1. Dylan Smith Pd. C-D

2. A short biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He attended Bowdoin college in Brunswick, Maine with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future president Franklin Pierce whom he wrote a biography about in 1852. Hawthorne was an avid reader and writer of short stories and had his first novel anonymously published in 1828 called “Fanshawe.” He married on July 9, 1842 and would later have three children one of which, Julian Hawthorne, would follow in his footsteps of becoming a writer. Julian later wrote a review of “The Scarlett Letter” saying, “It has the charm of unconsciousness; the author did not realize while he worked, that this "most prolix among tales" was alive with the miraculous vitality of genius.” Herman Melville dedicated his novel “Moby Dick” in 1851 to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s literary style is know as dark romanticism due to the fates of the romantic lovers he writes about. A large portion of Nathaniel’s work is based on New England during its puritan era. Some of the Novels that fall into this category are: The Scarlett Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun. Suffering from stomach pains and ill health Hawthorne still insisted to go on a trip with his good friend Franklin Pierce. While on this trip Nathaniel Hawthorne died in his sleep on May 19, 1864 and left some of his romances unfinished. They could have been the best of their time.

3. Theme After reading the novel “The Scarlet Letter” I believe there are many themes to this novel. The one theme that catches my eye the most is that once you create a bad reputation for yourself it is very hard to remove it and one should embrace their past. Hester does not try to remove her reputation but instead embraces her punishment and the crime she committed. When Hester is assigned to wear the scarlet letter she makes it unique by creating a very magnificent looking “A” to stitch to her clothes. She could of took the easy way out and left the town of Boston to pursue a life elsewhere but she does not to do this because she doesn’t want society to have power over her. She believes if she denied to wear the scarlet letter then she would be denying a part of herself. At one point in the novel the clergymen of the town consider letting Hester remove the scarlet letter. She does not take this opportunity to rid herself of the scarlet letter being that it has now become a part of her. In the novel “The Scarlet Letter” I believe the main theme is to embrace your past and make it a part of you. Hester makes the “A” a part of her every day life by making very fancy and noticeable. Also she does not remove it when she is given the chance by the fathers of the church.

4. Personal Reflection After reading the novel “The Scarlet Letter” I’ve come to some conclusions. I dislike the novel and most likely will not remember the details of it. There are very few people I would recommend it too. Although I did gain some knowledge from the book and I could relate to the character Dimmesdale very well. I disliked the novel due to its slow moving story progession and how little action it had. Also the literature was hard to understand for someone who doesn’t speak Old English. If I were to make any recommendations it would be to my good friend Chester who enjoys a slow moving novel and romance literature. The novel did provide me with knowledge of how puritans lived and how strict their laws were. I did not know a woman and a man could be punished by death for committing the act of adultery. Also Dimmesdale was a character I could relate to very well. I would feel the same way if I had to keep that big of a secret to myself and not be able to confess the crime of love I had with someone to the public. I understand how emotional he feels for Hester and he just wishes they could run away together. “The Scarlet Letter” was a rather uninteresting book to me. I would make few recommendations but yet I still learned some facts about old Puritan society. I also feel that Dimmesdale is a character I can relate to due to his emotional distress about having to hide his crime and guilt.