1st half of Charming Billy by Alice McDermott

Charlie Spinale

 AP Literature & Composition

7/30/14

“Charming Billy” by Alice McDermott 1^st half prompt: “One of an author’s goals at the beginning of a novel is to fully engage her reader. Select a passage from the first half of “Charming Billy” that you found particularly interesting and explain how you think it contributes to engaging the reader in the novel.”

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott tells the story of Billy, a man who falls in love with a girl named Eva. The story commences by informing the reader of Billy’s death by starting the novel at his funeral party. His friends and family discuss Billy’s life and his struggles with alcohol and his loss of Eva who he never is capable of forgetting. Throughout the first half of the novel the reader sees how McDermott shows the background of Billy’s life and the reasons why he could not let go of Eva. The reader becomes thoroughly engaged by achieving a greater apprehension and image of Billy, who although a drunk, everyone dearly loved.

In the first chapter of the novel the reader is already engaged and left in suspense through McDermott’s evocative imagery and figurative language. These techniques enable McDermott’s readers to keep reading, essentially, hoping to find something in what seemed to be a mystery. Once McDermott reveals Billy and how he died as an alcoholic, the reader has something to endeavor more about. The reader strives to learn more about Billy because he is loved and remembered by everyone leading the reader to think that his story must be quite significant. McDermott also leads the reader into thinking Billy is a different kind of drunk because he is capable of gaining so much love by so many people and is never described as ruthless or discourteous. The scene at the funeral party allows the reader to become utterly engaged when the reader sees Billy’s family and friends discuss his character and everything they loved and still cherish about him even after his death. One of which was his letters which he wrote to his loved ones. One of these letters was kept by Billy’s friend Bridie, who reveals a letter she kept in her purse:

“'I have one,'” Bridie from the old neighborhood said. She dug into her patent-leather purse and found a greeting-card-sized envelope with two stamps that showed a harp and a fiddle. She looked at the postmark—June 1975—and then extracted a limp paper square of a cocktail napkin that contained Billy’s looping hand” (9, McDermott).

“The napkin was circulated, held as delicately as a fledgling, some even reaching into a purse or a breast pocket for reading glasses so as not to miss a word. All the way up the table to Maeve, who read it with a smile and a nod, and all the way back down again. Bridie took it back and read it once more before placing it into its envelope and back into a side, zippered compartment of her Sunday pocketbook” (9).

“Other letters from Billy were being mentioned: a note scribbled on a Playbill page, on a business card. The long missives he’d sent home during the war, whole lines blacked out by the censors but the homesickness coming through. He was so homesick. The postcards from the Irish trip, the place mats and napkins from various Long Island restaurants and diners, that summer he and Dennis were out there, fixing up Mr. Holtzman’s little house. You remember Mr. Holtzman. Dennis’s mother’s second husband. The shoe-store man” (9-10).

