

In the society of today, guilt does not have as much of a significant meaning as it did in the past. Before, in the past, specifically during periods where religion dominated the human psyche so much people killed each other over it, that morals and guilt, sin, etc, were all of heavy values to the human mind.
Firstly, religion was established to put forth morals in the untrained human so that they can develop basic principals to live by, pretty much a rulebook that's been embellished to send out these morals in subliminal messages through the stories.
Now, we look back and think of how much religious weight had on our thoughts. It ruled a major portion, while today, our religious followers are in decline. People do not follow strict church attendance anymore, and religion has fallen out of its seat of power on the human.
Now, we put the pieces together and think, people were taught to atone their wrongdoings, and rid themselves of the guilt. If these teachings are decreasing at a rapid rate, then we do not hold these emotions to our heart as much as we did in the past.
Even though we still might carry guilt upon our chests, it does not have as much of an impact upon ourselves as it did in the past.

Comparing Poems

In Longfellow's first poem, The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls, he mentions of some sort of stranger - a stranger, in my opinion, that represents the unnamed as a whole - that fades away in time without anyone noticing. Like a tree falling in the forest, nobody hears it. It just happens. No one knows when it happens, no one knows how, no one really cares, all of us apathetic. In Longfellow's other poem, The Cross of Snow, he is specifically talking about his wife. This is because his wife had just passed away, and he woke up one night and was perhaps inspired to write this poem.
The second poem expresses his personal grief over the loss of his wife, of how it was like a cross he has to bear on his chest. Many romantics of the time were deeply obsessed with emotions and other sorts of feelings, and so they sought to express it in the most ornate and wordiest way (while rhyming and following the rules of poetry at the same time) to display their feminism and emotional interior.
These men were caring men, perhaps enjoyed a little bit of shopping, fine cloth such as silk, walking with a strut that displayed their donkage, and urinating while sitting.

Image of Grief

The image of grief in nature would probably be something that is withering away, such as a wilting flower, a sickly gazelle, or of something even simpler such as the clashing of two glaciers. Maybe not the glaciers, because it evokes a much more violent image - but perhaps, something like sand being blown away by the endless winds and forever lost in the evanescence of time. Something fading away, because our feelings of grief are usually associated with the loss of something, such as a dear family member or a beloved pet. When we lose things, something with a deep sentimental connection with us, with our hearts, we usually stamp that setting into our heads: something fading, something dying, etc.
In nature, when something dies, we automatically associate these feelings with the scene. When poets cleverly use these images to perturb these feelings, to stir up these emotions, they go beyond of directly transgressing with our feelings but instead violate them on a deeper level, which is to directly have ourselves call upon our own feelings of grief, sorrow, and misery with scenes that we have previously been conditioned to.
So, a fallen leaf, disappearing footsteps on the shores of a lonely beach, the drowning of an island, or the petrification of creatures (to me atleast) can call upon the image of grief.

Human Life: A Cycle?

In individual human lives, as I had stated in class, I believe we do exist in cycles. First of all, we are born unable to walk, then by the time we die we pretty much can't walk anymore since we've deteriorated so much. This is like a cycle with one rotation. But some people don't consider that being a cycle, so I guess an alternative way of explaining it could be that life is like a line with an apex. It reaches its zenith when we're in our twenties, and has been on a slow decline afterwards.
On the daily aspect, yes, we do live in cycles. We wake up, do our daily activities, with meals spaced throughout the day, and then we retire to sleep. That is living out in cycles. We continue this everyday, with slight changes daily that make a (small) impact to the thing as a whole, such as going out to live by ourselves, etc. We continue the cycle daily, until it accumulates to a number that adds up to be 365, then we simply add a tick mark to marking our lives by these dates and then we continue the cycle.
Life is a cycle.

