A book isn’t just simply a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. If that were the case, the term allegory wouldn’t come to existence and most of the many pieces of Literature would disappear in a sea of stories forgotten over the centuries. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an example of a story being more than a just a time line of events, but filled symbolism to give the reader a further deepened reading of the text. Symbolism in any story can help put meaning in it’s plot and develop a character in more than one dimension. The Scarlet Letter is not just a time line with a beginning, middle and end, it’s a story enriched with Symbolism to further give meaning of the plot, development of the characters, and to fully put the meaning of the story behind the letter.
Already from the very beginning, we already get the most import symbol of the whole book, the scarlet letter. From previous knowledge, scarlet is a shade of red, and with a book filled with symbolism, there is a reason why it’s derived from that particular color. Red has many meanings behind it; such as the anger, rage, courage, passion, sensuality, desire, the feelings of humanity that can create irrational thoughts and behavior. The color of Red appears throughout the book many times, to further explain the meaning of the book of Passion and Desire. The color wasn’t a random selection because it was a pretty shade of red, but rather to symbolize the human emotion that can be found within the book and give a further meaning of the plot.
Colors are the not the only aspects of a story to convey important symbols. Comparisons such as Similes and Metaphors can help describe character arcs and can thicken the plot to engulf the reader into the story
This is an interesting analysis of the color red. I really like how you have connected to the very human concept of "irrational" thoughts and behavior. It made me think about how we humans are unique in this regard. An animal's actions are dictated by instinct, which is derived from evolution and ruled by survival of the species. Humans, however, are unique in this characteristic of engaging in "irrational" behavior. Why do we do the things that we do? Take smoking for example. We all know that smoking ultimately causes a miserable decline in health leading to blackened lungs and the inability to breath, and, ultimately, death. And yet cigarettes continue to sell by the case around the world. Why do we do this? Equally confounding is our ability to deconstruct our success by other "irrational" behaviors, such as the one represented in this novel—adultery. Why do we do this? We are, indeed, a unique and complicated species. I hope your continued exploration of the complexities of this novel will help you to gain some valuable insights about our complicated human existence. Your thinking, writing and class contributions continue to be a valuable asset to our writing community. Thanks for your efforts Juan!!!
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