Hsiou-Ling Lyu's The Scarlet Letter

The introduction of The Scarlet Letter, titled ‘The Custom House’ is seen as somewhat irrelevant to the story of Hester Prynne by many. They usually end up feeling it was unnecessary to have it as an introduction, and skip the reading of it. In Hsiou-ling Lyu’s case, it is greatly relevant to The Scarlet Letter as it does not tell us a lot about the story itself, but about the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and his decision to write The Scarlet Letter. Lyu starts out her essay by stating that Hawthorne wrote this book with the intention of it selling well. Hawthorne was known as someone that was shy and reserved, which cause him to remain anonymous when writing his past books. Due to his anonymity, it was difficult for him to earn more popularity, …show more content…
Hawthorne states himself, “if my life, beyond its domestic scope, had ever been brightened by success---would they deem otherwise than worthless, if not positively disgraceful.” (p.6) He then goes on to tell the readers what he imagines his ancestors would be thinking of him becoming a writer. What I find the most intriguing and confusing in Lyu’s essay, is how she explains the connection between Hawthorne and the three characters he describes. I don’t quite see where she is coming from when she states that his approach towards the Inspector was satirical. Instead of the Inspector’s story being told in a humorous tone, I see it as if Hawthorne was somewhat amazed by the Inspector’s personality. Hawthorne explains to the reader the Inspector’s past life, and how he has outlived his wives, and even some of his children, he goes on to say, “Here, one would suppose, might have been sorrow enough to imbue the sunniest disposition... Not so with our old Inspector! One brief sigh sufficed to carry off the entire burden of these dismal reminiscences.” (p.12). This quote shows how Hawthorne was envious of how the Inspector was capable of handling problems that arise. …show more content…
At the beginning of The Custom House, Hawthorne states that he is an editor, claiming that The Custom House wasn’t written by him, which is a common technique that was used in traditional Gothic novels that were around in Hawthorne’s time. I agree with Lyu that this was Hawthorne’s way of expecting the readers to not connect him to the three characters he speaks about. She then speaks about the climax of The Custom House, which is when Hawthorne finds the letter in the symbol of ‘A.’ Lyu goes on to say that she believes that ‘A’ stands for Ardor, because of how Ardor means to have passion in something, in which Hawthorne’s passion was to become a professional writer, and Hester’s passion was against the Puritan law. I believe that ‘A’ simply stood for Adultery, which was the crime Hester was charged with. I am surprised that she didn’t go into more detail of him feeling a burning sensation when he found the scarlet letter. I felt as if that was his way of telling the reader that he felt some sort of relief, and joy when he thought of the idea of writing about Hester Prynne. He felt that the story idea was a sign that he should become a