When I first began The Scarlet Letter, as stated by both Liron and Catherine before me, it was hard to understand. The language was different than anything I had ever read before, and I was not familiar with the Puritan way of life. I agree with both of my group mates though, that once I continued to read, it became easier. What I thought was interesting was the way Hawthorne began his novel. His first sentence states, "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" (Hawthorne 45). This passage is describing the people standing outside of the prison door waiting for Hester Prynne to emerge. They are described as wearing "sad-colored garments", which right from the start puts a negative feeling on the scene. When I picture this clothing I picture a lot of grays and browns, void of bright colors. Then he moves on to describe the door at which they all are staring. What is special about the prison door, is that it is adorned with iron spikes. In just one sentence Hawthorne is able to set a scene of dreary colors and spiked doors. I felt that this description of the Puritan village at this moment was very fitting for what is to come in the novel.
Another point I would like to address is about Hester herself. As readers we don't know much about the characters yet because of how far we've read, but one of the only things I noticed about Hester is that she is already keeping two secrets. Keeping a secret and not being able to tell anyone something can be normal, but when the secrets are as big as who the father of her child is and who her husband is, those can really weigh down on a person. I will be very interested to see how both of these secrets effect Hester as the novel progresses, and whether or not she begins to show signs of cracking under the pressure.
I would like to point my Gossamer Thread in the direction of adultery. A few months back the actress Kristen Stewart was found to be cheating on her boyfriend Robert Pattinson with her then movie director Rupert Sanders. When the news broke, it was a very large scandal and you could read about the story on every magazine cover in the stores. Much like Hester, there was shaming happening to Stewart after she was found out, especially from her fans. Even though this stuck with her for a few months, the story is now buried under more drama, and this is exactly what I am predicting happens to Hester as the story progresses. During my Google search for the Stewart-Sanders cheating scandal, I had to get to "Kristen Stewart che" before anything having to do with her cheating was recommended as a choice to click on. After a little over a year, Stewart has seemingly left the story behind. Even though Hester had Pearl has a result of her adultery which makes their stories slightly different, I am making a prediction that as time goes on the people of their colony will move on to the newest drama and ignore Hester. I don't believe that the people will be able to just forget about the incident, but they will take their mocking somewhere else. The only people that will be harping on it will be Hester, Pearl, and Roger.
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