Who has not heard of the legendary story of Hester and her scarlet letter? I am even sure some of you reading this blog have seen the movie “Easy A,” a modern day tale of high school troubles centered around the classic, and banned book “The Scarlet Letter.”
“The Scarlet Letter” was written in the 1840s and was published in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804, and split his boyhood between his birthplace and Maine near Sebago Lake. Hawthorne's first American relative, William, had been involved with religious persecution. Another of Hawthorne's ancestors, John Hathorne (Nathaniel added the 'w' to his name) was one of the three judges who sentenced people in the infamous Salem witch trials. He attended Bowdoin College, along with his classmates; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Franklin Pierce. Hawthorne's health failed him in the twilight of his life and died on May 19, 1864 in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
“The Scarlet Letter” was banned in several communities because of its sexual material, and in one case because it was “pornographic and obscene.” And for the time the novel was written in- I can see why many people challenged it. If you hold it up to modern day literature, there are far more scandalous writings out there that have not been challenged or banned, so then I pose you this question, why is “The Scarlet Letter,” a true classic and work of art in the literary world, still banned and challenged when there is far worse, in my opinion, out there?
“The Scarlet Letter” is a tale woven with immaculate tact and skill tells the tragic story of Hester Prynne, who has an affair and ends up giving birth to an illegitimate child whom she names Pearl. The novel is narrated by a third party, a customhouse surveyor who finds the record of Hestor two hundred years after the fact. If I am going to be totally honest with you (and I am) I found this book hard to get into. Perhaps it is because I had just finished reading “Slaughterhouse- Five,” or maybe the novel demands more attention. But around the fourth or fifth chapter I was fully engaged and ensnared in Hawthorne's writing. The tone of the book can be, at times, bitter and judgmental- but there are also points where the writing takes on a more compassionate tone and that is where the reader is able to fully sink into the twisted tale of “The Scarlet Letter.” Overall I am very happy to have read the infamous “The Scarlet Letter” and recommend it to everyone who enjoys a book they can sink their teeth into.
A thought for the evening:
Running is one form of escape. Reading a book is another.
- BookBender
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