The Importance Of Meaning In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlets Letters Meaning Throughout Time Imagine being in kindergarten, eager and adolescent, anxious to learn new things. What will be first? Spelling? Math? No, here it comes, the alphabet. “A, B, C, D..” and so on in tiny maturing voices. It’s one of the most vital things anyone can learn in life, it’s the basics for all language. But who knew while getting older, that the letters can be turned into a whole other meaning? We as individuals can decide what each letter may represent, but usually society may have a pull on our opinions, especially on the most important letter in our language; the letter A. For many readers of the novel The Scarlet Letter, the A may represent adultery and sin. Hester Prynne battles the opinions of her society and herself in this novel written about puritan beliefs and the harsh enforcement of sin in the old colonies. However, there is a new story emerging, one about a girl named Olive Penderghast, who uses the A for a whole new meaning. Although in both stories, the letter has an effect on the main characters lives that are greatly affected on the historical and sociological aspects of society. Set in the middle of the seventeenth century in Boston, Massachusetts, Hester Prynne is all alone in the new world. Her husband, Chillingworth, has failed to join …show more content…
She lost all of her friends, boys are starting to use her without her knowledge, and the christian group is protesting against her actions. She is living her very own Scarlet Letter story. Everyone in her school looks at her poorly. As she tries to correct her mistakes, she gets accused of giving Marianne 's boyfriend an STD. At this point, Olive is ready to confess her lies and make everything right again in her society. She makes up with Rhiannon, and enjoys her life of being the individual she originally was. She enjoys the company of her new boyfriend Todd, who never believed that the lies she told were