            The passage starts with Bridie, one of Billy’s neighborhood friends taking out a letter she had never thrown away from Billy. The shear fact that Bridie has kept the letter all this time shows she is not capable of letting go of her memories with Billy. Whilst the letter was written on a cocktail napkin, suggesting he was drinking, it was still a kind note stating Billy had seen a young girl who looked exactly like Bridie. The fact that Billy wrote this kind letter to a friend while he was most likely drinking shows he was not remembered by his loved ones as a mean-spirited drunk but as a kindhearted person who drank to get through the loss of his true love Eva. The letter is passed around the table at the funeral party and everyone handles it with great care. McDermott suggests this through a simile: “held as delicately as a fledgling” (9). A fledging is a young bird that has just left its nest. This suggests that they are all holding on to a precious memory of Billy like they would hold a small young bird that is delicate.  It shows how gentle they want to be with this letter because destroying it would mean destroying a memory of Billy. As the letter is passed around, it is also mentioned that people took out reading glasses in order to make sure they did not miss a single detail of Billy’s beautiful writing or miss out on a memory they would have of him. This allows the reader to understand how much his friends and family cared for him because they were not willing to miss anything involving Billy. At the end of the quote, Bridie rereads the letter again before placing it back into her purse, suggesting her ceaseless idea of keeping Billy’s presence fresh in her mind.  In the last quote of the passage, Billy is described as writing several letters to friends and family from wherever he may have been. He is described as writing letters on a Playbill page, a business card, letters he wrote during the war, postcards from his Irish trip, and napkins from restaurants. The fact that Billy wrote these letters wherever he may have been signifies that he cared for his loved ones. For example, rather than causing mishap at a bar when he was drunk, he would write a letter to a loved one like he sent to Bridie. Billy’s ability to think about others and show his feelings through letters no matter where he was shows his loving characteristics. McDermott, allowing Billy to be a lovable character makes the reader emotionally attached to him. As a reader we create an image of him as being a kind man sending letters to all his loved ones. This grasps the attention of the reader because the reader would not want to continue with the novel if they did not care for the main character and feel somewhat attached to them. This leads to the reader yearning to learn more about Billy.  

            In Charming Billy, Alice McDermott achieves every author’s goal of engaging her reading at the beginning of a novel. She does this by securing the reader’s trust through her use of vivid imagery and figurative language while introducing a heartbroken man, Billy, who uses drinking to deal with his loss of his true love Eva, who in his mind is the only women he can love to the extent that you can possibly love someone.  After gaining the readers trust and attention the reader is intrigued to keep reading in order to learn what events Billy went through during his life that allowed him to be loved and remembered the way he is. At the end of the first chapter, the reader is left in suspense when it is revealed that Eva had never died, “’Eva lived”’ (29). This plot changing revelation grants the reader a million questions, which finalizes McDermott’s success at truly engaging her reader at the beginning of her novel, Charming Billy. 

2nd half of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Charlie Spinale

AP Literature & Composition

7/16/14

2^nd half of The Scarlet Letter prompt: “Choose one of the three main characters and discuss his/her motivations throughout the novel. What is the final outcome for the character you are discussing, and what does this outcome suggest to the reader?”

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne’s act of adultery leads her to inevitable mortification and shun in Puritan America which does not take such sins lightly in a time of strong religious and moral beliefs. Throughout the novel Hester copes with her shame and guilt by isolating herself while cleansing her soul by performing good deeds. Hester is motivated by her daughter Pearl who provides Hester with all her happiness but at the same time is an unceasing reminder of her sin and her partner in crime Reverend Dimmesdale who conceals his sin forcing himself into a life of guilt which ultimately leads to his death.

            

        In the first half of The Scarlet Letter the reader sees Hester’s motives in her needlework which allowed her to provide for her and Pearl. Her needlework was popular among many Puritans and she even spent time doing charity work. Nonetheless, she acquired hatred from the people she was helping who still continued to sneer at her: “Dames of elevated rank, likewise, whose doors she entered in the way of her occupation, were accustomed to distil drops of bitterness into her heart; sometimes through that alchemy of quiet malice, by which women can concoct a subtile poison from ordinary trifles; and sometimes, also, by a coarser expression, that fell upon the sufferer’s defenceless breast like a rough blow upon an ulcerated wound” (64). This quote shows the reader that the rich women who purchased Hester clothes would shrewdly insult her and other times they would attack her with degrading words. The reader understands how even when Hester is helping people she still receives “bitterness”. Although Hester’s guilt and shame never go away in the second half of the book, the public begins to respect Hester’s kindhearted actions such as her aptitude to help the sick. Rather than recognizing the “A” as her sin of adultery, people begin to recognize it differently: “They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (114). This quote states that Hester’s “A” began meaning “able” to a lot of citizens who began to appreciate her rather than ostracize her. Although Hester receives praise for her good deeds she refuses to except this praise and be recognized for it. In public when she sees a citizen who she has helped she will not even make eye contact with them because she does not believe she is deserving of this praise and she realizes she must suffer for her sin not be rewarded for it: “Meeting them in the street, she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter, and passed on. This might be pride, but was so humility, that it produced all the softening influence of the latter quality on the public mind…society was inclined to show its former victim a more benign countenance than she cared to be favored with, or, perchance, than she deserved” (115). Hester’s inability to accept praise shows that she is not willing to forgive herself for her sin and she must continue to repent. This is shown when she points at her “A” and does not acknowledge praise from people she has helped. The quote depicts how the community saw that Hester acted this way out of humility so in return they were kinder to Hester than she wanted. Hester’s good deeds did not deserve praise in her mind, and if she accepted praise she would not be capable of forgiving herself for her sin and would not be able to become pure again.