Natural Cycles

I find this cycle quite confrontational. When talking about the aspect of nature, is it the aspect that it is full of lessons to be learned or is it the aspect of cycles? I find the truth to be revealing, because our lives are centered around nature. Mother nature presents us, our properties, facts, etc, in many different forms since we're related to other organisms as well as the fact that we're not the only thing that's alive on this planet. We share many things, many similarities between other creatures but since we have developed so far, strayed so far away from mother nature, we still possess some sort of uniqueness about us (human beings). The aspect of cycles in nature is one that is not new, simply, everything is in a cycle. I believe the most natural shape is probably a circle, (in my opinion... but who's to say and dictate what is the most natural shape and who would be the arbitrator of this decision? but I'll present my reasons... it's the only shape without any corners or anything and the distance from one point to the next is the same and at the same angle, and so many other properties I'm too lazy to name) and a cycle is like a circle. Like in Lion King, the song, The Circle of Life really gives this aspect of nature a true definition. Other things happen in cycles, such as rain, the winds, the earth around the sun, etc etc etc.

A Realistic View of Life

When we grow out of our cocoon and adapt to the realities of life, we realize there are much more things in life such as responsibility than just imaginary things. Believing in things such as Santa Claus and other paranormal explanations for things pretty much says you can't accept what life really is, so you find other ways to cope with it. It's a sign of weakness because if you need something to cope with something that is difficult, and if you cannot deal with it, you are a weakling. It means that if we encounter something we cannot deal with, we imagine ourselves dealing with it as if it was real. As if we really dealt with it, but rather, we hadn't. This is the same case with Santa Claus. It might be propagated by the parental figures, but the children, naive and ignorant, cannot find an explanation for the gifts under the tree. So following what their parents had said, they assume it was a big man with a big beard on a big sled with a big bag over his shoulder that brought the gifts. Quite funny, actually. It's actually also a lesson of obedience, and once we break that belief we realize we must question all things, and all things are worth questioning, because if we don't, people might be lying to us. People might be saying Santa Claus is doing this Santa Claus is doing that, and once we question things we'll realize the realities of life and that people are liars.

Comparing Characters

Wilson's character had realized a new and totally different personality after being shocked back into reality after their regiment's first battle. At first, he thought he was really strong and was really pretentious, but that all changed into him turning to a humble side after experiencing firsthand what war was like. He even helped Henry by taking care of him, letting him take his sleeping gear, etc, after taking on this new role in his regiment. His niche is filled by the most unpredictable of characters: the Loud Soldier. Seemingly, he would be the cold, bragging character who makes sardonic remarks but instead he turns into a nice caregiver of the regiment especially for Henry. I think war can change many aspects of people's personalities, and for Wilson, perhaps it changed all aspects.
Many times over, people say a person can change someone entirely. Perhaps this was to a lesser extent, but I find it true in real life. Many times over people have influenced others from decisions to their whole outlook on life. I can't remember, but there was some sort of effect of how a person in authority will usually influence one who believes that person to be in authority (I think it was proven by Stanley Milgrim) so I find it really interesting that humans in general still follow an archaic hierarchal system deep within our subconscious, anyone with respect we listen to.

Henry's Relationships

Henry's relationships with the characters in the Red Badge of Courage all vary differently. These relationships with his peers as a fellow comrade in the army has shaped his decisions in how he would react to the situations in war. An example would be that his decision to run away was strengthened when Jim Conklin said that he would run away too if others had ran as well. They're good friends and their relationship is a well-nourished one. With the tattered soldier, Henry dislikes his comments because it could debunk the fact that he ran away from the battle, with his repeating comments and haranguing of Henry of how maybe, he's got those "inside wounds". These relationships have been vital to Henry's development in character, explaining some of his actions and shaping the path for his mind to embark on the next time he makes a decision, because he's always looking for acceptance from his peers and being viewed as valorous and honorable.
Many times over, a large portion of our brains demands acceptance socially. In this context, his environment is a warfield, so he demands social acceptance in this zone from the perspective of seeking acceptance of his ideas of war. Although many times over he goes back on his own principles and acts in a sanctimonious manner that invalidates his own beliefs, he still seeks refuge in their social acceptance of his ever-changing metamorphic  ideas.

Conscience

Conscience is the thing inside ourselves that drives us towards what we do. When we stray off that path, this "conscience" will attempt to rectify us by making us feel guilty. It's an uncomfortable feeling. Henry's eagerness to be a war hero is constantly calling out to him, and haunting him after acts and acts of cowardice. His conscience is telling him to do what's right. It can also be described as what's morally right and wrong. Henry feels a cognitive dissonance, a feeling that occurs when one's thoughts collides with one's actions, therefore they'll try to adjust their thoughts to their action. In Henry's case, his conscience fully ignored, he adjusts his thoughts by thinking of excuses to please the dissonance in between his running away and wish of heroism. Cognitive, meaning thought, and dissonance, meaning incongruity. In the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale's conscience is what's right, and basically it's driving him to want to say and speak out of his own sins, yet he could not bring his conscience forward and admit the truth.

