The two novels The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee may tell vastly different stories but, both touch upon a similar subject. By using two of their misconceived characters the authors explain their similar views on punishment but by different manors of storytelling and outcomes.
The symmetry between the two novels builds as the reader learns more about Boo Radley from To Kill A Mockingbird and Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter. In To Kill a Mockingbird Boo Radley was a mysterious character who hid inside his house and scared dozens children with the thought of him. The cryptic character however, was not a man who”dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” (Lee 13) aforementioned by Jem, …show more content…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s view on punishment was that the penalty people do to each other for justice created injustice. The idea was best showcased with the character Hester by virtue of after committing adultery, though still a crime, the people of the town shamed her saying, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne 36) and forced her to wear her sin in the form of a scarlet “A”. Hester’s punishment changed her life forever and the people cut her off from society, making her “the outcast woman” (Hawthorne 109) which Hawthorne wrote as an injustice for the reason that Hester learned her lesson but the punishment did not stop, destroying her life. Similarly, Harper Lee used the same idea, but told it through a different lens and with a different outcome. Lee’s lens was captured with Boo Radley who committed murder, but unlike Hester, he was not punished for it, for he tried to do justice. Lee asked us all to “remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90) meaning that people should not punish those undeserving of it. The ideas of these authors flow and intertwine with one another therefore, playing off each other.
Hawthorne and Lee both share the same view of punishment as they describe their fictional character. Boo Radley was the scarlet letter as he was separated from society but as time went on people learned that the “A” stood for angel because Boo watched over Scout and saved her life. Hester Prynne was a beautiful mockingbird that sadly was shot down by the cruel world surrounding her but the people learned that he was not a mangled woman of sin. The same view told through different writing styles created an image of pain and suffering but also one of redemption and
The symmetry between the two novels builds as the reader learns more about Boo Radley from To Kill A Mockingbird and Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter. In To Kill a Mockingbird Boo Radley was a mysterious character who hid inside his house and scared dozens children with the thought of him. The cryptic character however, was not a man who”dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” (Lee 13) aforementioned by Jem, …show more content…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s view on punishment was that the penalty people do to each other for justice created injustice. The idea was best showcased with the character Hester by virtue of after committing adultery, though still a crime, the people of the town shamed her saying, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne 36) and forced her to wear her sin in the form of a scarlet “A”. Hester’s punishment changed her life forever and the people cut her off from society, making her “the outcast woman” (Hawthorne 109) which Hawthorne wrote as an injustice for the reason that Hester learned her lesson but the punishment did not stop, destroying her life. Similarly, Harper Lee used the same idea, but told it through a different lens and with a different outcome. Lee’s lens was captured with Boo Radley who committed murder, but unlike Hester, he was not punished for it, for he tried to do justice. Lee asked us all to “remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” (Lee 90) meaning that people should not punish those undeserving of it. The ideas of these authors flow and intertwine with one another therefore, playing off each other.
Hawthorne and Lee both share the same view of punishment as they describe their fictional character. Boo Radley was the scarlet letter as he was separated from society but as time went on people learned that the “A” stood for angel because Boo watched over Scout and saved her life. Hester Prynne was a beautiful mockingbird that sadly was shot down by the cruel world surrounding her but the people learned that he was not a mangled woman of sin. The same view told through different writing styles created an image of pain and suffering but also one of redemption and