Hester’s motives and ability to cope with her sin is shown through her love for Pearl. Although Pearl provides Hester with all her happiness she is also a portrayal of the scarlet letter because although she can be sweet she mocks Hester and reminds her of her sin. As Pearl gets older she questions the true meaning of her mother’s “A” always asking about it. Hester believes Pearl’s wonder of it was given to her for a divine reason: “Hester had often fancied that Providence had a design of justice and retribution, in endowing the child with this marked propensity; but never, until now, had she bethought herself to ask, whether, linked with that design, there might not likewise be a purpose of mercy and beneficence…might it not be her errand to soothe away the sorrow that lay cold in her mother’s heart…” (126). This quote is saying that Pearl's wonder about the “A” could have been given to her to make her represent “justice” and “retribution” or punishment. Hester also wonders if the purpose has “mercy” and “beneficence” or kindness. She wondered if Pearl was meant to take away the sorrow in her heart. Although Pearl’s actions can be mocking and at the same time sweet towards Hester, Hester still shows Pearl love and would sacrifice anything for her. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest and they decide they will leave their guilt behind and start a new life somewhere else, Hester abandons her “A” and takes of her cap which covers her hair. After she does this her femininity, youth, and beauty came back to her. This led to a complete change in Hester in terms of not only appearance but a burden of “shame” and “anguish” had left her. This is further explained when the narrator states: “She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom” (142).  As the quote states, Hester have become essentially free and her guilt and shame has departed from her. Pearl, when called by Hester begins screaming and making a fuss because she does not recognize Hester without her “A” and her hair covered. Hester responds by putting back on her “A” and her cap to cover her hair. Hester than asks Pearl to come to her: “Dost thou know thy mother now child? Wilt thou come across the brook, and own thy mother, now that she has her shame upon her, -now that she is sad (147)? This quote shows that now that Hester has put back on her “A” and covered her hair Pearl is now willing to come across the brook to her. Pearl in response kisses her mother’s forehead and also kisses the “A” showing both affection and mockery. Hester’s love is demonstrated here because she was willing to put the shame she had taken away from her and put it back on for Pearl. This shows she would do anything for Pearl even if it means taking away her own happiness. It also goes to show that she cannot escape the “A” and when she tries to she is forced back into relentless shame.

