The Scarlet Letter: The Rest a.k.a. In Conclusion, I'm Not Impressed.

Covering chapters ten to about twenty here, and I know that seems slightly excessive, but bear with me here. First off, let's get something straight here: this story ended up being pretty lame as a whole. Yeah, it has a definite beginning and end, some absolutely delightful prose, and some pretty lengthy threats of eternal damnation like every self-respecting piece of Puritan literature ought to possess, but those are pretty much its only redeeming facets.
The story is predictable by about chapter twelve. Dimmesdale is the father. Chillingworth got close to him with the hopes of exacting some peculiar revenge scheme. Pearl is confused. Hester is on the same level as Pearl literally and figuratively. It could've been a short story - or a horrible soap opera written in a play format.
Forget what I said about this covering to chapter twenty, I'm going to go ahead and rant about the whole rest of the book. Like, seriously. I actually liked Hester until the end when she agrees to Dimmesdale's plea that the three of them run off somewhere. She automatically agrees, and that made me so unbelievably angry because that crooked preacher was a total tool! (And some other things I thought better of typing aloud.) He lets Hester spend seven years being tormented by the townspeople. She's publicly humiliated, jailed, shoved out of town and forced to wear an eternal reminder of her indiscretion that puts her at odds with her daughter repeatedly throughout the story.
All Dimmesdale does is angst about it so dramatically that he drops dead.
It makes me angry because Hester's life literally turned to shambles because of their actions. However, she still protected him through everything and never gave away his identity. Even when it caused a strain in her relationship with Pearl, she wouldn't tell. Dimmesdale is so worried about his precious morals and reputation that he chooses to run away from it all rather than stand and face the controversy like Hester had to. It makes me mad because I consider it another example of how not even gender, but being a female is so frowned upon in this story and in this society.
I'm not really sure how I wanted to the story to end, but I do know that I wish Hester had some more character development like Pearl did. Her dying a creaky old adulteress seems wrong to me. Maybe if Hester had something to say to Dimmesdale that didn't pretty much translate to her fawning all over him when they met in the woods, I would have been pleased. (Not likely.) I'm literally seething over this. People say Twilight destroyed women's power, but if you ask me this book really isn't any better.
I guess a good thing that I took from reading this book was that the person in charge of making the story more modern for Easy A missed a few key points. Not that I'm complaining.
So basically, what I learned in boating school from this book is that Puritans were total sexist losers.

Scarlet Letter, Chapters 7- 9

For the record, I was absent from school today because I was born with the unfortunate affliction of being allergic to everything, and the second I opened this book, my eyes were watering from the amount of dust in it. BHS needs to take better care of their reading material.
Near-death experience aside, I read chapter seven through chapter nine. Chapter seven begins with Hester going to see the town governor because she heard that the people want to take Pearl away from her. I think this is a little ridiculous. It's been long enough that Pearl can walk and talk already, and all of a sudden the townspeople are scared that she's the Antichrist or something. Like, this isn't the first season of American Horror Story, relax.
As stated in previous entries, I really hate long descriptions of seemingly pointless things, but the way Hawthorne describes Governor Bellingham's house on page 99 was beautiful. "...it glittered and sparkled as it diamonds had been flung against it". The word choice, the way that the sentences flow together so seamlessly, the picture that appears in my mind so vividly as if it were real.
I just really love words.
The next chapter is when we actually meet the governor and his posse of old white men. Reverend Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are part of the group, though Reverend Wilson is the one to "examine" Pearl - basically, he's supposed to see if Hester has been raising her to be a good little Christian. I can almost say that this doesn't really bother me, because in such a devout Christian community, should you really expect different behavior? But think of it this way: if it were a man taking care of his born-out-of-wedlock child, would this situation be different? because I'm pretty sure it would be.
There's a little talk of witchcraft and I think some stuff about marrying the Devil but Hester doesn't seem to be down with that. Hester gets to keep Pearl, though I really don't know if it'll last long.
Chapter nine is a mini-biography on Chillingworth and how he became close friends with Dimmesdale. I don't care about him so I didn't find it very interesting and don't have much to say about it, except these people are really paranoid because they're seeing Satan everywhere and it's getting slightly ridiculous already.
Hester's part in these chapters is what interested me the most. Her interactions with the Governor and the other men reminded me of a story my sister once told me about. I've never read it myself, but it's called the Yellow Wallpaper. It's a short story about a woman who suffers from some such affliction and so her husband locks her away in a room of their home so that she can get better. With nothing better to do, the woman spends all day staring at the wallpaper in her room. As her sanity declines, she begins to think that she sees things in the pattern of the wallpaper, people that are trapped and screaming to be released. Eventually, she loses her mind and tears the wallpaper off the wall, freeing the people while her mind stays imprisoned in the four - now empty - walls.
The tale of the Yellow Wallpaper reminds me of Hester's plight because of the similarities in the story. Both are centered around women whom are trapped (or nearly so in Hester's case) by men who think that they need to control their weak, unstable women and may also be trying to destroy them. I personally kind of like Hester, so I hope that the men don't win in her story.

