After finishing the Scarlet letter I believe that it’s safe to say that this book is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Besides the fact that this novel is fairly complex, especially when using imagery and introducing many students to new vocabulary, I found that it often kept you guessing, and sometimes even kept you on the verge of falling from your seat (not literally). Let’s take the mystery of Pearl’s father as an example. At first we had no clue who the father of Hester’s child, Pearl, might be, but as we continued reading, we were given clues that suggested that Reverend Dimmesdale was the father, although it wasn’t directly stated. When it was finally stated that Dimmesdale was indeed the father of Pearl, many of us probably had one of those “I KNEW IT!” moments. It’s just that moment when you believe you deserve a pat on the back for figuring out the truth without taking a peek into the following chapters. Many of us may have also had a moment while reading the novel that just made us want to slam the book on the table or throw it far across the room. Let’s take Chillingworth’s revenge as an example. I understood that he wanted revenge, but come on? Did he really have to take everything that far? He was practically killing Dimmesdale from the inside. Then when Hester and Dimmesdale bought tickets for a boat so they could escape together, Chillingworth just had to buy a ticket too. Why couldn’t he just leave them alone? Apparently, he just wasn’t done torturing Dimmesdale, and apparently, he would never be done. Personally, I just wanted to slap Chillingworth and tell him to just MOVE ON and LET IT GO! He tortured Dimmesdale for years, but it was still not enough for him to let Dimmesdale escape. This novel also caused a lot of “Are you kidding me!?!” moments. These types of moments also make you want to drill a hole into the book. An example of this would be the whole part of the novel where Hester kept quite about Dimmesdale. Why would she take all of that humiliation and shame on her own? Perhaps she thought that Dimmesdale would “man up,” or she just wanted to keep quiet because the love she felt towards him was just that strong. Although she meant well, she ended up creating more problems for Dimmesdale than she wanted to. You really just don’t know who’s side to take. Lastly, this novel makes us, or at least me, feel kind of bad for Hester. She didn’t necessarily get her happy ending, which pretty much sucks. She was so close, so incredibly close to being able to run away with Dimmesdale and Pearl and live without the scarlet A on her chest for the rest of her life, but Chillingworth just had to ruin her plans. He just couldn’t let her leave with Dimmesdale, and when Dimmesdale finally confesses to committing adultery with Hester and being the father of Pearl, he dies. It was so sad to see that Hester lost the love of her life from one moment to another. Then Chillingworth dies and Pearl inherits all of his money, which allows Hester and Pearl to disappear for a while only for Hester to reappear years later to live in the same cottage and in the same community alone.
~ Cynthia Avila ~
~ Week 4 ~
~ Final Blog Post ~
~ Cynthia Avila ~
~ Week 4 ~
~ Final Blog Post ~