Hester’s motives are exhibited through the risks she takes with Reverend Dimmesdale's secret. Rather than exposing the fact that her and Reverend Dimmesdale committed adultery together she chose to protect his reputation. However, her love for Reverend Dimmesdale was too strong and she knew her previous husband now known as Roger Chillingworth was causing Dimmesdale to become weaker and weaker every day: “There had been a period when Hester was less alive to this consideration; or, perhaps, in the misanthropy of her own trouble, she left the minister to bear what she might picture to herself as a more tolerable doom. But of late, since the night of his vigil, all her sympathies towards him had been both softened and invigorated. She now read his heart more accurately. She doubted not, that the continual presence of Roger Chillingworth,—the secret poison of his malignity, infecting all the air about him,—and his authorized interference, as a physician, with the minister’s physical and spiritual infirmities,—that these bad opportunities had been turned to a cruel purpose” (135). This quote shows that Hester use to think that Dimmesdale having to deal with Chillingworth was a better fate than the shame he would receive if she had not kept his secret. After she saw him on the platform where she was originally shunned she realized the feelings she had for him and also saw how damaged he was from Chillingworth’s idea of curing him, which really just made him go insane. The reader sees Hester’s motive of love when she first declares she will not divulge Dimmesdale’s secret and instead takes on all the shame alone. The reader sees her endearment for Dimmesdale at a greater depth when she risks the revenge her and Dimmesdale will face after she reveals Chillingworth’s true identity as her previous husband in order to save Dimmesdale from Chillingworth. Hester’s love for Dimmesdale is stated clearly: “…still so passionately loved” (136)! But, it is also shown when she tells Dimmesdale she is willing to leave the area and no longer be forced to live in shame and guilt: “Thou shalt not go alone” (139)! Hester having the ability to leave an area where her sin is attached shows how far she has come in terms of allowing herself to live with her life even though she is well aware the “A” will be with her until death. It also shows her love for Dimmesdale because should would risk having nothing and leaving an area where her sins were rooted.

In the end Hester did not allow her guilt and shame to kill her like it did to Dimmesdale who dies at the scaffold after he admits his sin of adultery with Hester and frees his guilt. However, her guilt and shame inevitably lived with her forever because she returns to her isolated cottage and lives there suffering through shame and guilt interminably. Although she would still face shame and guilt the scarlet letter was no longer looked at in regret but rather wonder and respect due to Hester’s kind and hard work throughout the rest of her life. Women began getting advice from Hester involving love and unhappiness and she responded by promising: “…a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relationship between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness” (181). However, this new world Hester describes where men and woman will act for their mutual happiness cannot have Hester as the “prophetess” like she thought because she is sinful, shameful, and unhappy. The woman would have to be pure unlike Hester. Hester’s daughter Pearl transitions to a women and obtains an ability to see human sorrow once her father dies leading her to becoming happily married and willing to have Hester live with her. Hester, however, believes she must stay where she sinned, where her misery is, and where her self-punishment will be. Hester therefore loses Pearl and Dimmesdale and was unable to defeat the scarlet letter and turn pure again. It goes to show that some things are permanent and you can try to change them but in the end they will always endure; just like Hester’s shame, guilt, and the scarlet letter which will forever remain on her bosom. 

1st half of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne July 2nd, 2014

 Charlie Spinale

AP Literature

7/2/14

1st half of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne prompt #1: “Setting includes more than just time and place. It also concerns social conditions and customs of a given location and time period. Discuss the setting of The Scarlet Letter and how it contributes to your understanding of the book so far.”

            The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that takes place in seventeenth century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts. Hester Prynne is a young woman who perpetrates adultery and has a child named Pearl leading her into relentless ignominy and ridicule. Throughout The Scarlet Letter the strict social conditions and traditional customs of the era demonstrate the setting of the book and grant the reader a better understanding of the book allowing insight on why Hester Prynne feels guilty and is shunned for her crime and sin of the time period.

