In The Scarlet Letter (I finally realized there was only one t.), Hawthorne uses a plethora of symbols, metaphors and figurative language to describe his characters and the Puritan community Every detail in The Scarlet Letter is important. Literally every detail. It's absurd. Pearl's name symbolizes how she comes at a great cost to Hester just as a pearl comes at a great cost to oyster and also symbolizes how much Hester values Pearl and a bunch of other things. The "A" symbolizes something different every chapter. It is almost overwhelming. I remember when Ms. Valentino handed out the first chapter for us to annotate and it took a half hour. The first chapter is only 32 lines but I could write an eight page essay on the symbolism of the Prison-Door. Seeing our intense annotation of the first chapter was actually intimidating. Before reading any further, I had to say "It can't be worse than Emma," and thankfully it wasn't. I was pleasantly surprised as I found that The Scarlet Letter to be really interesting. The story feels really deliberate and the figurative language wasn't suffocating. I used to think that in some books, some of the figurative language and symbolism happened by accident, but in The Scarlet Letter, I actually thought that Hawthorne thought of all the figurative language and intended for it to be interpreted in the way it is. That is due to the fact that everything connects together so well that nothing feels out of place. Also, if Hawthorne uses figurative language, it is for something important. The Scarlet Letter is so widely acclaimed not because of its abundance of symbolism and figurative language but how it uses figurative language. I have a new found respect for Nathaniel Hawthorne as he doesn't waste words. As Mark Van Doren said, "The Scarlet Letter, like any masterpiece, is powerful everywhere and all the time. If its scene is bleak, itself is blended of the richest, most moving, most splendid things, put densely and inseparably together."
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