Admin Table of Contents
What is the significance of the Custom House in The Scarlet Letter?
In The Scarlet Letter, the importance of “The Custom-House” is at least two-fold. It is a frame for the novel because it offers context and backstory to the letter itself and the forbidden relationship that led to its creation, while also calling to mind the intolerance of Puritan society.
Can I skip the Custom House in The Scarlet Letter?
Therefore, it is up to the reader whether they wish to skip “The Custom House”, however, an advice would be to at least read it, even if it is after reading the novel, because you may experience the “full circle effect” once you read about how this unnamed narrator “stumbled upon” Hester’s story.
What does Hawthorne find in the Custom House?
Finally, the preface serves as means of authenticating the novel by explaining that Hawthorne had discovered in the Salem Custom House the faded scarlet A and the parchment sheets that contained the historical manuscript on which the novel is based.
What is the primary purpose of the Custom House introduction?
The primary purpose for the Custom-House introduction was to give the reader a better understanding of the people living in the Custom-House and their ways of living. In the introduction, the reader is given an overview of Hawthorne’s points of views on the Custom-House.
Is the Custom House part of the scarlet letter?
Summary: The Custom-House: Introductory This introduction provides a frame for the main narrative of The Scarlet Letter. One rainy day he discovers some documents in the building’s unoccupied second story.
Where was the Scarlet Letter found in the Custom House?
One rainy day, the narrator discovered a peculiar package in the upstairs storage area of the Custom House. The package contained a piece of fabric with a red letter “A” affixed to it along with several pages explaining the history of the letter.
What is the summary of the Scarlet Letter?
Summary: The Custom House Introductory to The Scarlet Letter. The narrator examines the scarlet badge and holds it briefly to his chest, but he drops it because it seems to burn him. He then reads the manuscript. It is the work of one Jonathan Pue, who was a customs surveyor a hundred years earlier.
Who is the inspector in the Scarlet Letter?
The Inspector is the most light-hearted of the workers, constantly laughing and talking in spite of his age. The upstairs of the Custom House was designed to accommodate a large movement of goods through the port, and it is in ill repair since it soon became extraneous.
How did Hawthorne describe his staff in the Scarlet Letter?
He describes his staff as a bunch of tottering old men who rarely rise out of their chairs and who spend each day sleeping or talking softly to one another. Hawthorne tells the reader that he could not bring himself to fire any of them, so after he assumed leadership, things stayed the same.