            The reader sees some of the social conditions and customs of the time period as the story begins in the chapter “The Market-Place”. This is where the reader sees Hester for the first time exiting the prison to proceed to her punishment and the reader gets a glimpse of the beliefs of the time through the narrator and some citizens talking amongst each other. The narrator elucidates the Puritan character allowing the reader to see how cold-hearted and strict the people of the time period truly were: “The grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people…It could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit…But, in that early severity of the Puritan character, an inference of this kind could not so indubitably be drawn. It might be that a sluggish bond-servant, or an undutiful child, whom his parents had given over to the civil authority, was to be corrected at the whipping-post…It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows” (41-42, Hawthorne). This quote exhibits the faces of the people who show a group in a different era who are about to witness the punishment of a very serious criminal who is so well-known that the decision of the court is already known by the citizens. Nevertheless, since the Puritans have such a “severe” character, the reader cannot be sure of the crime. As described in the quote, the Puritans character and expressions show that they would take the execution of a witch just as serious as the whipping of a disobedient child.  The shear fact that this is a time were “Mistress Hibbins” a witch is being hanged among the “gallows” shows the utmost beliefs of the Puritan people because it is a time were witches are thought to be nonfictional. The reader already gets an idea of the beliefs and social conditions of the era if witches are being publically executed and children whipped for something that would be laughed of today. The severity of the citizens allows the reader to have a better understanding of the feelings the Puritans will have toward Hester who has committed adultery which is much worse than a disobedient child or servant who does not follow orders. This quote signifies that Hester will face dreadful guilt and shame in a society that takes any crime as serious as the death penalty. The reader gets an even better understanding of the social conditions and customs of the time when some of the women discuss Hester and how she has put shame to everyone: “’This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray’” (43)! This quote conveys how angry the female population is with Hester and how they believe adultery is morally wrong. This women points out that she brought shame to all of them and In return for that she should die. Although the women of the time period were not soft, they still believed it was morally wrong to cheat on their husbands. Such a crime to them puts them to disgust and shows the severity of their moral beliefs. The strict religion of the time is demonstrated when the women mentions how there are laws against adultery in the “scripture” and she then looks down on the city officials who did not follow these rules or take them serious enough on Hester’s punishment. The harsh women of the time period and the general Puritan character warrant the reader an understanding of why Hester received so much hatred and shun for a “sin” that although looked down in even today’s society, was so unethical in Hester’s time period that it changed her life perpetually.

            In the next chapter “The Recognition”, the reader sees a greater profundity of the religious beliefs of the time period as well as the severity of shame Hester receives for her wrong-doings. The reader sees the humiliation Hester encounters for her crime of adultery through her punishment with the scaffold: “It was, in short, the platform of the pillory; and above it rose the framework of that instrument of discipline, so fashioned as to confine the human head in its tight grasp, and thus hold it up to the public gaze. The very idea of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron” (46). Hester punishment for her crime was to stand on the scaffold for 3 hours as everyone stared at her making her feel humiliated and also to keep her scarlet letter embroidered on her as a constant reminder of her wrong-doing.  The scaffold as described holds the human head in place so the head cannot be hidden from the public’s view.  This scaffold was built for humiliation and expresses a time period where punishment was not taken lightly even in the slightest cases. The scaffold signifies the beginning of Hester’s guilt because although she faces a lot of guilt at this one moment her guilt and shun will sustain for the rest of her life. The reader gets a greater comprehension of why Hester was shunned so severely through Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale’s plea to Hester to reveal Pearl’s father:  “…thou hearest what this good man says, and seest the accountability under which I labor. If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer’” (53)! In this quote Dimmesdale is stating that he has the authority to tell her that if it makes her soul feel better to admit who she sinned with than she should publicize his name in order to help her eternal salvation for what she has sinned for. This quote allows the reader to see the religious influence of the time period. In getting Hester to confess her lover a reverend is used in hopes she will admits his name because otherwise she would be living in sin to them. The constant mention of the “scripture” and the use of religious officials show how adultery is a consequential sin in the religion of the Puritan people. The time was distinctly strict due to the fact that people did not have free-will that did not come with punishment. In today’s society no one would be obliged to admit something using religious force not to mention public shame through force.