The Dark Side

The Dark Romantics were a group of romantics who went against the social norm of their little group romantics that lived in their own little world and decided to dabble into darker matters, (matters that did not even come to close to being slightly morbid, or anything of the sort) but things such as insanity, madness, and the human self and its darker side. I would consider them neutral romantics. They didn't do anything that could've earned them the "dark" title, yet, they're only dark because of this highly elevated sense of romanticism. It doesn't really make sense, because the dark side basically just explored NORMAL human traits that only seemed dark because of how buttered up the world had been and icing-topped with sugary sweets by the "normal" romantics. It's quite strange of how someone could dictate what something else is based on a comparison of one thing to the other while never fully understanding the other. I'm sure that people understand what these "dark" romantics are saying, yet, they shouldn't have just simply branded them as dark.

The Transcendentalists

The Transcendentalists were a group of Romantic people that followed traditional romantic beliefs and created art that depicted their principles. (Romantic principles) They usually wrote books with romantic ideas such as youth over wisdom, intuition over thinking, etc. They were a response to the rapid growth of Rationalists and thinkers in Europe during the Enlightment. Perhaps they were bored with all that thinking because logic is very restrictive, as it forces you to follow down one, correct path - as opposed to feelings, which is sporadic and is directionless, therefore these people could do whatever they wanted and not have to be logical. If someone asks, "why are you doing that?" thinking they're crazy, they can easily say that they're a transcendentalist and be excused from the act.
I personally believe that these people, albeit having published great works of literature, are a waste of time because they would rather follow feelings over reasoning.

Romantic Values

Some values during the romantic era in America were valuing youth over the old, intuition over reasoning, love over logic, and the such. Spontaneous reactions to something usually lead to the person following their spontaneity, as opposed to logical reasoning. People today perhaps are emotional because of this, because our logic and thinking's evolution had been halted in our social organic structure that we do not continuously develop these aspects anymore We find that sometimes people recommend we follow our intuition over reasoning. This is the cause of America's great lack of mathematical skills (on average) and science (on average) as opposed to other cultures that value logic and reason above love and emotion. We also notice that Western culture values love more greatly, places more emphasis on monogamy and devotion to "romantic" love compared to cultures of other societies. This is what the Romantic era has done to us, it had halted our evolutionary path biologically and socially: a great, tragic blow to humanity.

The American Romantic Hero

The American Romantic Hero, as described in the book, is a natural being that has a pure mind and the a courage of a thousand lions. Today, our heroes still have traces of these elements except in modernized form.

Freedom and Equality

These two words are almost synonymous with the name America today, or to be even more specific, the United States of America. This is because of our national pride, we flaunt our spin-doctored heroic past (whilst covering perhaps some of the most dreadful wrongdoings in the world) to the world that today our country was fought because of the longing for freedom and equality, to be relinquished from the grips of British colonial rule.
(some of these wrongdoings are: slavery, the unconstitutional internment of Japanese Americans, its favoritism of European immigrants over Chinese immigrants, etc)
I believe many Americans today take our hard-earned freedom and equality for granted. This is because many of us take many things for granted. We're so used to living luxuriously we forget about how hard freedom and equality is to find in this world, and how much people in certain parts of the world long for it. People under the thumb of dictatorial regimes and territories marked by terror, they crave freedom and equality more than anything else. Maybe if we removed our rights for a day people will start to appreciate them. Almost everyone is too concerned with the material world that we take our most basic of rights for granted.
Most people are ignorant.

The American Ideal

The quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson reflects the American Ideal to the finest degree. This is because Americans are all over individuality, uniqueness, and independence. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a prominent American author, and had obviously pioneered perhaps minute portions of our culture today - he would of course have traces of the primitive form of the American Ideal within him. He is one of the progenitors of our culture today. I would say he was a very independent man and had his own ideas, his own values, etc, his own, his own individuality, uniqueness and the such. Our American Ideal was shaped by these early citizens of our great nation and the path that they have embarked upon had sealed our fate - as the American Ideal is everywhere.

