Monday, February 17, 2014

Sinners in the hands of an angry God (Questions)


  1. Edwards hopes were to inform the congregation on his beliefs with the Lord. This sermon was written in a time where the men and women were very conservative in their beliefs and how they acted.
  2. By natural men Edward's means people that believe in God yet still sinned.
  3. To abate is to fix or stop his anger.
  4. He uses this technique so his audience can grasp the contents and so they know the relation between all 3 clauses. 
  5. The purpose of the appositive clause is to elaborate on the subject of that passage. Another appositive in this sermon is, "The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose."
  6. The use of this repetition causes people to believe the several consequences and not ignore them.
  7. Edwards might of connected all of the independent clauses with semicolons so that the congregation would grasp the fact that all of these statements are connected with the thought that the world is not willing to do these basic daily procedures for you.
  8. Edward develops this simile after he talks about the great wrath God has holding over you. He talks about his wrath being like a ton of water being held back by him and at any moment he could let it go and all at once rush towards you. This image is very powerful, I have never had a ton of water rush towards me but i can suspect that it isn't pleasant. I think that he uses this image to scare his congregation into rethinking their choices so that they live a more Godly life. 
  9. The next 3 paragraphs consist of a lot of dark, frightening images. These images progress untill its to the point where he is calling you the sinner and telling you that there is no hope and god will show no mercy on you. 
  10. The author, Edwards, want the audience to feel grief and pain. His words help him show the congregation his thoughts and beliefs on how God feels and everything he is capable of.
  11. Edwards tone throughout this whole sermon is strong and almost scary. He talks a lot about Gods wrath being like a dark cloud or a ton of water that he can let go of a any moment. His tone does get stronger throughout this sermon. Especially when he starts talking about the black pit and bottomless gulf.
  12. In most of this sermon he has a great image of Gods wrath and that is something that is best expressed through the tone of your voice and emphasizing certain word that help create this image he wants the people to see. However, in other text reading it might help you grasp the thought of all the bad things you did to make God want to cast this wrath upon you. 
  13. I can argue that his sermon is both persuasive and effective when it comes to the congregation become more in touch with the lord and want to live a more reserved God-like life. He uses fear to scare the congregation into believing his idea and this technique would work well with anyone. 
  14. I believe that the part of the sermon stated in question six,"you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell...", best supports the statement that people  screamed and fainted during the sermon. That section of the sermon is saying that the people have no hope. 
  15. This picture illustrates God holding us above a lake of fire and brimstone.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism


In the story "The Yellow Wallpaper" the author use of symbolism is prominent all throughout the story. The overall symbolism of the story is towards women rights. The family’s entire life symbolizes America during the time of the women rights movement. The narrator symbolizes the female population as it stands before the women rights movement and later shows women if they gain the same rights as men. The narrator's husband symbolizes the male population of America as he is trying to hide his wife, which is what the male population of that time was trying to do. The yellow wallpaper in the story represents the barrier between a man and his rights and a woman and her rights. It shows that if that barrier is torn down then America will go crazy and lose all of what order it has. It starts with the family’s move out to the country. It is symbolizing that there is no need to draw attention to women rights because if it gains attention then it will grow and grow to where no one has control over it anymore. In the beginning of the story the family moves out to the country, away from the city. This is illustrating the move in time towards where they are in the time period of the women rights movement. Then when the family gets to the house the narrator notices the wallpaper, or the barrier. As the story progresses the narrator, women, noticed the wallpaper, the barrier, and in the beginning is fine with this barrier. Then as the story goes on it shows how women slowly start becoming less ok with that barrier being there. Then as the story goes on it shows how women feel they are being pushed under the rug by their husbands. Then as her case gets worse it is showing how the men of America are slowly losing control because women are going crazy as they slowly break down the barrier. Then when she finally tears down the wallpaper, women finally gain rights, she goes madly insane and her husband walks in and faints, showing men have lost control. When the husband faints it is showing women have finally won the battle for women rights and have gone crazy with power and ambition causing America, the family’s whole life, to go into turmoil. In the end the author is saying that as women gain their rights they slowly go insane with the new found power that they have. In conclusion the author is showing us the journey that American takes as it transitions to a society controlled by the opinions of men to a society where women finally have a say.