Response to 5-8

I find this book challenging to read. The level of detail in which Hawthorne describes everything in the throughout the book makes it difficult to follow. He regularly takes multiple pages to describe a single object. For example, Hawthorne takes an entire chapter to describe Pearl's appearance and personality. While reading the lengthy pages that lack dialogue or any real action, I often find my concentration fading. Hawthorne's word choice makes it difficult for me to get through the book, because I end up spending a long time re-reading pages multiple times to understand what is happening. Although I do not particularly like his writing style I enjoy the way he includes his own ideas towards the puritan society. It is not hard to find throughout the story. Hawthorne frequently includes comparisons of modern life to puritan life. For example, in chapter 7 he compares the way they deal with personal matters. “It may appear singular, and, indeed, not a little ludicrous, that an affair of this kind, which, in later days, would have been referred to no higher jurisdiction than that of the selectmen of the town, should then have been a question publicly discussed, and on which statesmen of eminence took sides”(91). Also, I actually like the way that Hawthorne describes the symbols that he incorporates into the story because I like how he lets the reader know exactly what he was thinking while he was writing. He leads the reader by describing exactly what a symbol represents.

9. How does Pearl behave when questioned by the men?

When Pearl is questioned by the men she is very stubborn. She escapes through a window when Mr. Wilson tried to talk to her. Mr. Wilson asks Pearl who made her, and even though she knows the right answer because her mother has taught her everything about religion, she refuses to say anything to him. Pearl eventually makes something up and claims that she was plucked from a rose bush that grows by the prison door.

10. How does Hester succeed in her mission, and how does this relate to her conversation with Mistress Hibbins?

Hester's mission was to convince Governor Bellingham that she was capable of raising Pearl because she heard that people were debating whether or not they should take Pearl away from her. Hester succeeded this mission because she begged Master Dimmesdale to convince the rest of the men that they should not change the way Pearl is living. This relates to her conversation with Mistress Hibbins because Hester said she would have gone with Mistress Hibbins if Pearl had been taken away from her, so even though Pearl is young she saved Hester from the devil.