The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is about a woman named Hester Prynne that is going through a tough time. At the beginning of the story, with her baby, Pearl in her arm, Hester is taken to jail, and punished with adultery. Pearl was born from a man other than Hester's husband while he was away, and throughout the book Hester never tells who Pearl's father is, or about the Scarlet Letter "A" on her chest. Nathanial Hawthorne uses literacy devices such as imagery, character description and symbolism through the book.

Inagery is a strong literacy devices because it enables the reader of the book to visualize events happening in the book. Nathanial Hawthorne uses imagery as a way to describe the atmosphere around an events happening. "But, one idle and rainy day, it was my fortune to make a discovery of some little interest. Poking and burrowing in the heaped-up rubbish in the corner, unfolding one and another document and reading the name of the vessels that had long ago foundered at sea , or rotted at the wharves. (page 22)" With detailed sentences that provide background information, Hawthorne provides an understanding of the text.

Characters within the Scarlet Letter play an important part of the story. The story is based around the life of a character, so a well developed character description is vital in order to deeply understand the story. " With his florid cheek, his compact figure, smartly arrayed in a bright-buttoned blue coat, his brisk and vigorous step, and his hale and hearty aspect altogether he seemed- not young,indeed - but a kind of new contrivance of mother nature in the shape of man, whom age and infirmity had no business to touch. " Character development throughout the story show array of differences throughout the novel.

Symbolism plays the biggest part of literacy devices throughout the novel. The scarlet letter, a printed "A" on Hester's chest, is through of to be the symbol of shame. Throughout the story the scarlet letter turns into a way to identify Hester. " It was the scarlet letter in another form: the scarlet letter endowed with life. The mother herself-as if the red ignominy were so deeply scorched into her brain that all her conceptions assumed its form- had carefully wrought out the similitude, lavishing many hours of morbid ingenuity to create an analogy between the truth." The scarlet letter becomes a character development and description that provides a way of analyzing Hester Prynne's character.

With the uses of Imagery, Character Development and Symbolism, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes a descriptive and interesting novel to read. The characters are easy to relate to, the storyline is easy to understand and the flow of the novel is smooth. Without the use of these literacy devices, the novel description wouldn't be as in depth and thoughtful as it is now.