Difficulty Paper #1

When I first started reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I must have read about 30 pages before I had to stop, realize that I had no idea what I had just read, and that I had just skimmed over the words with my eyes whilst thinking about everything I needed to do that day. Once I had this frustrating realization, I went back to the beginning, and started over with a brighter light and some coffee in my stomach. The old English is very difficult for me to get hooked with more so than the actual understanding of it. Just because one could understand something does not mean that they soak it up. In reading about the setting of this book I came to remind myself of how much I loathe the Puritan culture and moral ways. All I see is CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL the masses. They bring shame and guilt to every day life, for an individual living in fear and embarrassment will always find ways to either cover it up or make it what is socially known as "better." In this novel, Hester carries her shame of her sin with her everywhere she walks with the "A" being sewn on to her. It has happened all throughout history where a woman has to be married to someone she does not love because of financial and/or status situations. When one is married to another whom they do not love, they are bound to find passion with someone else eventually. Hester just so happened to get pregnant and show proof of this fairly regular happening in history. I find it very interesting and refreshing that Hester chose a very unique route for her time by staying in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with the label she had when she had just as much of a choice to leave and not have to deal with people judging her and treating her differently. An even more surprising situation was the fact that Dimmesdale did not understand this idea of letting go of society's standards and judgments, and he is a man, but Hester, a woman, could create it for herself. Dimmesdale could not fathom the idea that it is important for one to master his own identity instead of letting a townspeople determine it for you. Hester was very intent on taking her sin that she made, and incorporating it into the person she is today. Although it made it easier on her to be outside of town, in the woods to have a bit of peace, it was still her job to separate herself from societal pressures. I like that the symbol "A" changes in the book from "Adultery" to "Able" because she was finally able to come to her own terms of what identity was, instead of a community's idea of her identity.