So, for my Independent reading book, I have decided to take a look at a classic written way back when about an adulteress in a religious town. I am of course talking about The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story is about a woman, Hester Prynne, who is an adulteress and bore an illegitimate child. Because she lives in a Puritan Community, she is shunned and is made as an outcast by the whole town.
Now, I have some mixed feelings about the novel. So far the story is somewhat easy to follow as we explore how Hester deals with her life now that she is shunned by everyone, even her husband. You really sympathize with her as she is trying to make amends with the people in the town with her embroideries, but everyone pushes her away because of her actions. However, one thing that has got me on the side of disliking it is the first chapter. It is over thirty pages long and is completely pointless. Everyone in my book group even told me that it was completely pointless and that I should skip it. Any book that can drone on for thirty pages and not have a point is definitely pushing the boundaries for decent material. I even looked online to see what it was about and it said that was mainly about a door and the prison. Regardless of what kind of symbolism or message was trying to shown, thirty pages is a bit much.
But other than that the story is actually quite interesting as well as the characters. Pearl seems to be a driving force for Hester, causing her to go threw scorn and punishment in order to support her. Also, I completely hate her husband Chillingworth. He is willing to let his wife and half child suffer just so his reputation isn't hurt at all. I realize that back then this was acceptable as a reputation was everything but still, what a complete jerk.
Overall, all my complaints on the book are minor (at least so far) and its an interesting read. I don't think that I would recommend it to anyone, but if you read it, you might enjoy yourself.
I liked reading your thoughts on *The Scarlet Letter*, Austin! I too, am not completely in love with the book, but see its merit in terms of the literary canon. You point out that Chillingworth is a deceitful, vulgar man, and I think that's the point. To embody the blatant hypocrisy of Puritan society - He's the perfect churchgoer, socially admired, and yet is morally one of the last people you would consider to be godly and righteous. On a side note, if you found the first chapter to be horribly boring, you're lucky you didn't read the introduction, which is technically part of the story, not something tacked on by an editor. It was awful and convoluted. In any case, it has turned out to be an easy, enjoyable read thus far!
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