The Scarlet Letter Chapters 1-6 Response Journal Chapter one The Prison Door sets the mood of the novel. It describes how the founders of the Puritan colony knew there would be crime so they built a prison. It can be inferred that the mood is cruel because of how everything in the jail is described. “The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else on the world” (Hawthorne, 41).
Hayley Babbitt Period 2 Mr. Nelson 9/22/2015 AP Lang Scarlet Letter discussion questions Custom House Notes: -written just after he was fired from the Salem Custom House in 1849. -original manuscript of The Scarlet Letter is lost, and house printing style was imposed on the 1850 edition, so that version varies occasionally from Hawthorne 's spelling, capitalization, and word division in manuscripts of the same time period. -"Custom-House " sketch is a blend of fact and fantasy. In it Hawthorne does refer to real people, places, and events in Salem, and he also uses this first chapter to introduce the fictional Hester Prynne who wears the scarlet letter that the narrator finds in the Custom House attic.
To begin, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes pathos throughout his writing to imprint the importance of individual conscience into the reader 's mind. Hawthorne begins the book by having the reader pity the main character, Hester Prynne, as she is a young, husbandless, mother in a society that shames her for her unfortunate circumstances: “haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung in the street for them all to spurn and trample upon” (Hawthorne, 53). The consistent misfortune of Prynne evokes emotion in the reader and stresses the weight of her decisions. Prynne manages her way through such a hostile society -“Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly on your bosom” (Hawthorne, 188)- in a way that is metaphorically applicable to the real world, allowing the reader to truly connect and understand the character for who they are.
“The scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it.” (120) Hawthorne’s description of the distorted scarlet letter illustrates the townspeople’s prejudiced view of
Hawthorne’s writing style provides readers with a more vivid and colorful reading experience that hopefully pushes them to be more engaged in what they are reading. In having to decode the majority of the novel, it leaves a mysterious and open effect on the entire book. With all this in mind, it is important to recognize Hawthorne’s subtle use of literal devices like alliteration such as “married, happy, and mindful of her mother” (Hawthorne, 360) in his writing. Slight additions such as this spice up his typically repetitive language and peak interest on readers by keeping them on their toes. In having all the skills to represent the darkness and beauty in life in remarkable ways, Hawthorne uses syntax in The Scarlet Letter to improve and enhance the overall quality of his
Sprinkled Snickerdoodlepastasauce Scarlet Letter Essay Throughout the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne shifts from a disapproving tone in the beginning of the passage to a more hopeful tone near the end of the excerpt. During the initial parts of the text, Hawthorne utilizes Anglo-Saxon diction in order to convey a disapproving tone towards the Puritan Society. The author begins the text by immediately portraying the townsfolk as wearing “sad colored garments,” and “some [women] wearing hoods.”
Cassandra Abbarno Mrs. Melissa Lyons AP Lit 29 October 2015 The Scarlet Letter RRJ Chapters 11-13 In chapters 11-13 of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne focuses on just a few of the many motifs involved in the novel. The Day/Night motif as well as the Evocative names play an important role in the part of the book. If we recall just chapter 12 alone, “The Minister's Vigil”, we see Day vs Night play out in front of us.
What does it mean to be a Negro in America? Why did racial disorder unfold in urban cities throughout the United States during the height of the Civil Rights Movement? What are the push and pull factors prompting African-Americans to fight for political equality and civil rights amid rising racial tensions in 1963? James Baldwin’s searing prose in The Fire Next Time (1963) offers critical insight into the state of white racism and the height of black unrest in 1960s America.
However, he also uses these allusions to create a new side to his narrative as evident when he describes Hester’s resilience, and to create a new element in the plot as evident in his description of Dimmesdale’s penance and need for redemption. Therefore, Hawthorne demonstrates an effective use of allusions to craft a religious and detailed narrative for The Scarlet Letter by reviewing on parallels between the Bible and the novel’s main characters. There’s more to The Scarlet Letter than these allusions though, and there are many questions to answer about this book. These questions may never be answered fully, but by reading the novel itself, we might find the right places to start searching for answers and formulate our own opinions on the matter. What’s important from this novel is the realistic warning about what might happens when an individual place themselves too highly among others, a message Hawthorne writes to warn against the fervor of transcendentalism of his time.
In the first paragraph, he begins by talking about men with “sad-colored garments”. This sets a gloomy tone because the word “sad” is blatantly used to describe the characters. Later on in the paragraph, Hawthorne begins to describe the prison door. He says that the door consists of
In the second chapter of The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the narrator employs a critical yet interested attitude toward the Puritans. This, combined with imagery and diction, has enabled the narrator to effectively describe the practices and beliefs of a traditional Puritan society. In the first part of this passage, one can see the use of imagery is very prominent. By describing the community gathered around with “their eyes intently fastened” on the prison door, the reader can infer that the narrator takes an interest in the doings of the Puritans in Boston. This is probably because the author was born in Salem, a major Puritan settlement in the early 1600s.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne used many different elements in his book to send many different messages to the reader. One of these elements that is very important is the setting in which certain scenes of the book take place. He used settings in the book for many different things such as showing different sides of characters, or trying to prove his theme about the book, that we, society, are all sinners, but while the rest society brings out the sin in us, nature bring out the beauty in all of us and forgives us too. First, in chapter 2, when Hester Prynne walks out of the prison for the first time, she is described as the exact opposite of the jail.
In “The Scarlet Letter” he depicts it as an oppressive 17th – century Puritan society. “The style of Puritanism that Hawthorne presents is drab and gloomy, preoccupied with judgment and punishment, unrelenting and dogmatic,”1 writes Deborah L. Madsen in her book, “American Exceptionalism.” Hester Prynne, the main character accused of adultery, is persecuted by Boston community. Not only adults despise her, but also children who, blinded by the decayed values and norms, humiliate her and her child, Pearl. The character of Hester symbolizes the fight against Puritan enslavement, the need to modernize the prevailing norms that cause nothing but harm to American society.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne explores recurring themes of suffering surrounding the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale both commit adultery with each other, and, as a result of this, both experience gruesome and occasionally unbearable forms of suffering. Though they undergo different forms of pain, both of their experiences are highly reliant on how the Puritan society treats them. Hester 's pain stems from the shame and estrangement she receives from the community, while Dimmesdale’s is due to the reverence with which the community regards him. Although, in spite of the fact that both Hester and Dimmesdale receive harsh penalty for their sin, by the end of the book, Hawthorne shows how their suffering is, in fact, the key to their salvation.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne effectively conforms to the conventions of the gothic genre for the purpose of characterizing the Puritan society as oppressive, portraying the hypocrisy found within the society and highlighting the consequences for not confessing