What I like about this class

What a like about this class: plenty of things, but mostly the class's upbeat atmosphere at all times. Mr McCool's humor always brings smiles to peoples' faces, especially Howard Tai. I also like this class because of Ben Lee. He sits across from me and I can see his funny faces when he writes his journals. Next, Daniel Shieh. He's always acting like Percy and is always fun to laugh at. Melissa Lee, because her mouth is always open when she's focused on something. Tiffany Lin, because she looks confused all the time. Chim Chen, because he's got big calves and he shows me his calves his class. Alyson Tseng, because she's always reading. Christine Hsu, because she plays basketball. Howard Tai, because he looks funny. James Chiu, because he sits next to me. Danny Shue because he's a funny guy.
Most important of all, what I like most about this class is:
me.

What I Don’t Like About This Class

What I don't like about this class is how the journal times in class are so long. Sometimes the moments in class without any brain stimulation leaves me in a blank state and in a blank state I am more prone to falling asleep. I also dislike how there are ants in the corner of the classroom, they may be gone now, but when they were here they served as a big distraction. My fascination with the Formicidae family of animals leaves me distracted in class. A serious issue I don't like in class is that sometimes breaks are omitted. I understand that the schedule may run wild sometimes, but fitting in a 5 minute break is perfect because classwork is enervating at times and that 5 minutes could serve well as a break and let us last longer.
Other than that, I have no other serious concerns with the class. The bottle in the middle of the classroom might be, but other than that bottle of water, maybe if we had more pizza parties I'd be more excited for class. Or watched movies.

The Unknown Quantity

I do not believe in the fact that only when we're presented with something along the lines of a life threatening situation do we reveal our inner and true selves. Our "inner and 'true' selves" is already shown through our everyday behavior. Only when one intentionally hides it or when they do something that alters their behavior are they modifying it, if not, everything of our personality leaks through. It makes no difference as to what situation we are presented with, EVERY situation reveals a little something about ourselves.
People find out their strengths through trial and error, one cannot know what one's strength is by simply just being put in a life threatening situation, that's also trial and error - if you were under a rock, and it required immense physical strength to save yourself: okay, trial: physical strength. If you fail then you die. Basically a life threatening situation cannot challenge a person in all aspects of life that's like a meta strength finder, one must find it through numerous tests and a life threatening situation does not offer that, simply because it's a hit or miss: and if you miss, you die.

Persuade Me

Persuade me to give me tickets to America when spring time comes. I'll be 18 and I won't need to go through that permit phase to get a license. I won't need those mandatory hours, because those hours are only for those below the age of 18.
Bring me back to summer, back to whence we were whole. Back to when we had fun and could relax and live  a carefree life - although too much of one thing is not good, I'd still just want to go back, even for a second. Regardless if I'm in America or Taiwan, I want to be surrounded by friends and just chill out for a long time.
Persuade me and bring me to California for some In n Out. Some milkshakes, fatty foods, and all that - along with some nice, dry weather.
Also, burritos would be nice. Served with that tomato rice, asada beef, as well as some of that vegetable greenies topped with cilantro and tomatos - that's what I want. Someone should bring it back to me, along with its sour creamed goodness drizzled in salsa de verde.
Another thing I want is to be God. If enough people worshiped me, I could be a God.
I want to be God so that I could feel what it's like to be in control of his divine wrath - the feeling of sentencing a heretic to hell and smite with my holy hammer. I want to be Thor.

Give me Liberty or...

Give me liberty or death, an interesting phrase coined by Patrick Stewart. Wait, what?
Nowadays, people crave funny things. Not that people before never did, but now because our world is so efficient at keeping people alive and keeping them safe, without the worries of death once you walk out your doorstep, people crave the higher satisfactions there is to be earned in life. It's sort of like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Once we do not worry about the bottom levels of the pyramid anymore, once they're satisfied that is - we can finally continue on to the higher levels. Things such as food, safety, shelter, and protection have all been satisfied, only then can we pursue goals of higher learning, intelligence, etc.
Jokes are one of them. Socialization in general is one of them.
I've also heard that our generation is the thumb generation. Our technological innovations makes great use of our opposable thumbs - our hands are more dexterous than the previous generations, and we interact daily (perhaps a little too much) and indulge in the joy that these tiny little silicon chips provide us.
Our generation recognizes the words technology, internet, and innovation. Speed as well - but in technology. What was ten years ago - a 56 kbps modem speed connection is hard to even imagine being bearable, now that the average internet speed we have are 10 mbps internet connections.
A little bit more specific would perhaps be, facebook, online games, and the such that our generation recognizes. Last generation's youthful age would probably recognize with music or something. Who knows, we're in the present and we don't care about the past.