The Scarlet Letter, Chapters 4 - 6

Chapter Four is entitled "The Interview" and it at least caught my attention a bit more at the beginning than the first chapter did. It starts with Hester, who has returned to her jail cell, acting strangely. To me, it sounds as though she's having a panic attack or something. The jailer, Master Brackett, is worried - though I really can't figure why he cares if he thinks that she's some finagling adultress - and decides to call on a doctor. Naturally, this doctor happens to be Hester's husband, Chillingworth.
He prepares a medicine for the baby and asks Hester to administer it for him so that he doesn't startle the baby and create more cause for concern. She doesn't oblige at first. In fact, according to the book, she "repelled the offered medicine, at the same time gazing with strongly marked apprehension into his face". Hester still doesn't trust him, which I found to be ironic considering their situation. Chillingworth ends up giving the baby the draught. Hester and Chillingworth get into an argument, and she still won't reveal the name of her fellow sinner. She goes a slight step further, even, by swearing to keep it a secret.
The first thing that happens in chapter five is that Hester is released from chapter five along with some more wordy descriptions and whatnot. She moves into a house outside of town and starts an embroidery business. Her work is of high quality and it becomes popular among the townspeople. Even the Governor and ministers wear items created by her hand. I felt like this was supposed to be another representation of the people's hypocrisy and shallow nature. However, I suppose they can be credited for at least being thorough in that they would not allow chaste brides to wear Hester's handiwork. Hypocritical, but at least they saw it through.
Despite her praised work, Hester still feels like an outcast, which is rightly so, I suppose. The townspeople clearly still think rather lowly of her even though they appreciate her work. It is even mentions that clergymen stop her in the street to scold her, an action which always drew a crowd and embarrassed Hester.
The short paragraph in the middle of page 83 interested me. It says that occasionally and perhaps when she is least expecting it, she feels as though somebody is watching her, but it makes her feel strangely comfortable unlike the judgmental eyes of the townsfolk. However, the feeling passes and is replaced with an even more profound throb of pain when it does. Is this foreshadowing?
I can't remember if we already knew that the baby's name is Pearl, but chapter six immediately lets us know that it is anyway. Actually, chapter six is pretty much solely about Pearl. We learn everything from her name origin, ("she was purchased at a great price") to her beauty and strong sense of passion even at her young age. Like her mother, Pearl is outcasted by the local children, who seem to be aware that something is off about their little family even if they don't know what it is. The chapter ends with Pearl asking her mother about the scarlet letter that she is always wearing, but, to my understanding, Hester is unable to give an actual answer.

The Scarlet Letter, Chapter(s) 1 - 4 (pgs. 45 - 67)

What a terribly flat start to a story. It's been a long time since I've read something so dry and pointlessly descriptive, something so stockpiled with long words for no reason that describe the most minute details of something that holds no significance to the story apart from being a background item. I'm honestly impressed by how unimpressed I am. Seriously.
Anyway, that's not the point of this.
The story starts with a horde of gossiping townspeople waiting outside the local jail. We don't know what has them so riled up until Mistress Hester Prynne is presented. This, by the way, doesn't even happen until the page and a half of fluffed up setting that was chapter one is over and then a good page or two of the second chapter has passed.
Hester emerges from the prison holding an infant. She also sports an ornate letter "A", which is rather obviously colored scarlet and stitched onto her dress with shining gold thread. The townspeople gossip some more as she steps out onto a platform so that she can be publicly condemned, as if the fact that she was both a sinner and a social pariah weren't already obvious. Though, this course of action does make sense when the setting is taken into account. It's Puritan times; everything is to be done right and religiously or not at all.
The reader does learn a bit about Hester as these proceedings take place. Hester regards her situation with palpable unhappiness, but manages to keep relatively calm. However, she does manage to hold onto her baby a little too tight, inciting an aggravated cry from the infant.
In chapter three, we learn about Hester's husband. In fact, she spots him in the crowd of onlookers, though she does not point him out as per his silent request. He asks a fellow spectator about Hester and gets the story as the reader does. Hester's husband was a scholarly Englishman. The couple decided to move to Boston, but he sent his young wife ahead of him to their new home. This probably happened some time ago considering the situation. When the husband inquires as to who the baby's father is, it is revealed that nobody knows as Hester refuses to tell.
The young Reverend Dimmesdale steps in, addressing Hester with a demand. He wants her to reveal the identity of the baby's father, her fellow sinner. But she refuses to tell which is an action that seems to already be common and not totally unexpected by her peers. After Dimmesdale is done, another pastor - Reverend Wilson - gives a long sermon on the topic of sin. He refers to Hester's letter "A" multiple times. When he's finished, Hester and her baby disappear back into the prison. This concludes chapter three.
I'm not particularly excited to continue reading the story even though I will. Hawthorne isn't the best storyteller, but the entire concept of his story is interesting. Adultery is not an uncommon part of modern literature, but it's one that is rarely focused upon in the way that it is in this story.

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