The Scarlet Letter Reaction Paper

The Scarlet Letter Katherine Sanford
Reaction Essay Honors English 3

The Scarlet Letter is one of the many novels that is loved by some people but hated by others. I’m somewhere in between. It was extremely different from what I was expecting but it made me so confused at some points that I cant completely say that I loved the storyline. I can say though that it was so much better than I thought, which evidently made me like it. This novel caught my attention in the beginning and held it until the very end. It just constantly had me going. In chapter three, I felt suspicious of Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. It says ‘ “She will not speak,” murmured Mr. Dimmesdale, who, leaning over the balcony, with his hand upon his heart, had awaited the result of his appeal. He now drew back with a long respiration. “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman’s heart!” This quote not only makes me suspicious but also very confused. Every other townsperson was wanting to know the answer to the mystery of who the man was, but Mr. Dimmesdale seems to either already know, or relieved that she isn’t speaking. Why would this man not want to know who the other adulterer was? Isn’t it almost expected for the Reverend to need to know the answer? I just couldn’t understand this mans reasoning for being so excited that she wouldn’t say who the other sinner was. Well I should say that I didn’t understand until later in the novel. “By degrees, not very slowly, her [Hester’s] handiwork became what would now be termed fashion.” This quote was taken from chapter five and it made me happy for Hester, but confused about everything else. I didn’t know the reason why people that were held to be above Hester want her to do the work. Nowadays when someone is put down for something they had done, it stays that way. It seemed in the story she was now counted as an equal, and that’s what made me happy. Yes, I agree that committing adultery is wrong and always will be, but her punishment was terrible. In times like those, it was the better of the two choices (death or wearing the scarlet letter). I can’t help but wonder if the people Hester made clothes for expressed who had done the work. I mean, would it have been a sin to even have a conversation with her much less pay her for her work. She was supposed to be an outcast from human society, yet everyone was beginning to accept her for who she turned out to be. I think that’s pretty exciting! I was completely shocked in chapter thirteen when it stated, “The letter was the symbol of her calling.” In the beginning of the novel it was the sad symbol of her deception and downfall. I think that it was completely crazy how the book had a complete changing of heart in such a short number of pages. What I really don’t understand is HOW it expresses her calling? Seriously, if someone were to look at it would they think, ‘That’s the best seamstress in this town! I should go to her for my clothing needs!’ or would they wonder why she’s wearing the bright letter on her chest and what it stands for. I would most likely think that last one. I wouldn’t think for a minute that she was the person that made everybody’s clothes. She stands by herself in the crowd and her only companion is her young ‘elf-like’ daughter Pearl. I wouldn’t think for a minute she had anything to do with anybody. I would think that she stands alone because she doesn’t want anyone to come inside her little bubble. Who would blame her though? Not me. All of my confusion seemed to have faded away in chapter eighteen. It seemed like everything was finally making itself into a happy ending. I was no longer shocked or confused about anything. I’d known for a while that Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale was the other culprit in the story. He was the missing puzzle piece in Hester and Pearl’s life. In chapter eighteen Mr. Dimmesdale and Hester had a private conversation in the woods. I thought it was kind of weird that she met him in the woods but it’s not really something I can change. But, in the conversation they came up with a plan to leave the country and go back to England. They wanted to start fresh as a family. Not live in the same small town where their love couldn’t be taken seriously. The townspeople wouldn’t understand why he would want to be with and adulterer. None of them would even suspect that he was the other half that made the child. He was the other adulterer. Before I started the Scarlet Letter, I believed that it would be all about Hester Prynne’s pain and suffering from the choice that she made. Never did I expect the completely complex story that Hawthorne wrote. Don’t get me wrong, Hester Prynne did suffer, but she also had a fairly decent sentence. Because of who she was, she wasn’t hated by everybody; actually she was hated by very few. Instead she was accepted by most of the town and became a very well known seamstress. She was prevailing in a situation that would wither most people incapable of ever coming back into anything. No, Hester didn’t form into her old self, but I think she became someone better. She became someone who could be proud of what she had gone through. Hester had a beautiful child and in the end she got the man that she loved on her side. It turned into a great story, and it ended differently than I ever would’ve expected.