In the chapter “Hester at Her Needle” the reader learns how shunned Hester becomes in society but at the same time how her needle works becomes popular among many Puritans who desired fancy decorations that Hester created such as her scarlet letter. The reader sees a society who wants Hester’s decorations for public ceremonies or for a night were they wanted to feel scandalous, either way they purchase these decorations even though they look down on the women who produced them.  The reader also sees how Hester makes these decorations for all types of occasions except she was never asked to make a white veil for a bride: “Her needle-work was seen on the ruff of the Governor; military men wore it on their scarfs, and the minister on his band; it decked the baby’s little cap; it was shut up, to be mildewed and moulder away, in the coffins of the dead. But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigor with which society frowned upon her sin” (63). This quote is stating that Hester’s needlework was worn by just about everyone including the Governor, military men, the minister and babies. However, she was never asked to create a white veil for a bride. This showed how society still did not let go of Hester’s sin and they still believed that shame would be justifiable. Hester’s work, although popular among the Puritans did not make her any less shameful, if anything it brought her even greater shame: “Dames of elevated rank, likewise, whose doors she entered in the way of her occupation, were accustomed to distil drops of bitterness into her heart; sometimes through that alchemy of quiet malice, by which women can concoct a subtile poison from ordinary trifles; and sometimes, also, by a coarser expression, that fell upon the sufferer’s defenceless breast like a rough blow upon an ulcerated wound” (64). This quote shows that the rich women who bought decorations from Hester would slyly insult her when she went to their homes. It also shows that they would sometimes attack her calling her horrible names and forcing her into more shame. Both quotes show a society who looks down upon Hester for her sins of adultery and her scarlet letter yet they request to have the same scandalous decorations she wears proving that they are endeavoring to mimic her ways. The Puritan society at large is hypocritical because they wear Hester’s decorations and insult her when buying them even so some of them have committed the same if not worse “sins” than Hester but they have just not owned up to them. Hester was also shunned whenever she was in public: “Clergymen paused in the street to address words of exhortation, that brought a crowd, with its mingled grin and frown, around the poor, sinful woman. If she entered a church, trusting to share the Sabbath smile of the Universal Father, it was often her mishap to find herself the text of the discourse. She grew to have a dread of children; for they had imbibed from their parents a vague idea of something horrible in this dreary woman, gliding silently through the town, with never any companion but one only child” (64). This quote conveys that when Hester went into public she would be stopped by a priest who would begin to preach about how sinful she was as a group of people surrounded her in disgust. It also states that when she tried to go to church she found that she was the subject of the sermon. She even grew hatred toward children because their parents had told them how horrible she was. She has become completely isolated from society because people and places where Hester should feel safe, they have become places and people she cannot consult with or go to and feel safe. The fact that Hester cannot even walk the streets or go to church without being shunned shows the severity and ability for the Puritan society to latch on to what she did and never forget it.

            In the chapter “Pearl” the audience learns that Hester’s daughter, who was born an outcast to society possess odd traits that are arguably demonic. The reader learns that Pearl is not allowed to play with the other children and understands this and in return shows hatred and resentment towards them: “Pearl was a born outcast of the infantile world. An imp of evil, emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened infants…If spoken to, she would not speak again. If the children gathered about her, as they sometimes did, Pearl would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations that made her mother tremble, because they had so much the sound of a witch’s anathemas in some unknown tongue” (70). This quote illuminates the fact that Pearl was not allowed to play with the other baptized children. This emphasizes the religious beliefs of the time, because Hester had Pearl through adultery making Pearl an outcast to society. This is a common theme Hawthorne is bringing up because in every society and time period people feel resentment towards a certain group like people during the Civil Rights Movement showed resentment towards African Americans.  If Pearl was spoken to by the other children she chose to ignore them. Also, if they came near her she would begin to scream and throw stones at them in a way that made her look like an evil witch. The fact that Pearl already does not get along with the children in her society shows her understanding of her mother’s situation and the fact that she is hated due to her mother’s adultery. Pearl, symbolizes the scarlet letter because she is a constant reminder to Hester of her wrong-doings but at the same time she is all Hester’s happiness. The religious belief of the Puritans of the time is shown when Pearl is asked where she comes from and it is automatically assumed by Hester that she came from God: “’He sent us all into this world. He sent even me, thy mother. Then, much more, thee! Or, if not, thou strange and elfish child, whence didst thou come’” (73)? In this quote Hester tells Pearl that everyone comes from God and if she came from God then her own daughter obviously came from God. This quote shows how there was no question about religion at the time. Today, a lot of people are atheist or have no religious preference. Pearl’s lack of understanding of her religion and where she came from worries Hester because she assumed Pearl would know in an era were religion was a significant part of people’s lives.

