The Scarlet Letter

Rating:
Summary: Great!!!!!READ ME READ ME READ ME!!!
Review: Call me a sucker for classics, well I am. This novel brings forth issues that are still with us today. Yes, the book was written over 100 years ago, but it deals with Single mothers in a two-parent society and how the outsiders to the situation (townspeople) deal with Hestor Prynne and her daughter, Pearl. Even today we seem to look down upon single mothers as nothings, even though they are doing the best they can to raise their child(ren) and to survive themselves. Nathaniel Hawthorne seems to be writing about not only the early settlers, but also about HIS time and OUR time all in the same book. I give it five stars because of it's beautiful discription of the trials and tribulations of single-parenthood.

Rating:
Summary: It is a good book that everyone should read at some point.
Review: The Scarlet Letter is a good book, although it can be difficult to read. It is a book in which a young and beautiful woman, Hester, has committed a very serious sin of that time and is being punished by wearing a scarlet "A." The letter begins to take on new meanings throughout the book and this shows a unique way in which bad things may come to represent some good things. The book also represents opposites. Chillingworth and Dimmsdale live under the same roof and are totally opposite from one another. Both have different goals that they are trying to achieve. Dimmsdale is trying to find happiness, forgiveness, and strength to confess. Chillingworth is like a leach to Dimmsdale in that he is trying to draw the life out of him and every means to happiness that he may ever have. The book showed symbolism through different aspects that really made you think about what the author was trying to express to you.

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Summary: Polarity and duality
Review: I read this book for English class and liked it, here is the essay I wrote on it. The scarlet Letter is permeated with polarity and duality. polarity is the existence of doubles. In the Scarlet, opposites exist side by side and doubles exist side by side. In accordance to the foreshadowing, "No sensible man, it was confessed, could doubt on which the victory would turn. The people looked with an unshaken hope, to see the minister come forth out of the conflict transfigured with the glory which he would unquestionably win," good will eventually overcome evil. Dimsdale and Chillingworth live side by side under the same roof; yet, they are different in many ways. Each looks very different from the other; whereas Dims is a pale and attractive young man, Chill is a dark and ugly old man. Hetser's feelings towards the two men foil. Hester stays in the land where she is scorned just out of love for Dims; however, Hester depicts her feelings for Chill as, "I hate him! He betrayed me! He has done me worse than I did him!" Even the townspeople view Chill as the healer of the body and Dims as the healer of the soul. Dim's words "affected them like the speech of an angel"; however, the people would probably be cautious of Chill's words, "a large number affirmed that Chill's aspect had undergone a remarkable change," maybe into something demonic. By being opposites who live under the same roof and exist in the same story, Dims and Chill is an example of polarity. Hester and Dims living in the same colony in the same story is another example of polarity since they are opposites of eachother. Hester is justified, she had the courage to announce her sin even though she knew she'd be publicly scorned; Dims, on the other hand, is not justified, he was too proud to admit his sin and so should not have been idolized by the people. - i'm goin to stop now though i'm not finished

Rating:
Summary: A REALLY GOOD BOOK
Review: This book was very good i had to read it for school I didn't really understand it the first time but each time i read it, it gets better.

Rating:
Summary: Don't let your highschool teachers force feed you classics
Review: The Scarlet Letter is a very good book. It would be much better though if we were alowed to read it on our own and draw our own conclusions. How well can you appreciate a book if you have to hurry because you must read 40 pages in one night while making sure to remember details that may be on the test. Read it in highschool or not, it doesn't matter. But make sure to pick it up later in your life when you are ready for it, and you can draw your own conclusions instead of regurgitating what the teacher told you so you can pass a test.

Rating:
Summary: The Next Best Thing to a Sleeping Pill!
Review: This book literally put me to sleep. I could wake up at 2 in the morning and find the book in my lap, and then have to stress over finishing the assigned reading for my English class. I mean, some of the sentences are about 15 lines long, and the plot, if there is a plot, is incredibly slow. If the author would just tell it like it is, and not drag it out for pages, the book would be only about a third of the length that it is. Boring, boring, BORING!

Rating:
Summary: interesting book
Review: though I'm not a native english speaker, I didn't find it difficult to read it. It clearly represents a period in american history which probably many would like to forget about. Sorry for high school students who couldn't understand it, something needs to be done in order to improve their reading comprehension and interest in their own culture..

Rating:
Summary: re: slow but fascinatingly enchanting...
Review: I did not read much of this book, however, I do remember some of it. Often when I discuss comparative literature, I tend to use the example of Charlse Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities", for in Dickens's famous novel, there are about five hundred pages of mere background information. And so, we have the style of Nathaniel Hawthorne presented to us: he is, in essence, a lover of symbolism and all things literarily analyzed. I really got into the story when the first pyre scene happened... Now, note, when I said pyre I meant pillar, for pyres are something entirely different and generally greek/medieval... Anyway, as I was saying, Hawthorned loves literary symbolism and creativity. I love the way he ended the plot, but I think that the story line could have moved a little faster, thus giving "The Scarlet Letter" a Dickens-like quality.

Rating:
Summary: I feel this is a great book and very interested.
Review: This book was very interesting to me and I like the time period it was set in, which made me love this book. Each time I read it, I understand what it means a little better. This is one of my favorite classics to read over again.

Rating:
Summary: I must say
Review: that I don't like this book. I read it in high school, when all I did (and still do) was read everything I could get my hands on. I love literature, I am even majoring in creative writing in college. I UNDERSTOOD the book, what it was trying to say, the plot, etc. I just thought it didn't do a very good job of saying what it was trying to say. It was unnecessarily vague (what is the reason behind trying to confuse somebody?), wordy, high-flown and just too big. The story could have been told more effectively as a short story, even half the length. I don't reccommend.