S.L. chp. 1

#6

"A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded"

 The description of this group of people is depressing. Very subtly Hawthorn has described a scene of poor people revolting against society. They do so in order to escape a forced religion and suffer greatly, but they succeed. They arrived at what was to be America and were eventually separated into lower and upper class due to the cost of living in an untamed country. Hawthorn has just described poverty in a new town which tells us that the these are hard times for the Puritans but the upper class is sitting quite high and mighty. Since they're puritan though everyone is friendly to each other and there is no conflict between the two. That's where the sinners come in.

S.L. chp. 1

#5
Nature vs Society

So the Puritans are afraid of the woods. Trees were and are still a very large part of this planets natural habitat. Would they of ever thought they were living in a world of sin?

Puritans believe that Satan lives in the woods so they obviously are, at this time, pro society. Hester is compared to a rose in the first two chapters by her red letter A and the rose by the prison door. She is obviously a symbol of nature and the same with Pearl. In a way nature is placed in a rebellious view by the Puritans through Hester and the establishment of society. Of course there is nothing that nature can do about this, but Hester has the same problem. It may be because she's a single woman with a child, or because there is no other nearby civilizations nearby. Perhaps she wants to be around the priest or maybe Dr. Chillingsworth. What I know is that she has three options that provide opportunity. She could move to another settlment, maybe Plymouth. She could take a chance and try to be accepted by the natives. Last but not least she could go back to Europe.

Chpt. 3 S.L.

#4
The penalty thereof is death. But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Pryne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.

For some reason the Puritan colony decides  take great mercy upon Hester Pryne and give her the sentence above. This was unusual to me since the Puritan religion is strict one when it comes to the law and premarital sex. How could she get off with a mere three hours on the platform of pillory and a beautiful letter upon her dress? Perhaps its just because she's the main character, but I say otherwise! My first belief was that it was because of the circumstances that she had lost her husband. They wouldn't of known if he had died in a shipwreck while on the long voyage across the Atlantic or if he had just stayed in England and ditched Hester. My other idea was that since she has this demonic baby and since the Puritans don't actually know how the baby will actually turn out they might of just said "lets see how things will turn out and leave the mother in charge until we know for sure."

Or Pearl she is pursuing the sunlight because she is a budding flower.

Chp.7 S.L.

#3

"NO, my little Pearl!" "Though must gather thine own sunshine. I have non to give thee!"

This directly relates to Nature vs society and the idea that Hester is a crimson rose while Pearl is still a budding flower. Since Pearl is a young flower what she needs in order to grow is sunlight. Another view on this situation is what the sunlight was shining on. Since the light is on the front of the large bright house, she may be drawn towards possibly being in a new home or the idea of power and money. Why power and money? Because that's what buys big houses and everybody wants what they can or don't have.

Or power and money is wrong. Perhaps Pearl wants what comes before a house. Maybe a stable life with a father or what is to come later which would be a husband.

Vocab 3

Anathem-N.

something or someone that one vehemently dislikes.

 The old man was an anathem on oak street.

Emolument-N.
a salary, fee, or profit from employment or office.

Mountebank-N.

a person who deceives others, esp. in order to trick them out of their money; a charlatan.

Deleterious-ADj.
Harmful or injurious to health

Misanthropy-N.
 The general hatred/disgust for the human race.

Indefatigable-ADj.
Persisting tirelessly

Constrained-Vb.
severely restrict the scope, extent, or activity of

Amenable-Adj.
(of a person) open and responsive to suggestion; easily persuaded or controlled

Averred-Vb.
state or assert to be the case.

Heterodox-Adj.
not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.

chp 5 S.L.

#2
"Then, she was supported by an unnatural tension of the nerves, and by all the combative energy of her character, which enabled her to convert the scene into a kind of lurid triumph."

This statement reminds of the thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Simply because she is following her personal beliefs. Hester believes that she has succeeded when she leaves the prison. This is great for her self esteem and impressive for someone just getting out from behind bars. She uses this sense of success and wields it through her needle by making clothes for the poor people of Boston.

chp 1 S.L.

#1
Nature vs Society.

The scene of the prison door is very contradictory.The prison is a symbol of precaution in the new Puritan city of early Boston. Pretty much before anything else was built, the graveyard and prison were the first to be constructed. I say it's a symbol of precaution because Puritans held very strict rules and publicly humiliated anyone that disobeyed. The rosebush has been conveniently planted next to the prison door. Actually they say it's been there since before the prison was built. This is I guess a symbol of compassion for all prisoners that are entering the prison.