The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
250 pages

Summary: Direct from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/The-Scarlet-Letter-Nathaniel-Hawthorne/dp/1500759120)

When Hester Prynne bears an illegitimate child she is introduced to the ugliness, complexity, and ultimately the strength of the human spirit. Though set in Puritan community centuries ago, the moral dilemmas of personal responsibility, and consuming emotions of guilt, anger, loyalty and revenge are timeless.

My Opinion:
Old books, ones from before the past 50 years, are wild, especially books set in Puritan society. Puritans were not as pure and close to god as they thought. They were some of the most hypocritical people i have ever heard about. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is wild from start to finish. I can see why it is called a classic but many chapters were just a chore to read. This might be because it was a book i had to read for school. I liked Hester and how she grew more knowledgeable during her seclusion time. She became a nihilistic feminist.  Pearl was a joy, as well due to her shady comments and actions. Hester's belief that Pearl was the devil reminded me of the Poltergeist and the possessed children. Chillingworth was everyone's least favorite character. He was so unnecessary. He could have just gone somewhere else and lived a better life without Hester and the crazy Puritans.  He could have returned to England. I firmly believe Dimmesdale is a damsel-in-distress. He basically did nothing but whine about his guilt and let it consume him. The whole book wouldn't have happened if Hester had just left the town and started over. Honestly, the book was just crazy. I enjoyed certain parts and dragged through others. My enjoyment waxed and waned on how much homework (essays, response logs, and rhetorical analysis) I had to do on the book. You can read it if you want. It is something that you can join a club saying you have read it. Happy old American romanticism literary  period book reading!



P.s. Puritans suck
P.p.s. Puritans believed in a pure Church of England with strict, laws and doctrine. They were also followers of the simple life. They were the people around who condoned the Salem Witch Trials.  Truly crazy people that several writers feel it is necessary to dedicate books to. Blegh
P.P.S Please leave a comment below.
P.P.S There is a modern movie adaptation of the book called Easy A. I haven't watched it, but I heard it was good.