Nathaniel Branden

What single sin could one woman have possibly committed to have the sun not shine on her? The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written during the 1840’s in Salem and Concord, Massachusetts. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the main characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. The main character was Hester Prynne she had committed adultery which at the time was the worst thing anyone could do. Which…

Scarlet Letter Theme In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne the main characters Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale both committed the same sin, adultery. Hester became pregnant and was publicly shamed; however, none of the Puritans of Boston were the wiser about Dimmesdale’s sin. He alone lived with the constant knowledge of his sin. Whereas, Hester had everyone to share it with. Sin must be brought to light in order to be redeemed. Dimmesdale received many opportunities to confess…

short. . . . “Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?” (275) The passage fits into the novel by adding character to Pearl, and an important motif about the comparisons between sin and humans. As previously noted, pearl is one of a kind in this community noting things that were not thought to be there at first. She later comes to be identifying the letter with “sunshine”, that she is short of from life. Because she is only a child she doesn’t understand what she. She…

Expressed and Unexpressed Sin Famous American author Elbert Hubbard once said, “We are punished by our sins, not for them.” No matter how true this statement stands in real life, Daniel Hawthorne proves its truth in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Within the novel, the townspeople punish the main character Hester for her sin of adultery. As a result, the townspeople and the jury require Hester to wear a scarlet letter upon her chest. The author hides Hester’s counterpart in the crime of adultery…

It was seven miles to the dock and the packet steamer, the St. Ange. After about a mile Father DeSmet broke the silence, “Christian, did the superior tell you to come back to us?” “No.” “He said it to me.” “Did you have plans otherwise?” Father DeSmet creased his lower lip ever so slightly as he replied, “No, not exactly…It’s only that, for many years I have hoped, even prayed, that I might die in the missions.” Father Hoecken’s eyes serenely appraised his friend. Father DeSmet never noticed,…

Not everyone is who you think they are. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's story “Young Goodman Brown” the main character, Goodman Brown, is sure he knows most of the people in his very religious community of Salem. As brown is tempted by the forces of evil he slowly sees the people he's known for so long for who they really are. This all leads to the theme of if righteous people around us are really that righteous and makes the reader question if faith is really worth it. This deeply spiritual theme…

Puritanical Mores in The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a young, female adulterer residing in a 17th century Puritan community faces public shame for her sin by wearing a scarlet letter A on her chest, leading her to support herself and her daughter single handedly, which reflects the inability of the various Catholic followers to escape their social expectations and follow individual will. Pearl, Hester’s daughter, metaphorically represents the purity from the…

Columnist, short story author, and poet Ambrose Bierce is remembered for his veracity and his acrimonious prose style. Bierce has evidently won the superlative for causing the most havoc when it came to his writing. The bad-tempered bravado of his gazette writing and his former appalling naturalistic war fiction led to him obtaining the appellations “Bitter Bierce” and “The Devil’s Topographer.” Antagonistic derision seemed to flow through Bierce’s writing, from his raging literary smites in his…

There are a number of things to love about the vast and popular world of vaping: sweets without the calories (Who doesn't love that), learning basic principles of electricity, while interacting with an amazing community of like minded individuals… the list goes on and on if you vape, I'm sure that you are already well aware. However, there are a few things that can turn your good vaping experiance, into a bad time. This is the very reason that I have compiled a list of things that should be…

In The Scarlet Letter, an American gothic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet “A” on her clothing to represent adultery, the sin in which she has committed. Her partner, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains furtive and unidentified. This engenders Dimmesdale to have a burden of guilt brought upon him. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who has been gone for three years, seeks revenge on Dimmesdale. In Moby Dick, another American gothic novel, there is a great deal of revenge…