Hawthorne and hypocrisy

by dawg 12 Replies latest jw friends

  • dawg
    dawg

    I remember reading Hawthorne on my front proch as a young lad, the images he painted with words remeinded me of the Witnesses.... Not only his more popular stuff but his short stories, like "Young Goodman Brown" and the like. I remember one of the last passages in that story where it spoke of small graves dug silently-only the mother to witness the funeral, I think he was saying that the fornicator/adulter was hiding a pregancy rather than allow others to find out the "indescretion".

    After I graduated from UGA, I went to work for a firm in Stoughton, Mass. and I finally got to see Salam for the first time, actually touring the house of seven gables. I also went to Concord and toured the graves on "writers bluff" which included Hawthorne and many others.

    I always knew that people hadn't cahnged and Hawthorne really brought this to my attention as much of his writings focused on hypocrisy.

    DId you guys/gals have a favorite writer that made you think of similaries between the witnesses and other groups?

  • AWAKE&WATCHING
    AWAKE&WATCHING

    Not yet, I am newly awakened and self educated. I did very much enjoy your stimulating post.

    I had forgotten until recently that my brain could do all these tricky things like

    think and reason on more than one opinion.

  • changeling
    changeling

    I love Hawthorne too. "The Scarlet Letter" certainly reminds one of the WT.

  • AWAKE&WATCHING
    AWAKE&WATCHING

    Yeah - I thought the idea of wearing the red A for apostate was a good one.

  • dawg
    dawg

    Good idea A&W, we could wear an A just like Hester Prynne

  • AWAKE&WATCHING
    AWAKE&WATCHING

    Thanks Dawg but I can't take credit ( how do you spell plaguerism?). I think someone posted that on the "secret handshake" thread.

  • Mum
    Mum

    Good observations, dawg.

    George Orwell's 1984 is about a society just like the Watchtower. I learned this when someone brought me a copy of Gary Botting's book The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses.

    If you haven't read it, I recommend it. You will see the people you know from the borg on every page.

    Regards,

    SandraC

  • parakeet
    parakeet

    "DId you guys/gals have a favorite writer that made you think of similaries between the witnesses and other groups?"



  • dawg
    dawg

    I've read both those Mum, they're great.

    Parakeet, I'll have to chack that out. never heard of it.

  • jaguarbass
    jaguarbass

    George Orwell, Animal farm. The governing body were the pigs.

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