Isolation In The Scarlet Letter By Laurie Halse Anderson

Time and time again people experience the rough or the fortunate fate of one small incident altering their lives. For the unlucky few who have their lives changed negatively, it is always hard. Weather it is winning a lottery ticket or not getting a job that was worked so hard for, it changes the course of a person’s plans. The classic novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows a prime example of how one’s mistake, set in the seventeenth century, alters a woman 's life dramatically. The contemporary novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson also take a look at what happens to a high school girl after one unfortunate night. Set in a community of Puritans during the mid seventeenth century, Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter has committed adultery. During the setting of the novel having a child out of wedlock was usually punished very harshly, however Hester is punished by wearing a bright red letter “A” on her chest for the rest of her life. What this new mother soon finds out is that the effects of having this permanent reminder of her sin is isolation from those …show more content…
This novel, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, shows how one night can take a high school girl from happy to completely depressed. All she did was go to a party one night and now that school is starting back up again all she will be known as is the girl who busted that party. Every one of her old friends that were there for her, now have new friends, and all Mel can feel is alone. The only activity that acts as her escape is her art class, her teacher, and her art project. All the while at school she has to face “IT”, also know as Andy Evans. Dehumanizing Andy Evans by calling him IT helps Melinda block out what he did to her that night. Andy Evans raped Melinda Sordino and no one knows about it. Melinda called the cops, but she was not calling them on the party, she was calling them on