My own Sermon

If one would sin - then one would perish for all eternity. Not just perish, but worse - one shall be tortured and raped in an everlasting pit of agony watched over by Satan himself, he, himself, personally. A thousand sword strikes your heart every second - and your demise shall never be met. Satan has the power of life - and keeps you on the very precarious edge of being alive to only be able to further pain you. Defiled personally, punished by hoards of demons and lost souls within the spacious inferno that is Hell. The very bottom pit of the furnace - is actually bottomless, and once you fall inside it you shall never fall to the ground yet instead that paining sensation of torture in mid air, burned alive, drenched in gasoline, then further consumed by embers. Dipped in the demonic equivalent of napalm, then set on fire, but not to burn to death, but burned alive at a stake while being drawn and quartered at the same time at the fingertips of this Hellish watcher. A thousand cuts, inflicting pain beyond imagination, drowned in the wastes of the blood of the Hellish watcher's servants, burning to the touch, is what happens if you commit sin. Your skin flayed, burned in front of your very eyes, then your eyes gouged, yet, replaced once more only to be gouged again.
Sinners deserve this.
Yes, I am the one in charge. I make up all the rules.

Respond to Jonathan Edwards

My response to this man would be who put you in authority? What exactly backs up your ridiculous claims of "hanging by a thread," have you, yourself, personally witnessed such a burning of a person in the fiery depths of hell? I don't think so. I believe he's simply using the fear of the wrath of God in his own way to sway the people to cling onto their ever so worthless lives which "hangs on by a thread" even tighter into believing themselves to be even more insignificant.
Reading about these people fills me with anger and frustration because not only are they fabricating a string of lies, they're culturing this world to be so fearful of being an atheist and heathen that brings everyone into this endless black hole of intimidation of the wrath of god that pretty much subconsciously forces people to convert to Christianity.
When God's existence is questionable in the first place, why create a bunch of lies? Is it that people are so gullible as to believe in religion? I am an atheist and I do not believe in God, so perhaps my view is distorted and twisted and not as objective as one would think.
But still. Jonathan Edwards, you're a load of bull.

Sin

Sin's interpretation depends entirely upon the perspective of the viewer. A sin to a believer of any Abrahamic religion might interpret it as from breaking the vows of marriage to eating pork.
A definition of sin is an act of violation of moral rule. Since morality is entirely dependent on culture, (in Serbia, if one kills your family member, you are obligated to kill one of their family members) and one should not interpret another's culture through lenses of our own. Anything can be a sin and nothing can be sinful.
If one were to interpret a sin through the eyes of a stricter religious sect of people in the world then perhaps almost everything might be a sin, say, Sunni Muslims.
But if one were to view the world through perhaps the eyes of a devout and zealous hedonist who only cares for pleasure - then nothing would be sinful.
Sin is a difficult word to interpret. It's difficult because you can't really draw a definite line across what is a sin and what is not a sin, because, not just because of culture, we ourselves have even a finer exemplary of what is morally right and morally wrong, aka not sinful or sinful.

Fear as a Motivator

Fear is perhaps one of the greatest motivators known to man. It is that way because our survival is bent on fear. Evolutionarily, fear is perhaps one of the most beneficial things to a species' survival - as well as things like physical traits that help a species survival and eliminating competition. But if the competition is too great, then we avoid it, therefore we fear it. If a certain environmental factor would kill us - we stay away from it. We're adapted to be scared of things such as snakes, spiders, etc.
I had once read a quote of how humans were adapted to fear spiders and snakes, but not cars. Just thought that was interesting.
An interesting way to think about it is if we fear something, yep we defy it - does that mean we no longer fear it? A great example of how fear could be use with extreme efficiency would be something like Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.

Church

Religious experiences, I've had them all at Daoist temples. I don't ever recall going to any churches. I've been to the Taiwan Daoist temples and also a Buddhist temple in America. 

