Letters of the Scarlet Variety

Lets talk books. I recently finished a book that I honestly thought would be the death of me. I had heard so many bad things about it that I was thoroughly dreaded reading it (which is unusual for me, I happen to be an avid reader). My English class started out with a book a found less than stellar (see later post on this) so I was scared that I would come to hate this one as well. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually enjoyed reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I'm not usually one to read historical fiction or to like books written long before I was born, but I actually came to really enjoy it. The plot was intriguing and the twists of the book made it like it just that much more. Once you've read so many books, the plots of them all become predictable and lackluster, but this one held my attention throughout the novel. Whether this had anything to do with the fact that I had to read it so closely and annotate it for class, I guess I'll never know. All that I do know is that I would not have chosen to read it by myself but I'm glad that I did.

There were, however, a few parts of the book that I would like to address. Specifically, I felt that the characters in the book should have communicated better with each other! Once Hester finally decided to approach Dimmesdale, they're lives seemed to pick up. I do understand that if they hadn't of waited seven years, it would have changed the way the characters developed, but would that have been such a bad thing? If I were Hester I would have told off Chillingworth much sooner than she did in the story. I would have written him a very strongly worded letter that may have looked something like this-

Dear Chillingworth, (Please excuse my lack of old timey language)

Why are you being such a horrible person? I understand that I hurt you and that you're trying to get your revenge or whatever, but why take out all of your anger on the poor minister? He is not the only one who sinned! In fact, he is probably even less to blame than I am! He did not know you, in fact we all thought you were dead! Plus, have you not seen the change this hatred and vengeance has brought upon you? You used to be such a gentle, scholarly man, but now you/re just a crabby old man with a terrible vendetta who everyone finds creepy. It would really be much more beneficial to your health if you would just move on .

Sincerely, Hester Prynne

Besides the lack of communication there seems to be between all of the scharacters in this story, I still found the book as a whole to be rather enjoyable and I will be adding it to my list of classics to re-read (list pending).

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