Poor, Poor Dimmsdale

So, Dimmsdale dies! What the heck! I was a little surprised that his life ended so abruptly! I kind of wish that Dimmsdale didn't die because he finally admitted to his secret and I just don't think that thats a good example of somebody telling the truth. I think that people with be deterred from telling the truth because of that. On that situation would be a really good thing to just kind of make people look at it and use it as an example to not committ sins.

The ending

I was satisfied with the way the book ended in that it was neither a sad or happy ending. Sure, it was sad in that both Hester and Dimmesdale died but it was also happy and peaceful in the way that they were buried next to each other. I am a little disappointed though that this book once again ended with death. It has been a long time since I have read a story in English class that someone did not die in the end. I believe there are many other ways to end a story.

The ending of the book surprised me! I thought maybe that Hester, Pearl and Dimmsdale would really leave and live a new life. I thought that it was really cool that Pearl finally was able to kiss Dimmsdale as i feel like she knew all along that he should of confessed. But what really happens to Pearl? Where does she end up after her mother returns?

why did dimmsdale die?

im a little confused as to why dimmsdale died in the end of the book. maybe i just cant read or skipped over that part or something, but when i read it it was just like "oh look im the man who hester had sex with" and then "oh look im dead"
im a little confused.

Semi-Un-Related

these philosophical questions on the sheet we have to do
are reminiscent of the part in donnie darko
where he has to decide if the person returning the wallet and not the money
was fear or love?
yeah, these questions reminded me of that.

ANTI-RELIGIOUS RANT

the end of the book bothered me so much
and many of the characters' religious motives more so
that i will probably enter the internet-yelling world
of CAPITAL LETTERS at some point here.
so.
A) chillingworth keeps being a JERK right up to the end.
he freaking GRABS dimmesdale and tries to stop him going up on the scaffold.
B) dimmesdale still feels the need to admit and do his penance, i can deal with that.
but he freaking KILLS himself to do so, whereas he was going to run away with hester and pearl.
C) the whole deal where in the beginning, hester and dimmesdale are at least somewhat in love, have sex, and hester has a baby. because a few words in the presence of a minister were not spoken, the whole marriage thing, hester is shunned from polite society forever, pretty much, and she would have been killed, except that she had a baby. also, dimmesdale suffers internally for seven years. and both hester and dimmesdale feel that because they did something they wanted to do, they must suffer, and they are happy to do so! well, not happy, happy would be bad, but they do nothing to alleviate any of their sufferings. thank you puritan religion for making people feel like crap.
D) the only good thing to come out the the whole beginning of the book was pearl, a free-spirited child, the only person who really always did what she wanted. and at the end of the book, it is heavily implied that her free-spiritedness was only god punishing hester and dimmesdale, and now that they're punished enough, she can be a normal boring person!
our page 175: "...as her tears fell upon her father's cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it."
that bothered me the most.
but, in summation, everyone claimed to pretty much have religious (granted, puritan) motivation for their actions, especially the ones that made them or other people feel miserable. any time anyone did something fun or exciting, it was either a sin or a demon-infested child.
what the hell.

Don't read this if you haven't finished the book!

I really like the ending. I knew that Chillingworth was going to try and mess things up for the minister and Hester at some point before the end of the book, but I was really happy that Dimmesdale decided to confess to everyone and stand with Hester and Pearl and I think that it made Pearl respect him more, in a way. I really liked how Chillingworth died later that year and made Pearl very rich but I wasn't quite clear on how Hester ended up. It sounded like she traveled with her daughter for awhile but then went back to Boston to live in her cottage by herself. Anyone got a clearer explination? Anyway I still think that everyone was better off with Chillingworth dead because he just wasn't a happy camper.