The Daoist temples were just take a bunch of incense, do the little bow thing a few times and implant it in several different incense pots around the temple. The incense doesn't really resemble anything (the smell of it) but definitely distinct in the family of incenses. 

Basically it's always with family members. Then we do the bai-bai. 

That's pretty much it at Daoist temples. Perhaps tour around and admire the statues. But that's pretty much it.

At the Buddhist temple in America, I'm actually not sure if it's got Daoist traditions as well - but it was called a Buddhist temple, so I'm not sure. 

At the temple, I've only attended one or two of these - but there was a mass reading of the 8 paths or something about life. They just chant it over and they also take this water and like wash it over. They also have these monks at the front and nuns doing a little gong instrument thing while the lead monk reads it. I'm not sure what the water's for - perhaps it represents some sort of purification? Inside, there were these golden panels with pictures on them. Also, we had these little stool things where you can like get on your knees and bow down. 

There were also dragon columns outside the temple, with statues representing some sort of aspects of life or something. 

Also a big Buddha. With a donation box in the middle.

That's pretty much my temple experience. A little blurry, because the last time I went to the Buddhist temple was a few years ago. 

Motivation

What the people in these books are motivated by God. God is what moves them to do what they want - basically good. They do good things because they want to go to Heaven. Although the path to Heaven was already determined, I read through another source that basically doing bad things was a sign that you're definitely not going to Heaven, thus, they act well. They, are puritans. In the book and the poem, both are motivated by God. Hester is the perfect embodiment of Puritan beliefs, albeit a fictional character, she is the ultimate Puritan spawn off of Puritan beliefs - only living a plain lifestyle for God. Same with Anne Bradstreet. Real people wouldn't just ignore a burning house and watch their house as it goes away in embers. Even though sufficient technology did not exist at the time to put out the fire, in her mind, she had accepted immediately that God took it away.
God is their motivation.

Compare and Contrast: Bradstreet vs Sor Juana

There are major differences in the two poems. Firstly, in Bradstreet's poem, it follows many short rhymes while Sor Juana's poem (although translated,) follows many verses that are long and elaborate in meaning. Even though both carry the same amount of meaning, one is just in a longer form, albeit a shorter poem as a whole, while Bradstreet's was a longer poem with many shorter verses. In Sor Juana's poem, she talks about the learnings of the mind, and shouldn't care so much about the worldly vanities instead - Bradstreet says the same thing, except about herself. About how she shouldn't care so much about her own worldly possessions. Instead, focus on her love for God.
Perhaps honing one's mind (by reading books etc) was being faithful to God?

Theme of “World in Hounding Me”

The poem's theme is not fall victim to conformity and remain free in your mind. This is because the world hounding you to conform to the meaningless vanities of the world. Once you can put those things behind truly can you then be free. It's kind of different in real life because in this poem it's either one or the other yet as a matter of fact you can possess both at the same time.
Kind of a corny example would be a fashion designer, this person would wear the "vanities" of life yet he/she would also possess great creative talent that dresses the world.
Another theme is also faith in God. Basically if you give those things up and open your mind you're pretty much in a mental clarity that is like reaching enlightment with God.

How Effective is the poem’s title?

The poem's title is quite effective. She's saying that al of us humans are hounded by the world - perhaps, these are sins, sins of greed or something, that we all fall victim to. The vanities of the world. This is because she states that we're all plagued by the vanities of the world in our shallow worlds, fill our brains with materialistic possessions while we can be filling our heads with knowledge and creativity and the arts.
It's very true. The world hounds everyone. Conformity hounds us. Our brains must conform to fit in - we, as humans, are social animals and do not wish to be outcasts.
The title conveys the poem very well and is a clear cut description of the poem.

Hounded by the World

To be hounded by the world is to be burdened with the necessities of social norms and conformity. We as humans seek to group together and therefore to fit in and not stand out we tend to conform. It is expected that we conform to these norms and humans do not wish to stand out. Society nags at us to conform. In high school, we conform in our little cliques and what not as well as the rules, and everything. These are the rules that we constantly conform to and basically adhere to. No one tells us we must - but society nags at us. And in order to remove this unpleasant stimulus in the broader picture we listen to these nags and give in. The world hounds at us constantly with these social expectations, these chains of conformity - and we give in constantly.

