The Scarlet Letter
Scandals. Affairs. Secrets. Sounds like the modern day reality show. However in earlier times, those weren’t things you laughed about on TV every Friday, it was life. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, explores these ideas in his book “The Scarlet Letter”, as he takes the reader on a journey through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Hi, I am Annie Arnold, and I am here to tell you about “The Scarlet Letter.”It is a book that explores guilt, revenge, and redemption. Hawthorne mixes supernatural components and historical elements in his book about a woman’s punishment for adultery. ln the book, Hester Prynne is put on trial for refusing to name the father of her three month old daughter, Pearl, and is labelled as a sinner. Her punishment is to wear a scarlet A on her chest for the rest of her life. However chaos erupts when Hester’s former husband, Roger Chillingworth, arrives at Boston and dedicates himself to finding Hester’s secret lover and getting revenge. All the while, Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister that can move people with only a few words, is getting sicker and sicker with an unknown ailment. This book will leave you up all night turning pages as a family reunites whilst being torn apart. You should read this book if you are familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work or if you enjoy early American literature and historical fiction.