"A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life,-what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation,-may that be? Why, the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!" Such are the compliments bandied between my great-grandsires and myself, across the gulf of time! And yet, let them scorn me as they will, strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves with mine." (Hawthorne 26)

When the author begins to talk about his "grandsires", he is talking about the problems of the past which haven't gone away in the time between his life, and his grandsires death. In his shorts stories (Young Goodman Brown and The Birth-Mark in particular) and in his famous novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne discusses many issues based on the ideas of morality during the Puritan colonial period in America. However, after review, all of these issues le

that people start to converse with her and her daughter once again as a member of the community. We are led to believe that this happened because the townspeople came to accept Hester's imperfections, and even associate themselves with it, so to speak. In the novel, Hester did nothing immoral that adultery (which did have a heavy affect) but after that, she was compassionate towards other people, and she wasn't spiteful in anyway to anyone. People saw her sin as the fact that she is "only human". Now, at this point in the story, people who once again begin to think of her as a "pillar of the community", so to speak, are proving their imperfection by associating themselves with Hester, who by definition is imperfect by way of sin.

"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom.... It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet! Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester. "And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short.... "Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?" (Hawthorne 162)

In Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, human beings try to be perfect, by implementing morals and laws, but some people stray away from these rules of society, thus proving imperfection. Hester is a prime example of imperfect. However, throughout the story, many different reactions to the scarlet letter take place by the towns people. First, they are appauled by it, as adultery in the Puritan age was not only a crime, but an act of blasphemy. As illustrated in the following passage, "Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter: and of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!" (Hawthorne 70), the towns people have no respect for her, or for Pearl, as Pearl is the product of the adultery. However, over time, the townspeople begin to reaccep

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Approximate Word count = 1340
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)