Girl's Suicide Puts Focus on Rape in Northern India

Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

     Earlier this month a sixteen year old girl in India got raped while she was walking in the streets alone. Soon after she got raped, she committed suicide, probably because of fear and shame. In India if a girl her age gets raped instead the girl's family helping her, they beat them up.
     This incident caused the government of India to focus more on this problem. The rate of girls getting raped in India has increased by 870% since 1971. Every year there are about 20,000 total rapes that happen in India. Now the government has found out a way to try to decrease this enormous number. India already has a tradition of marrying their children at a young age. Now, the government is giving incentives for families who marry their children at a young age. This will motivate people to marry their children early, because most of the citizens of India desperately need the money that the government is offering. By doing this, the government thinks that rape cases will decrease. 40% of the world's child marriages are in India and by enforcing this new law that number will increase which makes the case worse. Child marriages are hard to maintain and will not decrease the number of rape in a highly populated country like India.

Scarlet Letter

Who is at Fault?

     At the beginning of the story Reverend Dimmesdale seems to be at fault for committing adultery with a married woman. Even at the end he is guilty for what he had done. In the first place he had no right to sleep with a married woman when he already knew that she was married. If he had not done that, none of these tragic events would have ever occurred. That one act caused the death of two people including himself, the suffering of Hester, and the rough childhood for innocent Pearl who had nothing to do with any of this. That is why I feel more sympathetic for Roger Chillingworth. Hester and Dimmesdale took advantage that Roger was gone and that is why Dimmesdale is at fault. Even though Chillingworth punished Dimmesdale by tormenting him frequently, he still deserved it. The "A" on his chest was another punishment, but he committed a sin voluntarily knowing that it was a sin. 

     All of the events that unfolded as the story went on affected Chillingworth negatively as well. He was coming back to her wife to live a normal life, but little did he know what was awaiting him back in Boston. Because of Dimmesdale, he had to live the rest of his life seeking revenge which took a great toll on his health, and eventually he died.

Scarlet Letter Important Quote

"Who is that man, Hester?" gasped Mr. Dimmesdale, overcome with terror. "I shiver at him! Dost thou know the man? I hate him, Hester!" She remembered the oath and was silent. (107)

     This quote was said by Reverend Dimmesdale to Hester Prynne. He said this while him, Hester, and Pearl were standing on the scaffold all together. This scene was very important because the father, mother and child were all standing by each other as a "family". However, what makes this scene more significant in the novel is when Dimmesdale says the quote above referring to Roger Chillingworth. When he sees Chillingworth from far away he frantically asks Hester if she knows who the man is. From this scene, it can be understood that Dimmesdale is living with fear that eventually his actual identity as Pearl's father is going to be uncovered. Also, when he realizes that the man coming towards them is Chillingworth, he expresses his fear and hatred towards him.
     The last sentence of this quote is also very important in the novel. When Dimmesdale asks Hester who the man is twice Hester keeps her mouth shut. She remembers the day her husband came back to town and told her to keep his true identity a secret. This shows what kind of character Hester Prynne has. Even though she cheated on her husband, she still keeps the one secret that she was told to keep to herself.

Turkey Says it Has No Intention For War With Syria

Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times

     As everyone already knows, there is massive violence happening in Syria for over a year and a half now. However, just a few weeks ago Turkey, which shares a border on Syria's northwestern side started aiding the rebels with weaponry. Last week, Turkish artillery sent strikes on Syrian territory killing multiple people and injuring even more. From these events one might think that Turkey has intentions for waging war against Syria. 
     "We have no intention for a war", said Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan. According to Turkish officials the reason for their artillery strikes were in response to a strike from Syrian territory that killed five people. The U.N. and NATO both had meetings specifically for this incident in order to maintain a low level of violence between the two countries. The Middle East is already on the brink of international war and this incident can start one between Turkey and Syria, even though Turkey claims on having no intentions of war. If a war breaks out between Turkey and Syria, America will most probably have a part in the war since they are allies with Turkey.

The Scarlet Letter

                                                         The Scarlet Letter  Ending

     At the end of the book I think Pearl will not be in the hands of her mother anymore. Other than just that, Hester's husband will most probably get revenge on her in some way. I think these two events will occur because of what is happening now in the story.
     Pearl will not be with Hester anymore because the people think that she is a demon and that is dangerous for Hester Prynne. Once they find out that Pearl is just a normal child, they will still take her away from her mother with the excuse of Hester not being a responsible parent, because of her prior actions. Regardless of Pearl being a demon or not, she will be taken away from the only person she has a connection to.
     By the end of the story I think Hester's husband will punish her for her unfaithfulness towards him. However, this punishment will be long term, and not a simple murder. If Roger was going to kill her instantly, he already had the chance to poison or murder her but he did not. That is why I think Roger is keeping his feelings aside and preparing a master plan to torture Hester for the rest of her life.

Ikea's Saudi Arabia Catalog Erases Women; Company Expresses Regret

Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

     October 1, 2012 an Ikea catalog was issued in Saudi Arabia. All the content of the catalog was the same, however something huge was missing in the pictures. Any picture that had a woman in it was edited in a way where the woman was completely erased from the picture. In any other country, the Swedish catalog had the same pictures, but it included the women. Other than this incident, Saudi Arabia is known for putting women down in public. They do not think that women should be shown freely in public and that those pictures had a negative impact on the country's reputation. Women in Saudi Arabia are expected to travel or study only with a male individual with them. Also, they are not allowed to drive any vehicles in all of Saudi Arabia. 

     Coming back to the subject of the Ikea catalog, the producer was not happy with the exclusion of women from the pictures. He stated, "We should have reacted to the exclusion of women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalog since it does not align with the IKEA Group values." It is sad that during this age a country like Saudi Arabia still does not give women simple rights that they deserve.