Hi everyone! Well it has really been a while. In my defense, I have been busy what with homework. But that's all behind me because now it's summer!!! No more school work. Just kidding, like I could get that lucky. Apparently, the summer assignments for my classes are MASSIVE, but at least there are a lot of books on the summer lists. Better for blogging right? But as kind of a flashback, I am doing a book that I read in AP Language last year, called "The Scarlet Letter". Maybe you've heard of it (wink wink). Apparently it's an "American Classic" and let's just say I do not share that opinion. I digress! Let's start at the beginning shall we?
Characters: Hester Prynne: bearer of the "Scarlet Letter"/ mother of Pearl/ is ostracized by the Puritan society that she lives in
Arthur Dimmesdale: minister of the Puritan church/ is much loved by the community/ is the father of Pearl
Roger Chillingworth: Hester's husband/ is much older than Hester/ aims to enact his revenge on whomever is Pearl's father
The Plot: In the rigorous Puritan society of New England, Hester Prynne has committed the most serious of offenses. An adulterer, she is now forced to wear a red "A" for the rest of her days and is henceforth shunned from Puritain society. Hester is told that her punishment will be easier if she speaks the name of her conspirator, but she refuses to give up the identity of her lover. Her lover, is none other than the beloved minister Arthur Dimmesdale who has become consumed by guilt over his and Hester's actions. As Hester is ostracized, Dimmesdale seeks solace in his friend and doctor Roger Chillingworth. However, Chillingworth is no friend of Dimmesdale's: Chillingworth is really Hester's husband and he looks to enact his revenge upon Dimmesdale. In a "thrilling" tale about the true meaning of sin, Hester struggles to find her place in a world that constantly works to reduce her to nothing.
What I didn't like: I know that I usually start off with "What I liked" but honestly, I cannot exactly stomach it at this point. If you notice, I put "thrilling" in quotes when I was talking about the plot of Hawthorne's "classic". Personally, I found "The Scarlet Letter" to be one of the most awful books I've read. I honestly hated it. Now let me clarify what I am about to say here. I do not hate historical fiction. I actually love it. I do not hate Old English. I actually love it, particularly when it is written as beautifully as Shakespeare. I do not hate colonial history. I just hated "The Scarlett Letter". First, there were only three characters, and this god-awful book was about two hundred pages long. Yes, there were other side characters but the book mainly revolved around the interaction between Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth. I suppose you could consider Pearl, the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, a "character", but I have not-for reasons I'll explain in a minute. I felt like the story was grossly stretched out and in places unnecessarily long. Every scene that Hawthorne wrote was loaded with so much symbolism and hidden meanings that I was overwhelmed and did not really see what was important. There were some constant, all encompassing themes, such as the concept of sin, but I was so sick of them because there were no other characters. There should be supporting characters and subplots in any book, like in "The Kite Runner." In "The Kite Runner", there were many other side stories beside the central struggle that Amir goes through. There was the interaction between Amir and his father, Amir's adaptation to his new life in America, and Amir's interaction with his wife. Hawthorne had no side stories, nothing to provide a break from what I thought was a dull rambling story to begin with. I also did not really understand some of the characters actions, in particular Hester. She did not strike me as a particularly strong heroine. She, granted, took her punishment well and bravely, but I felt like her interaction with Pearl was strange. She spent most of her time wondering if Pearl was a fairy. This is why I did not really count Pearl as a character. She seemed, to everyone in the story and to me as well, as sort of...off. She was used by Hawthorne to portray that the innocence of children lets them perceive the truth of matters, rather than what they are told to see. Fine. I like that, I understand that idea. But why did Pearl have to keep being portrayed as this monster or fairy by Hester? I felt like Pearl as a character was very flat. Either she was a fairy or an all-seeing child who clearly understood complex matters. I was not a fan of that idea. Also, Dimmesdale is the weakest fatherly character that Hawthorne could have possibly come up with. I was actually cheering for Chillingworth to kill him off. But that doesn't make me dislike Hawthorne as a writer, Dimmesdale served a particular literary purpose, I think to serve as a foil for Hester. They are totally opposite, as Dimmesdale is weak and afraid and Hester is strong and brave. But what I did not enjoy about "The Scarlet Letter" was the structuring of the language. Here I am not talking about complexity: I love Shakespeare and old texts like "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. (By the way, "A Modest Proposal" is an absolutely hilarious piece about what the Irish should do to save their country. One of my favorite pieces). But to me, Hawthorne's language did not have this beauty. It was stuffy, and over worked; I felt like there was too much going on. Honestly, by the end I was just sick of the entire novel. The constant discussing about "sin" and "fate" honestly made my head hurt. I was quite ready for the book to be over.
What I liked: This will be pretty short. But in all honesty, even though the characters drove me nuts, I loved how they were very well developed. Besides Pearl, I thought the struggles that Hester and Dimmesdale went through and their own emotional spectrum was very real and believeable. I felt like these were real people, not caricatures of Puritan society.
Overall: 3 out of 10, glad the book is over with. Nathanial Hawthorne, I was sadly disappointed.
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