Early in my life I read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Seeing it as an assignment, however, I could not fully understand how to make judgment on its subject matter, nor could I appreciate the novel. Then, required only to decide whether I like it, my answer was simple: "It was a...

SummAries Chapter 1: The Prison-Door: The first chapter in the Scarlet Letter the setting is Boston in the 17th century in front of the prison. The prison was plain colored and the surroundings were very ordinary except for the rosebush that is outside of the prison. All the Puritans dressed...

THE SCARLET LETTER The Custom House: Hawthorne says that he writes to the whole world hoping that someone will understand what he is talking about. He goes on to speak about Salem, where his relatives have lived and died since its existence. Over time Salem has become more of an instinc...

Chapter 1 The Prison Door Summary: This chapter is about the town and the prison that lay upon the soil. The black flower represents the prison. It also talks about the criminal and how nature takes pity on him. A woman named Anne Hutchson is put into Jail, I think. 1. This i...

Nineteenth century American literature is pervaded by a late Romantic current promoted by a few very original writers. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two of the most representative writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. The authors' names often appear together in cr...

A Character Analysis of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter Abstract Hester Prynne is the main protagonist and the most complicated character in The Scarlet Letter. Hester transfers her passionate nature that is strong-willed, impetuous, to a contemplative, stoic woman and thinker who speculate...

Independence is a "characteristically American" feature of the 19th century. The United States sought independence politically, economically and culturally. It took its independence in 1776 in declaring "That these United Colonies are...Free and Independent States". It made th...

Joseph K. Hart once said, "No child can escape his community...The life of the community flows about him, foul or pure; he swims in it, goes to sleep in it, and wakes to the new days to find it still about him. He belongs to it' it nourishes or starves him, or poisons him; it gives him th...

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."1 Therefore, it makes sense that if mortals cannot bear the darkness, they [should not] not go there. If man dislikes "black night and yawning chasms,"2 then...