My Personal Disaster

Once upon a time, when I was in 8th Grade
It felt very boring, to expel something self-made
I always needed entertainment, such as toys
I loved Legos, just like all other boys

So I knew I had a big and long one coming
I brought a big creation to have a part fall in the plumbing
The black foot of my warrior, now in the bowl
My head was spinning, now out of control

I didn't know what to do, so I quickly finished
Until my courage waned, my luck diminished
Nothing would happen if I just sat there looking
Took my hand, got it ready, then went for the put-in

Reached down far, next to my poo
There sat the foot of my warrior, one of deux
The other one still attached, thank God
I should've used a mini fishing rod


My hand came out, drenched in toilet water
Went under the sink, of the clear blue color
Washed it clean, then went for the flush
Never have I been so relieved of this exciting rush

Guilt

Guilt is the heavy feeling of uneasiness on our chests when we consciously realize we did something wrong. It's relative to what we feel as is guilt, and has nothing to do with the way others feel. If we feel guilty, it's our own insight that determines what guilt is - as there is no baseline for what guilt actually is. A sociopath does not feel guilt because he or she lacks this baseline foundation, therefore does not feel guilt. Once we get rid of this guilt are we free of this feeling upon us. I feel guilty letting my mouth do the talking sometimes, as opposed to having it be filtered through my head first. When I sleep late, I feel guilty towards my own body and personal health because I am depriving myself of good sleep.

Puritans and Possessions

Puritans only view possessions as a temporary thing - they might develop a sentimental attachment, but that's not supposed to actually exist. God gave us these gifts, perhaps to go through live more easily, except when God takes them away, you do not question him for he is the Architect of all things. The only real and true possession you should care about is your internal love for God. This is the case because the poet listed the things and some of its memories, whilst in the end she had the tone as if she was trying to say "oh well" and say that as long as she still had God's love and love for God then all is well. We're not supposed to question God and his decisions, for losing our possession was God's decision.
That is the Puritan view of possessions. Sentimental value to something and caring so much about it is not supposed to happen and the only value of that object is your love for God, because he gave you those things.

Hesther's Punishment

I believe Hesther's punishment was fully justified. She broke the eternal link of marriage - and she deserved to be reprimanded. She was out of bounds and the wench deserved to be punished. Poison can only be cured with poison - and in this case, this quote holds true. In order for her to learn and rectify her negative behavior, she must be treated harshly. I believe in a very masculine approach to this situation - and retribution must be served. Albeit, some might argue that Dimmesdale also deserved some of the punishment as well - but in fact, she was offered a chance to reveal her partner-in-crime BY her partner-in-crime, yet she was defiant and didn't do it.
I took the other position in class and argued for it, but I did it just to be the devil's advocate.

Material Possessions

Material possessions are important to me. Very important. This is because the blood and sweat that I've shedded to earn the money to possess these things are considered sacrifices i've made, and losing these possessions would be indirectly sacrificing in vain. On the surface, it might seem shallow - but there's much more than that. If the item had no sentimental value to me and the value replaced, then, I wouldn't care much for the item. All I care about is the sentimental value - it helps me recollect the memories associated with that item, either positive or negative.
If my house was burned down, I wouldn't care much if it was insured - unless there was some sort of sentimental value to it. A house is replaceable, unless there was some sort of priceless object in it, but the fact is that memories cannot be replaced is what makes it valuable to me.
Material possessions to me serve as a medium to some sort of memory - and if by losing that possession would remove one path to recollect that memory, yes, it would mean a lot to me.

Puritans and Rationalists Today

People think about the world through rationalistic views, that's been carved by Puritanical views. Basically, we have rationalists thought - most of us anyway, and traces of Puritan ideas are left in its path. Work hard, and you can achieve anything. The American dream. I think because our country was founded on the ideas of freedom and from a capitalist standpoint, there was bound to be a work hard slogan in it. Puritans were lead to be hardworking was because that they'll do anything in their power to earn the favor of God even though it was already predetermined who'll go to heaven and who won't.
Or perhaps our views today are simply shaped by common sense of working hard will pay off. Rationalist ideas seems to be the most basic and logical, while Puritanical seems to be complicated and subjective.