During the time period there was speculation that demons and witches existed. This is shown when Pearl is assumed to be a demon: “She remembered—betwixt a smile and a shudder—the talk of the neighbouring townspeople; who, seeking vainly elsewhere for the child’s paternity, and observing some of her odd attributes, had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring; such as, ever since old Catholic times, had occasionally been seen on earth, through the agency of their mothers’ sin, and to promote some foul and wicked purpose” (73-74). This quote emphasizes that the Puritan people believed Pearl was a demon because during that era the Catholic religion believed that sinful mothers produced demon babies. This assumption plays a large role in the story because the society’s belief that Pearl is a demon leads to even more detestation toward Hester. The religion of the time period was strict and Pearl, being a suspected demon essentially caused a large uproar in the community because people were scared of such things and prayed against them during the era. The fact that Pearl is believed to be a demon which leads to the official town’s people, especially the governor, to want to take Pearl away from Hester and find someone who can take care of her suitably and fix her: “The point hath been weightily discussed, whether we, that are of authority and influence, do well discharge our consciences by trusting an immortal soul, such as there is in yonder child, to the guidance of one who hath stumbled and fallen, amid the pitfalls of this world. Speak thou, the child’s own mother! Were it not, thinkest thou, for thy little one’s temporal and eternal welfare, that she be taken out of thy charge, and clad soberly, and disciplined strictly, and instructed in the truths of Heaven and earth? What canst thou do for the child, in this kind” (81)? This quote is saying that they want to take Pearls demonic soul and put it in the hands of someone who can dress her right, discipline her strictly, and teach her the right way to live. This shows not only the strict religion of time and the belief that the girl is a demon but also the strict power of government during the era. In The Scarlet Letter’s time period it is compelling to think that politicians would be allowed to decide if Hester gets to keep her daughter. It shows that politicians involved themselves in the small matters such as: “The period was hardly, if at all, earlier than that of our story, when a dispute concerning the right of property in a pig, not only caused a fierce and bitter contest in the legislative body of the colony, but resulted in an important modification of the framework itself of the legislature” (75). This quote shows that the ownership of a “pig” was debated among politicians and led to changes in the structure of the legislative body. This indicates the strictness of the period if the ownership of a pig generated such problems and changes and also goes to show how serious they are taking the case of Hester and her accused demonic child Pearl. The politicians came to the conclusion, after the persuasion from Dimmesdale that Hester was the only one who truly knew Pearl enough to care for her, that Pearl could stay with Hester as long as she went to school and church: “Indeed hath he,” answered the magistrate, “and hath adduced such arguments, that we will even leave the matter as it now stands; so long, at least, as there shall be no further scandal in the woman. Care must be had, nevertheless, to put the child to due and stated examination in the catechism at thy hands or Master Dimmesdale’s. Moreover, at a proper season, the tithing-men must take heed that she go both to school and to meeting” (84). This quote states that the governor will leave things as they are as long as Hester does not cause any more scandalous things and under the condition that Pearl gets a genuine religious education and goes to school and church. This again emphasizes the religion in the era because the only way Hester was allowed to keep Pearl was if she had a religion in her life.

The first half of The Scarlet Letter provides the reader with a profusion of information proving the severity of the Puritan character, the strict religious rules, government rules, and social conditions of the time period which give the reader a better understand of the novel permitting an understanding of why Hester was looked down upon at the level she was. The setting therefore allocates the reader with everything indispensable to an understanding of what Hester went through. The reader can therefore deduce that Hester’s adultery and the incalculable punishment she receives for it can be associated with any time period and society that has certain beliefs and social conditions that if not followed will lead to some form of punishment and shun.